Ohio voted to protect abortion rights. Republicans are scheming to undo it

Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment on 7 November, guaranteeing its citizens the right to abortion access, but a group of rightwing Republican lawmakers is already trying to reverse that result.

The referendum, which Ohioans passed by 57% of votes, established a constitutional right to an abortion, overriding laws passed by the Republican-dominated legislature to dramatically restrict access. In response, 27 GOP members of the Ohio general assembly signed a statement the next day arguing the abortion rights proposal “failed to mention a single, specific law”, and vowing to “do everything in [their] power” to prevent the restrictive abortion laws on the books in Ohio from being challenged.

Four of them went even further, circulating draft legislation to give the legislature “exclusive authority over implementing” the constitutional amendment at the exclusion of the courts – a move legal experts have decried as unconstitutional.

“To prevent mischief by pro-abortion courts,” wrote the four Republican lawmakers in a statement, “Ohio legislators will consider removing jurisdiction from the judiciary over this ambiguous ballot initiative.”

The move is the latest attempt by some Republicans in the state to use their iron grip on the state legislature to push anti-democratic efforts. The legislature has for years declined to heed a 2015 ballot measure prohibiting partisan gerrymandering and attempted in August to make it harder for voters to directly affect policy through referendums. The latest move goes much further, essentially challenging the authority of the courts and the constitution.