The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the term "unborn child" can remain in ballot language for a November vote on whether to enshrine abortion protections in the state's constitution.
A pro-abortion group had sued Ohio state officials over ballot language that uses the term "unborn child" rather than "fetus."
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the argument that the ballot's language "introduces an ethical judgment," saying that it "does not establish that the ballot board's language constitutes improper persuasion," NBC News reported.
"By rejecting special interest attempts to substitute their own carefully crafted and poll tested language for that of the ballot board, they have ensured Ohio voters will have a full and accurate understanding of the proposed measure when they go to cast their ballots," Mary Cianciolo, a spokesperson for the secretary of state's office, wrote in an email to NBC News.
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights and five petitioners sued the Ohio Ballot Board late last month over ballot wording that omitted the term "fetus," which is used in the full text of the proposed constitutional amendment.
In November, Ohioans will vote on a citizen-initiated amendment on whether to protect abortion access until fetal viability.
In a special election last month, Ohio voters rejected a GOP-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the Ohio Constitution.
The Ohio Supreme Court has blocked a ban on abortion six weeks into pregnancy.
Frank LaRose, Ohio's Republican secretary of state who oversees the ballot board, aims to challenge Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown for his seat next year.
LaRose has opposed the amendment to be put to voters in November, calling the measure a "really radical abortion amendment" in an interview last month with NBC's "Meet the Press NOW."
The state's Supreme Court on Wednesday also agreed with the petitioners that the language "citizens of the State" was misleading in the ballot board's language that said, "to prohibit the citizens of the State of Ohio from directly or indirectly burdening, penalizing, or prohibiting abortion before an unborn child is determined to be viable."
The court ordered the board "to adopt ballot language that accurately describes that the proposed amendment regulates actions of the 'State,'" NBC News reported.
"We conclude that the term 'citizens of the State' is misleading in that it suggests to the average voter that the proposed amendment would restrict the actions of individual citizens instead of the government," according to the court's decision, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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