Last year, Ohioans voted to enshrine the right to abortion in their state Constitution
In November 2023, over 2 million Ohioans voted in favor of Issue 1, the Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety amendment. As a result, the right to contraception and abortion care is now enshrined in the Ohio Constitution.
Ohio state courts now play a key role in enforcing those constitutional protections
The state courts have the power to decide if laws restricting abortion in Ohio violate the constitutional amendment, and should be struck down. Some of the existing abortion restrictions that are being challenged as unconstitutional include:
- A 24 hour waiting period for people seeking abortion care that makes it harder for patients to access care and that is not medically necessary.
- A ban on telehealth medication abortion, which forces patients to travel long distances and take additional time away from their jobs and families to access care outside their area.
- A law that prevents advanced practice clinicians—such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and certified nurse midwives—from providing medication abortion.
- A law that blocks providers from prescribing mifepristone—one of the two drugs most commonly used in a medication abortion–according to the best medical evidence.
These abortion restrictions impose unnecessary burdens on Ohioans, such as forcing them to travel long distances and take additional time from their jobs and families to access the health care they need and deserve.
Now it’s up to our courts
Courts are supposed to guard our constitutional rights. Now that the right to abortion care is in Ohio’s state constitution, Ohio state courts have the power to rule that these abortion restrictions are unconstitutional and block them for good.
We need our courts to defend our freedoms, apply the law fairly, and advance equality. Planned Parenthood Affiliates in Ohio and partners are working to challenge these restrictions on abortion care.