Abortion rights have continued to change in the U.S. a year after Roe fell. Access to reproductive care is not always as simple as voting yes or no on a ballot, in fact only one state is voting to enshrine abortion into its constitution in this election. In other cases, who is elected into office or who sits on the Supreme Court are big factors that can have an impact on what reproductive freedoms citizens are allowed – now or in the future.
As the political pendulum swings, the focal points shift to states where crucial decisions hold the potential to shape the destiny of bodily autonomy.
In the 2023 General Election, voters in Ohio, Pennsylvania,Virginia and Kentucky are making decisions that will either directly or indirectly influence their reproductive rights. Here’s why our eyes are on voters in these states.
Ohio
Ohio is the only state voting on whether abortion will be enshrined as a constitutional right in this election. Issue 1 on the ballot, if approved, would include the “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety” amendment to Ohio’s constitution, allowing each person the right to make decisions on their own reproductive medical treatment including abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s pregnancy and miscarriage. It would also extend protection to providers who help people seek reproductive care.
As Reckon reported last month, misinformation has infiltrated the election through political ads making false claims of what voting yes on Issue 1 would allow, and the usage of non-medically accurate language like partial birth abortion. The term partial birth abortion refers to a procedure that was federally banned in 2007, and would not be legal in Ohio whether Issue 1 passes or not.
“This notion of partial abortions, in my mind, is language that conservatives have used to try to push this notion of fetal personhood. I don’t necessarily equate those with science, so much as they are words to…
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