(Live Action) — A legal challenge has been filed against Ohio’s abortion amendment, which changed the state constitution to declare a “right” to abortion in 2023. The challenge claims the amendment violated the state constitution.

Key takeaways

• In 2023, voters passed Issue 1, an amendment that enshrined the “right” to abortion in the Ohio state constitution.
• The referendum was used to overturn numerous pro-life laws.
• A new legal challenge has been introduced, claiming Issue 1 violated the state constitution.
• That legal challenge claims the state constitution cannot be changed or revised without a constitutional convention.

The details

Janet Porter, president of Faith2Action, announced that a legal challenge has been filed against Issue 1 in Ohio, claiming it is unconstitutional.

“If you look to what the constitution says in the state of Ohio, you cannot amend multiple portions of it with a simple ballot vote,” she said.

What you have to do if you’re going to change multiple portions of the constitution, you’ve got to have a constitutional convention. And they didn’t do that. The long-awaited legal challenge to Issue 1, filed by attorneys Tom Conditt and Andy Schlafly on behalf of public officials, including Representative Levi Dean, Representative Jennifer Gross, and Council Member Kristen Edgars, makes it clear the process to revise the Ohio Constitution in fundamental ways is governed exclusively by Article 16, Section 2, which does not permit a revision of the Constitution by any means other than through a constitutional convention.

Porter said Issue 1 conflicts with at least three fundamental provisions of the Ohio Constitution.

She added, “As explained by a landmark California Supreme Court decision concerning a ballot process nearly identical to Ohio’s, a voter-enacted ballot initiative is invalid whenever fundamental constitutional rights are implicated.”

READ: Indiana Supreme Court rejects Planned Parenthood challenge to state abortion ban

The backstory

In November of 2023, Ohio voters approved Issue 1, passing with approximately 57% of the vote in favor, and 43% against. Under Issue 1, the Ohio constitution was amended to include “an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion.”

It did give a provision to “allow the state to restrict abortion after fetal viability, except when ‘necessary to protect the pregnant patient’s life or health.’” Yet the idea of abortion being necessary for the mother’s “health” is a vague, meaningless term, which historically has been defined so broadly that abortion is permitted for virtually any reason, including for reasons of “familial” or “financial” health, as seen in Roe v. Wade‘s partner decision, Doe v. Bolton.

Viability is also left to the abortionist, who financially profits from the abortion, to decide. Ohio’s parental notification law regarding abortion was also revoked.

Issue 1 was heavily funded by the abortion industry. Reports indicated that Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the group behind the ballot measure, comprised of a coalition of organizations including the ACLU of Ohio, Abortion Fund of Ohio, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, and the abortion facility Preterm-Cleveland, raised more than $39.2 million. Many of the donors were from out-of-state, and included the New York-based Open Society Policy Center, and the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Oklahoma billionaire Lynn Schusterman, and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund were also donors. Protect Women Ohio reported that there was $35 million in out-of-state funding behind Issue 1.

The bottom line

Porter also said that this lawsuit could have nationwide implications.

“So the good news is we are putting this before the court,” she continued. “It’ll go before the court of common pleas in Butler County, then to the appellate court, and then ultimately to the Ohio Supreme Court. But this won’t just affect Ohio. When we win, it will set a precedent for every state hurt and threatened by the mob with the most money. This is the first step to breaking the curse over our state and our nation. We need to make sure the Ohio Constitution is enforced once again and not violated in multiple ways.”

Reprinted with permission from Live Action.