Abortion activists are campaigning against a proposed Ohio rule that would increase the threshold to approve a constitutional amendment to 60%, despite having similar rules in their own organizations.
Currently, a constitutional amendment must receive only 50% plus one approval in the public to pass. Issue 1, which Ohio voters will vote on August 8 of this year, would increase the voter approval threshold to 60%.
Issue 1 will also decide whether supporters for proposed constitutional amendments need to collect signatures in 88 of the state’s counties, rather than the 44 counties required now. If Issue 1 passes, campaigns will no longer have 10 additional days to collect signatures should their constitutional amendments fail the signature threshold. (RELATED: FBI Director Wray Did Not Give Pro-Abortion Dem The Answer She Was Looking For)
While the state Democrat party has urged Ohioans to “vote ‘no’ on Issue 1,” the party’s own by-laws require that to endorse statewide candidates in primaries, the executive committee must only do so, “upon the affirmative vote of sixty (60%) of members of the committee.”
The League of Women Voters of Ohio has said Issue 1 “would allow a small group of voters to block the will of the majority.” Yet the group requires an even higher portion of its members, 67%, to amend its own bylaws.
🚨 Hypocrisy alert 🚨
Check out how many of the groups opposing a 60% threshold to protect our state constitution… require a 60% threshold to amend their own bylaws.
Vote YES on Issue 1! https://t.co/9LH8CN0PBE
— Protect Women Ohio (@ProtectWomenOH) July 13, 2023
The American Civil Liberties Union’s Ohio affiliate has also been a vocal opponent of Issue 1, writing in June, “All Issue 1 will do is make it nearly impossible for citizen groups to amend our constitution; ending a right the people of Ohio have had for over 110 years.” The ACLU’s bylaws, however, stipulate its amendments “shall be adopted if approved by a two-thirds vote” of the board.
Planned Parenthood Action has accused supporters of Issue 1 as being “anti-democracy,” yet requires a vote of two-thirds of its members to amend its by-laws.
If Issue 1 passed, a proposed amendment which would make abortion a constitutional right would have a lower chance of passing. Abortion supporters say, “Issue 1 asks you to give up that right three months before we will likely vote on whether abortion should be a constitutionally protected choice in Ohio.”
Pro-abortion groups in Ohio submitted text for an amendment enshrining abortion in the state constitution in February. The amendment would mirror an amendment adopted in Michigan in November 2022.
Planned Parenthood is allegedly paying out-of-state workers to campaign to gather signatures in support of the Ohio constitutional amendment, while women’s groups warn it would eliminate parental oversight in their children’s decisions regarding abortion.
The Ohio Democrat Party, The League of Women Voters of Ohio, The American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood Action did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.