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Ballot Proposal Would Make Abortion Aggravated Murder in Ohio

photo of Kellie Copeland
KELLIE COPELAND

A newly proposed ballot initiative filed with Ohio's attorney general woudl make make abortion a felony  in Ohio. 

Petition signatures have been filed with the AG’s office to put the issue on Ohio's ballot. It would ban all abortions, without exception, and classify them as aggravated murder. Doctors who perform abortions and women who have them would be prosecuted and could face 15 years to life in prison.

It would cover "from fertilization, whether fertilization occurs inside or outside of a human, until live birth."

NARAL Pro Choice Ohio’s Kellie Copeland’s says that it could affect some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization.

“We know that it is unconstitutional ,but that hasn’t stopped a number of attempts in Ohio over the years.”

There are no details about who’s behind this proposal, but Ohio Right to Life says it is not. It would not comment. Right to Life also wasn’t involved in a previous “personhood” amendment, which sought to give a fertilized egg the legal rights of a person.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment. Jo started her career in Louisville, Kentucky in the mid 80’s when she helped produce a televised presidential debate for ABC News, worked for a creative services company and served as a general assignment report for a commercial radio station. In 1989, she returned back to her native Ohio to work at the WOSU Stations in Columbus where she began a long resume in public radio.