The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v.

If approved by voters, state officials could not prohibit abortion until after fetal viability, the point at which doctors say the fetus can survive outside the womb.Ĭritics of the August special election say it amounts to an end-run around voters and is part of a broader campaign by opponents of abortion to thwart citizen-approved ballot measures enshrining abortion rights. The move comes after abortion rights supporters in the state won approval to begin collecting signatures to put a measure on the November ballot that would guarantee Ohioans’ access to abortion. The election measure passed in the form of a joint resolution and does not require the governor’s signature to take effect. The special election will be held August 8. Voters also could decide to eliminate the 10-day period during which citizen groups are currently allowed to gather additional voter signatures if their petitions are found to lack the required amount of valid signatures.

It also would require backers of ballot initiatives to get signatures from voters in all of Ohio’s 88 counties – rather than current 44 – to place something on the ballot. Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature this week approved a resolution that will ask voters in August to increase the threshold needed to change the constitution from a simple majority to 60%. Ohio voters will decide this summer whether to make it more difficult to change the state’s constitution – only months before a potential ballot measure in November over whether to guarantee abortion rights in the state.

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