4 reactions to Ohio ballot initiative critics say is 'anti-women,' will usurp parents' rights

Protect Women Ohio

Another opponent of the amendment is the advocacy group Protect Women Ohio, which refers to the measure as the “latest example of the ACLU’s war on parental rights.” The group also cites a section on ACLU’s website declaring that minors who don’t involve parents in an abortion decision have a “good reason” not to as an example of why Ohioians should be concerned about the ACLU’s parental rights stance.

Protect Women Ohio has also called the purported validity of the signatures gathered into question, suggesting that proponents of the measure hired individuals to collect invalid signatures.

“The ACLU’s extreme anti-parent amendment is so unpopular that they couldn’t even rely on grassroots support to collect signatures,” Protect Women Ohio Press Secretary Amy Natoce said in a statement on its website.

“The ACLU paid out-of-state signature collectors to lie to Ohioans about their dangerous amendment that will strip parents of their rights, permit minors to undergo sex-change operations without their parents’ knowledge or consent, and allow painful abortion on demand through all nine months,” she continued. “The ACLU’s attempts to hijack Ohio’s constitution to further its own radical agenda would be pathetic if it wasn’t so dangerous.”

As Statehouse News Bureau reported in March, Protect Women Ohio released a $5 million TV and digital campaign to warn residents about the amendment.