Why Ohio Voters Must Choose Wisely

Ohio voters will head to the polls Tuesday of next week to decide whether they want to, conform with America’s founding principles and be more aligned with the majority of the states.

When the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973), with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organizaiton, last year, it didn’t end the war on unrestricted abortion; it merely moved the battlefield to the states.

One of those targeted states is Ohio.

Out of state special interest groups are pushing for an Ohio constitutional amendment, to be voted on in November. It’s deceptively titled, "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety."

Despite its name, the amendment has been described as "radical" and "dangerous" to women and children by eliminating parental rights and permiting unrestricted abortions.

CatholicVote Ohio director Logan Church called the proposed amendment "too extreme for Ohio" because it "seeks to cut parents out of their child's most important and life-altering health decisions — including abortions and sex change operations."

Wood County GOP Chairman Jonathan Jakubowski described the proposed constitutional amendment as "dark as dark can get," one which even leaves language open to permit partial-birth abortions.

There are three reasons for targeting Ohio:

• Overturning Roe triggered the Buckeye State’s previous ban on most abortions after six weeks.
• As of last year, Ohio became a firmly Republican state, making a radical constitutional amendment a real win for far-left groups.
• Ohio’s amendment process makes the state ripe for picking by outside special interests.

And it’s that last reason that prompted next week’s vote on Issue 1.

If approved, it would require a 60% popular vote to approve state constitutional amendments, as opposed to its current simple majority vote.

Jakubowski confirmed that it’s "a huge issue that most people aren’t aware of," adding "it’s fundamental to the security of our state."

He described what resulted from Ohio’s easy constitutional amendment process in a recent column: The U.S. Constitution has been amended 27 times — 17 if you exclude the initial Bill of Rights. Ohio’s Constitution has 172 amendments.

Protect Women Ohio (PWO), a coalition of concerned Ohio family and life leaders, parents, health and medical experts, and faith leaders, is at the spearpoint promoting Issue 1. It launched a $5.5 million ad buy this week in its support to protect Ohio’s constitution from out-of-state special interests.

"The secret is out: Ohio has some of the weakest requirements in the country for passing constitutional amendments and greedy, out-of-state special interest groups with deep pockets know it," said Molly Smith, a PWO board member.

"That makes Ohio a prime target for radical special interest groups, like the ACLU, to parachute into the state and strip parents of their rights. Enough is enough. It’s time to pass Issue 1 and put long overdue, common-sense protections in place."

And it’s not just the risk of unrestricted abortions and the loss of parental rights that are at stake. Ohio’s current constitutional amendment process places all issues in the left’s crosshairs.

Liberal, gun-grabbing Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb imagined, for example, a future amendment to restrict Ohioan’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, if Issue 1 fails.

Hypocritically, the very groups opposing Issue 1, including the ACLU, NAACP, Planned Parenthood, and the League of Women Voters, all require a 60% or greater vote to amend their own organizational bylaws.

And making the amendment process more difficult is a large part of what led to America’s greatness.

Speaking on American exceptionalism before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2011, the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that he often asks student groups "What do you think is the reason that America is such a free country?"

They invariably list items from the Bill of Rights, including "freedom of speech, freedom of the press, no unreasonable searches and seizures."

But he observed that “every banana republic in the world has a bill of rights," and that even the former Soviet Union’s bill of rights "was much better than ours." Scalia called them "just words on paper" and "a parchment guarantee."

He said that what make’s America exceptional is a "structure" that makes it difficult to pass a law.

It has to be approved by both chambers of Congress (which may be controlled by different parties) and signed into law by an independently-elected president having veto power.

Constitutional amendments are even more difficult. They have to be approved by 2/3rds of each chamber of Congress, then ratified by 75% of the states.

The separation of powers creates gridlock, of course, but Scalia said we have to "learn to love the separation of powers, which means learning to love the gridlock, which the Framers believed would be the main protection of" minority interests.

Vote "Yes" on Issue 1 August 8, Ohioans. Embrace the gridlock embrace the freedom, and receive a smile and nod of approval from the Founders in return.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.