Ohio Ballot Board approves Ohio Personhood Amendment

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CGE) - The Ohio Ballot Board on Monday determined that a proposed amendment concerning personhood, sent to it by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, consists of one issue and told petition backers they can start to collect the 385,253 valid signatures needed to put it on the general election ballot in November.

 

The proposal would amend the Ohio Constitution to declare that life begins when a human egg is fertilized. A similar amendment, on the Mississippi ballot last November, was defeated by a 58-42 margin in a state where a few months before it seemed it couldn't lose. A similar amendment lost twice in Colorado in 2008 and 2010.

 

With a party line vote of 3-2, the Ohio Ballot Board, comprised of Chairman Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, Fred Strahorn, Vice Chair, State Senator Keith Faber, Mark Griffin and William N. Morgan, gave Personhood Amendment backers a green light towards its goal to make the fall ballot - packed with presidential and congressional candidates - even more exciting.

 

In October AG DeWine rejected the summary, but anti-abortion backers changed language in the amendment to specify that it would not affect contraception or in vitro fertilization.

 

At issue for some doctors is whether safe and effective in-vitro fertilization treatments can be offered or whether they will be threatened by ballot issue language stating otherwise. Zanesville doctor James Johnston, one of the four men pushing the amendment on behalf of the Personhood Ohio committee, said genuine contraception would not include forms of birth control that prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, such as morning after pills and a mini-pill that contains only progestin. Also, whether the issue would cover IUDs and standard birth control pills is still unclear. 

 

Johnston said his group's goal is that the "wording of our amendment will help protect against the lies of the abortion advocates."

 

A spokesman for Personhood Amendment opponents said they are ready to fight the good fight to keep Ohio from being the first state to adopt it. Healthy Families Ohio, the group working to defeat it at the polls should the amendment make it to the November ballot, has declared it to be serious attack on women's health. HFO spokeswoman Sandy Theis said the amendment raises a number of issues from the silly to the sublime, like does a pregnant woman have to buy two movie tickets, or does she get to drive in the high occupancy lane on the freeway? Theis also raised another disagreeable situation: If a 12-year-old girl is raped by her stepfather, does he then get to decide what choices are made?

 

Here's the full text of the amendment:

 

(A) The words "person" in Article 1, Section 16, and "men" in Article 1, Section 1, apply to every human being at every stage of the biological development of that human being or human organism, including fertilization.

(B) Nothing in this Section shall affect genuine contraception that acts solely by preventing the creation of a new human being; or human "eggs" or oocytes prior to the beginning of the life of a new human being; or reproductive technology or In Vitro Fertilization procedures that respect the right to life of newly created human beings.

 

According to information from the Ohio Secretary of State, in order to begin gathering signatures, the petitioners must create a petition that must have a copy of the title and full text of the proposed constitutional amendment on each one and must have the following statement printed at the top: Amendment to the Constitution Proposed by Initiative Petition to be Submitted Directly to the Electors. All signatures must be submitted as one document and at one time.

 

If any individuals gathering the signatures will be paid, each individual must fill out a form and file it with the Secretary of State prior to circulating any petitions.