Abortion drives Ohio ballot initiative, state’s bishops neutral; Texas bishop at Rosary rally
August 08, 2023
August 8 is the last day of voting for Issue 1, a ballot initiative favored by some pro-life advocates that would make it harder for voters to amend Ohio’s constitution.
Voters in Ohio can currently amend the state constitution by approving a ballot initiative by majority vote. Issue 1 would raise the threshold to 60%.
In November, Ohio voters will vote on a pro-abortion ballot initiative that would enshrine abortion in the state constitution. The November initiative “outlaws basic health and safety protections for women, eliminates parental notification and consent laws that protect underage girls, and allows abortions up until birth,” according to Human Life Action (National Committee for a Human Life Amendment), which works closely with the US bishops’ pro-life committee on legislative matters. Pro-life advocates who favor Issue 1 are evidently concerned that the pro-abortion amendment will pass by a simple majority in November.
“The bishops of Ohio do not have a position on Issue 1, as it does not have moral content,” the Catholic Conference of Ohio said in a May 31 statement. In an earlier statement, the bishops “strongly encourage[d] Catholics and all people of good will in Ohio” to “vote against the [November] amendment to prevent countless deaths of preborn, innocent children.”
More recently, the Diocese of Toledo has quietly lent support to Issue 1, according to CatholicVote.org. Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler (TX) traveled to Ohio to pray at a Rosary rally on August 6 for Issue 1’s passage.
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