Ohio Anti-Abortion Fanatics Still Fighting Amendment

If you thought come December 7 Ohioans would again have access to a full range of reproductive rights including abortion services think again. Despite Ohio voters strongly approving the rights of people in that state to choose whether or not to have a child, via amending their state Constitution the fanatics aren’t backing down. On the contrary. Keep in mind voters in Ohio slapped the fanatics down not once but TWICE. First there was the vote in August where the anti-abortion types tried to block the abortion rights amendment from being on the ballot earlier this month. They got their butts kicked. Then a few weeks ago there was the actual vote and the anti-abortion/forced birth a-holes got their butts kicked AGAIN by a similar margin. But they haven’t given up.

According to this article by the Associated Press protections for reproductive rights including abortion now enshrined in the Ohio state Constitution scheduled to take effect in a couple of weeks is uncertain:

Existing abortion-related lawsuits are moving again through the courts now that voters have decided the issue, raising questions about how and when the amendment will be implemented.

The language declaring the rights of individuals to “make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions” was clear enough. It seems however the fanatics have found a loophole in that the amendment did not specifically repeal existing laws that restrict those rights. And by grab the GOP controlled legislature and their equally fanatical Governor are going to exploit that loophole. They are hard at work and with renewed vigor to halt, or at least delay or water down the intent and effects of the new amendment:

“A lot of that hard work of figuring out what state laws are inconsistent with the amendment and what state laws can remain, does tend to devolve to the courts,” said Laura Hermer, a professor of law at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota, who studies access to health coverage and care in the U.S. “It’s difficult to imagine that the Legislature will say, ‘All right, you win. We’re going to repeal the heartbeat ban’ and so forth.”

So much for decades of conservatives insisting that when it comes to abortion the people of the various individuals states should decide the issue. Forced-Birth fanatics finally got what they wanted from SCOTUS – the overturning of Roe v Wade. They never really hid their intention to outlaw abortion, and even most forms of contraception as they believe it to be infanticide. It was also never really a secret that they intended to and as we saw over time DID stack the courts, up to and including SCOTUS with judges and Justices hostile to reproductive rights. Judges and Justices willing, EAGER even to roll back rights!  This issue drove “Christians” we know call Evangelicals to the polls to vote Republican for decades, precisely so that one day they could get the SCOTUS they wanted, one that would roll back rights. And allow them to force women to give birth no matter what.

It took decades of carefully planned work but over time the will of the people both in individual states and the nation at-large was overwhelmed. It took a well-funded effort of a combination of gerrymandering (to create Republican voting districts for both state and federal office) and voter suppression to get the elected officials who would in turn give them the judges and Justices they (the anti-abortion fanatics) wanted. Worse, they were increasingly open about what they were doing but it didn’t raise the kind of alarms it should have. Too many people including countless women who would be most severely impacted didn’t take the threat seriously. Too many women who never lived in the era prior to Roe v Wade blithely thought what’s happened (overturning Roe) would never happen.

Even some of us guys who tried to warn other guys that it was about more than abortion, and that these same fanatics would also go after prescription birth control were mostly ignored. And let’s face an ugly truth. For many women, and I’m talking about those suburban GOP “soccer moms” who cared more about tax cuts and deregulation they heard that in the bad old days women could just travel and get an abortion if they needed one. Despite the increasing restrictions being passed (and too often upheld by courts) that made this too difficult (at least until it was too late in many cases) for so many women they didn’t care. THEY had the means to go wherever they needed so…..

But the red lights were flashing as increasingly draconian measures were put in place and driving more and more abortion providers out of offering that service.  Now, those in some states can be sued for going out of state to get an abortion. Or have HIPPA being ignored and creepy people looking through their medical records! Or even being investigated and facing criminal charges if they have a miscarriage. And their doctors are also under the gun which means fewer providers of regular women’s health care!  Such are the consequences of too many on our side not fighting hard enough and often enough (especially in 2016) to elect Democrats.

Yes, there’s been good news in that when given the chance voters have when given the ability to do so said YES to reproductive rights including access to safe and legal abortion. However, it’s not enough. Not nearly enough as we are seeing. Ohio wound up having to vote not once but TWICE to enshrine reproductive/abortion rights into their Constitution. GOPers there tried a stunt this summer to keep the amendment from being on the recent ballot. So voters showed up in droves and effectively told them and their legislators in particular to go to hell. In the actual vote on the actual amendment voters again told them the same thing by a nearly identical margin.

But the fanatics and their GOP pals in Ohio elected office DON’T CARE! Despite what the masses have told them they are going to fight tooth and nail to keep in place every single restriction they put on the books. It’s going to be a long, painstaking process and given how the state is gerrymandered getting a legislature that will repeal those laws is unlikely next year. This folks is what we’re up against. Fanatics who aren’t about to back down. Not after spending decades, immense effort and vast sums of money to get what they wanted in the repeal of Roe and all that’s ensued.

There’s a campaign theme in there that needs honing into solid messaging for state and local races to gain back control of legislatures around the country. My point is that while it’s okay to feel good that voters, when given the chance to directly speak on this issue get to have their say they solidly back reproductive rights including the CHOICE as to whether to carry a pregnancy to term. However, as Ohio is showing us that’s not enough. We  have to keep grinding out wins at the legislature level. It will take GOTV efforts greater than we’ve ever seen but it can be done.

It HAS to be done.

Conservatives don’t care about Constitutions anymore be they state or federal. The fight is FAR from over.