Opposition Strategy
The overturning of Roe was a fantastic victory for the pro-life movement, a turning point in the fight to protect life. Many of us were excited to turn our focus to our states to pass legislation protecting preborn babies. However, we are now seeing a concerning trend where pro-abortion activists are attempting to accomplish locally what they failed to do federally, place the "right" to abortion into the constitution.
These efforts began in abortion-friendly states like California and Vermont in 2021, but now, traditionally pro-life states are being targeted. Ohio is one of the first, with Issue 1 on the ballot for November 2023, and there could be up to six state initiatives of this kind in 2024.
By amending state constitutions, pro-abortion groups can bypass pro-life majority state legislatures that would never support removing all protections for women and allowing abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. Using ballot initiatives, they can write incredibly broad language that is misleading to voters. Big Abortion hides behind the ambiguity and statements of "reproductive freedom" in an attempt to obscure the true impacts of the amendments.
In Ohio, for example, the amendment states that:
"Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions..."
The authors intentionally use the term "individual" to ensure that the amendment applies to minors and will remove all laws regarding parental notification.
The proposed amendment also states:
"Abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability. But in no case may such an abortion be prohibited if in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient’s treating physician it is necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health."
While this may at first seem like Ohio would be able to pass a law prohibiting abortions after viability, the addition of the word "health" allows the physician to perform an abortion for essentially any reason. They could easily claim that the abortion was necessary for the betterment of her mental health. (The full text of the proposed amendment can be found here.)
Another issue with this strategy is that the process of reversing constitutional amendments is difficult and highly costly. In 2022, the campaigns for and against Michigan's Proposal 3, the Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative, spent over 68 million dollars. The pro-abortion groups won after spending almost 48 million dollars, and the pro-life advocates spent just over 21 million. Campaigns of this magnitude cannot be run year after year, and pro-abortion groups understand this. They know if they can pass one amendment, it will likely prevent that state from restricting abortion in any way for many years to come, and the pro-life majority legislatures can do nothing to change that.
Constitutional amendments are an extreme way to change laws in a state. In fact, many states do not allow for these citizen-initiated constitutional amendments. Of the 50 states, there are only 18 in which citizens can gather signatures to place an amendment onto the ballot. Many of these states require only a 50% +1 majority for these amendments to pass, while others require the ballot measure to receive at least 60%. With this in mind, pro-abortion activists are targeting otherwise pro-life states like Missouri, South Dakota, and Ohio, because they believe they can get a simple majority of voters to go along with their ambiguous amendments.
To overcome these attacks on life, it is important that we fully understand the new battleground that has developed post-Roe. The fight has shifted back to each individual state, but we must also keep in mind the bigger picture and understand what attacks are on the horizon. Big Abortion is not satisfied with just ensuring California and New York are sanctuaries for abortion; they want every state to enshrine abortion as a "right" in their constitution. Because of this, we must also continue our work of pushing back against the lies that tell women they are not capable of being a mother. Whether you live in a Life State or an Abortion State, you are uniquely positioned to speak the truth and champion life!
