Ohio’s Abortion Debate Mired in Misinformation

Reproductive rights advocates must counter erroneous claims about abortion to pass a proposed state constitutional amendment.

BY GABRIELLE GURLEY

OCTOBER 13, 2023

One distinctive feature of the Ohio abortion debate is that doctors and other reproductive rights–minded healthcare professionals have emerged as a potent coalition, steering public opinion from the moment that the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade.

Last year, 1,000 physicians in the state threw down an unambiguous challenge, “A Message to Our Patients on the Loss of Reproductive Rights,” which outlined their objections to political excesses like Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Ohio’s “heartbeat bill,” and listed some of the key reasons—chemotherapy, unviable pregnancies, rape—that lead women to undergo an abortion. Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights (OPRR), the group behind the campaign that had been originally spearheaded by two outraged doctors, also hammered home the “sanctity and privacy of the patient-physician relationship” and labeled the assault on women’s medical freedom of choice and criminalizing doctors “un-American.” Across the country, other statewide, doctor-led organizations have sprung up to protect reproductive rights.

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Fact-checking Ohio Issue 1 ads as Election Day nears

Updated: 5:49 PM EDT Nov 3, 2023

Steven Albritton

CINCINNATI —A major decision looms for Ohio voters on their November ballot. From the ads to the rallies to the yard signs, the mere mention of Issue One brings emotion on both sides of this proposed constitutional amendment.

If passed, it would enshrine the right to reproductive decisions into Ohio’s constitution.

We sat down with Dr. Anne Whitesell, an assistant political science professor at Miami University, to get the facts on some of the ads broadcast on our airwaves.

First up, an ad against issue one featuring Ohio's Gov. Mike DeWine and paid for by Protect Women Ohio.

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