On Aug. 8, abortion-rights advocates won a crucial victory in Ohio, as voters defeated a measure that would have made the push to enshrine abortion rights in the state's constitution more difficult.
The proposal known as Issue 1which the state's GOP-controlled legislature put on the ballotwould have raised the threshold to pass constitutional amendments from a simple majority to a 60% vote, CNN noted.
Ohio's August election would ordinarily have been a low-key affair. In fact, the Republican-led state government had just enacted a law that effectively ended August special elections therebut then it backtracked and scheduled the Aug. 8 election.
Last summer, red state Kansas kicked off several victories for abortion-rights advocates after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
The November vote on the proposed constitutional amendment will decide the future of abortion rights in Ohiothe state from where a 10-year-old rape victim traveled to Indiana for an abortion last year, days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe.
Abortion continues to be an issue that can lead to controversial actions. Recently, a grand jury indicted Columbus, Ohio resident Mohamed Farah Waes on three felony counts after he allegedly threatened to burn down a local Planned Parenthood clinic last year, NBC News reported.
Andrew Davis