{"id":31200,"date":"2024-05-18T16:13:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T16:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=31200"},"modified":"2024-05-20T13:05:53","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T13:05:53","slug":"issue-1-theyre-seeking-expansion-beyond-its-true-scope-and-beyond-what-ohio-voters-approved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/issue-1-theyre-seeking-expansion-beyond-its-true-scope-and-beyond-what-ohio-voters-approved\/","title":{"rendered":"Issue 1: They’re seeking expansion beyond it’s true scope and beyond what Ohio voters approved"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lisa Murtha<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have seen it in the news lately \u2013 accusations that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is trying to stop implementation of Issue 1, Ohio\u2019s Right to Reproductive Freedom Act, which passed with 57% of the vote in November 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An emotional op-ed<\/a> published in the Ohio Capital Journal<\/em> and Cincinnati City Beat<\/em> this week accuses Yost of being \u201cfixated on generating headlines and getting on TV\u201d and of \u201cdoing his level best to legally obstruct implementation of the newly amended state constitution by maintaining the legitimacy of burdensome and discriminatory pre-Issue 1 abortion restrictions that clearly violate the letter of the law post-Issue 1.\u201d The writer, Marilou Johanek, also calls him a \u201ccourtroom combatant for the hard right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While name-calling and unprovable allegations about people\u2019s motives are key components of all emotion-based arguments; facts go farther in helping the average Ohioan understand what\u2019s really happening here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the first thing to know about the current lawsuits surrounding abortion rights in Ohio courts right now is that Dave Yost did not instigate them \u2013 they were brought forth in April by a group of pro-abortion clinics and one doctor (Preterm-Cleveland et al<\/em>, ie: the \u201cPlaintiffs,\u201d who are in turn backed by the national ACLU and Planned Parenthood). The group is challenging established Ohio law after the passage of Issue 1; Yost, as Attorney General, is responding to the lawsuits and refuting the legal standing of their assertions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, at the very top of his public opposition filing for this case<\/a>, Yost states: \u201cIn November 2023, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court in Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade, the People of Ohio, acting directly through a voter-approved initiative, passed an amendment to the Ohio Constitution with the purpose of restoring the pre-Dobbs legal regime restricting abortion regulation pursuant to the tests established in Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.\u201d Since \u201cAll political power is inherent in the people,\u201d he goes on to say (citing the Ohio Constitution), \u201cAccordingly, as the State has made clear in separate ongoing litigation, the State cannot, and should not, oppose Plaintiffs\u2019 challenge to that specific law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second thing to understand is that the current iteration of the lawsuit brought by Preterm-Cleveland et al<\/em>, which is now before the Franklin County court, is merely to determine what will happen in Ohio for the next year, as the actual trial that Preterm Cleveland et al<\/em> brought forth will not happen until April of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the third and fourth \u2013 and perhaps most important – things to understand about this lawsuit are: what the Plaintiff clinics, Planned Parenthood and the ACLU are asking Ohio courts to do, and why Yost felt compelled to respond in the way he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, five months after Issue 1 became law, <\/em>Preterm-Cleveland and its partners filed a case aimed at nullifying four existing Ohio legal provisions that have been in place since Roe v. Wade ruled the land: the waiting period provision, the in-person provision, the informed consent provision and the heartbeat check provision.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In more detail, these provisions require:<\/p>\n\n\n\n