Ohio governor speaks out against abortion amendment: ‘It just goes too far’

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran, have released an ad urging voters to vote “No” on Issue 1, a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion as a “right” in the state’s constitution. 

DeWine told Fox News Digital that though he has never run an ad about an issue before, he felt compelled to take a stand because he believes the proposed amendment “just goes way, way too far.” He warned against some of the ramifications that could result if the amendment passes. 

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“For many years, in Ohio and in this country, we’ve had a law that said a partial-birth abortion — where the child is partially delivered and then killed and then finally delivered — was illegal in Ohio,” the governor explained. “This constitutional amendment would override that.”

The warning that the amendment would repeal a ban on D&X abortions, also known as partial-birth abortions, was mentioned last month in a legal analysis by state Attorney General Dave Yost. In his analysis, Yost noted prohibitions on D&X abortions and second-trimester D&E abortions  “would both be invalidated and these abortions would be permitted.”

Protect Women Ohio, a coalition opposing the amendment, also raised the issue of a partial-birth abortion repeal when it revealed that Martin Haskell, the inventor of the D&X “partial-birth” abortion, gave a $100,000 donation in favor of the ballot measure. 

In addition, DeWine noted that many fear the amendment’s passage would repeal the current law requiring parental consent for a minor to receive an abortion.

“We have a law that says that you have to have parental consent in regard to a minor getting an abortion that would be knocked out by this constitutional amendment as well. So it would put Ohio in a small category of the most permissive states in the union in regard to abortion. I just don’t think it fits Ohio. It’s not who we are. It’s not where we are,” he said

Ultimately, DeWine said, the amendment would reverse all the “guardrails” the state of Ohio has in place to regulate abortion and protect women and girls. 

“Even if you have people who pro-choice and think that abortion should be allowed at some point up until a certain point, I don’t know anybody who thinks that abortion should be permitted all the way up until birth,” DeWine said. “I mean that just strikes most people as going too far.”