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Abortion Ban Amendment Falls Short of Needed Signatures

The proposed abortion ban that a group of citizens wants to put before Ohio voters has been stopped – for now. 

The proposed amendment to the Ohio constitution seeks to ban all abortion and classify it as aggravated murder, making doctors and women who have the procedure subject to prosecution. Attorney General Mike DeWine rejected the paperwork for it, because the three people who filed it needed a thousand valid signatures, but turned in only 842. But DeWine says he’s not ruling on the fairness or truthfulness of the language in the proposal, which is another step in the process. Little is known about the three people who put forward the proposal, but Ohio Right to Life says it’s not involved. If the group wants to try again, it’ll have to start over and gather another thousand signatures.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.