Ohio voters legalize marijuana, NYC elects a Republican: 5 takeaways from the nation's election results

2. Ohio establishes a constitutional right to abortion

Ohio’s Issue 1 was the lone abortion-related referendum on the ballot Tuesday. The ballot measure, which would enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution, passed with nearly 57% of the vote Tuesday. Ohio has become the fourth state where voters have supported a measure to establish a right to abortion following the United States Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which determined that the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion. 

Other states that have constitutional rights to abortion are California, Michigan and Vermont. Unlike the three states where voters approved measures establishing a right to abortion last year, Ohio voted for Republican President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.  

In a phone call with members of the media two weeks ago, the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America expressed concern that pro-abortion advocacy groups would work to put similar referendums on the ballot in other conservative states, specifically Florida, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

The pro-life advocacy group also listed Arizona, which narrowly backed Biden in 2020, as a top target for those seeking to establish constitutional rights to abortion via ballot referendums. 

While the pro-life group currently lists Ohio as one of 25 states that have enacted strong pro-life protections following the Dobbs decision, the passage of Issue 1 nullifies the state’s heartbeat law that bans abortions after six weeks gestation. The six-week abortion ban was on hold by the courts at the time of the Issue 1 vote.