Tiffin LWV - On Issue 1

One of the elements of the League of Women Voters of the Tiffin Area is voter education. We have received many questions on the November Issue 1. Below is information from the Ohio LWV and a couple of links for more information online. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWWM0SrZhUA - Facts First: Countering Misinformation about Issue 1. Issue 1 information: https://www.lwvohio.org/factsonnovembersissue1. While the League of Women Voters does not have a position on Issue 1, we urge voters to find out as much as they can before going out to vote. Reproductive health is on the ballot this year in Ohio, and we want to help voters make a decision informed by their values and the facts, not by political spin. We know voters have questions– good ones!– about Issue 1, so here are the answers to the most common ones we've been getting. 1: What is issue 1? - Issue 1 (one) relates to reproductive health care. 2: What does it mean to vote yes? -A YES vote supports amending the Ohio Constitution to restore the right to an abortion and support other reproductive health care such as miscarriage care, contraception, and fertility treatments. The right to stay pregnant would also be protected. 3: What does it mean to vote NO? -A NO vote opposes amending the Ohio Constitution to establish the constitutional right to "make and carry out one's own reproductive decisions." This would allow the state to continue to create legislation to limit abortion and access to other reproductive healthcare. 4: Is abortion legal in Ohio now? -Ohio law bans abortion after 6 weeks of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest. A judge has temporarily blocked this ban, making abortion available in Ohio right now. -This temporary block was challenged by the state of Ohio and is currently being reviewed by the Ohio Supreme Court. If they rule in favor of the state, abortion will be banned after 6 weeks. 5: What happens if Issue 1 passes? -Abortion would go back to being legal up until viability of the fetus, as it had been for nearly half a century since Roe v. Wade. -Access to miscarriage care, contraception, fertility treatments, and the right to stay pregnant would also be protected under this amendment. 6: What happens if Issue 1 does not pass? -Laws around abortion and other reproductive health care would continue to be made by state government, including laws like the 6-week ban. 7: How would issue 1 affect parental rights? -It wouldn't. There is nothing in the amendment that changes Ohio laws around parental consent, or anything else that would change state laws relating to parental rights. 8: Would abortion be legal at any time in a pregnancy? -No. The amendment maintains the standard set by the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which prohibits abortion after viability, except in cases when the patient's life or physical health would be endangered by maintaining the pregnancy. In those instances only, determined by the patient's physician, the amendment would allow for abortion. 9: Does the amendment include gender-affirming care? - It doesn't. There is nothing in the amendment that has anything to do with gender-affirming care.