Advocates for abortion rights in Ohio say they’ve submitted nearly twice the number of signatures required to put a measure on the ballot enshrining abortion access in the state’s constitution.
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, the umbrella group behind the effort, submitted more than 700,000 signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State’s office, which will now determine whether at least 413,487 of those signatures are legitimate. If enough are valid, voters will decide on the matter in Ohio’s general election in November.
“Today, we take a huge step forward in the fight for abortion access and reproductive freedom for all, to ensure that Ohioans and their families can make their own health care decisions without government interference,” Lauren Blauvelt and Kellie Copeland of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, one of the groups behind OURR, said in a statement when they submitted signatures Wednesday.
The founders of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, the other group behind OURR, said Wednesday that the effort to get the amendment on the ballot began last summer shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, upending abortion access around the country after nearly 50 years of protections.