Thank you for Acting!
By Anne Reed
Thanks to pro-lifers like you expressing your convictions and holding elected officials accountable, the Ohio Constitutional Protection Resolution passed the House yesterday with flying colors (62-37).
The Senate previously voted for the special election as well as the voter threshold increase. Some minor changes were added to the previous language, and it was easily approved on the floor of the Senate as well.
As a result, Ohio citizens will have the opportunity to vote on the process, making it considerably more difficult to change the Ohio Constitution.
Currently, the state requires 50 percent (plus one) of votes to amend its constitution. Because this resolution passed, voters will now decide in a special election this August whether a supermajority of 60 percent should be required to amend the state’s founding document in the future.
The resolution also requires signatures from all 88 counties on all citizen-driven ballot initiatives designed to enact constitutional amendments.
Radical pro-abortion activists protested at the state capitol yesterday because they know passage of this resolution could change the outcome of their ballot measure designed to enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution.
The pro-abortion measure was certified last month, and the deadline for collection of signatures is July 5. However, the earliest the measure can be placed on the ballot is in November – after the special election in August when voters may elect to change the requirements for the measure to pass.
“This is great news,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “This could completely change the outcome of the pro-abortion measure that may not even make it to the ballot for a vote in November. It could cause the extreme pro-abortion initiative to fizzle completely, and that is what we hope and pray will happen – so that Ohio babies can live.”