The pro-life movement is reeling after Ohio this month became the latest state to reject an effort to restrict abortion access.
Ohioans defeated an effort led by pro-life groups to make it harder to amend the state’s constitution, by a margin of 57 per cent to 43.
In November, voters will decide whether or not to amend the constitution to permit abortion up until the point of foetal viability. Under current law, that referendum needs only a majority vote to pass.
The measure defeated on 8 August would have raised the threshold to 60 per cent for passage of a constitutional amendment.
Republicans control both houses of the Ohio legislature and in 2022 passed a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. The ban was held up in the courts and pro-choice groups proceeded with a campaign to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution.
Polling shows that the percentage of Ohioans who are pro-choice is close to 60 per cent, so most political analysts now expect the amendment will pass.
The pro-life movement fought for decades to overturn Roe v Wade and return the issue of regulating abortion to state legislatures, but appears ill-prepared for the local political struggle.
In 2022, incumbent pro-life governor Mike DeWine won re-election with 62 per cent of the vote. However, when the single issue of abortion access has been put to a referendum, pro-life groups have failed to enact laws in any state that limit access.
In Maine, pro-life groups have decided not to propose a referendum on lowering the current 24-week viability cut-off for access to abortion.
“National Right to Life has looked across the entire country at what happens with citizens’ initiatives, and pro-life loses almost every single time,” said Karen Vachon, executive director of Maine Right to Life.
“And here’s what happens: we’re David fighting Goliath. We do not have the money and the resources to fight against Planned Parenthood,” she told the National Catholic Register.
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