An overwhelming majority of Ohio voters back a state constitutional amendment that would guarantee access to abortion in the state.
A new USA TODAY Network/Suffolk University poll conducted among Ohio voters found that 58 percent supported the abortion rights amendment that is likely slated to appear on the ballot next November while 32 percent opposed it and 10 percent were undecided.
Among the supporters are one-third of Republicans polled, as well as 85 percent of independent women.
Nearly two-thirds of women supported the proposed amendment, while about half of the surveyed men did. Support was also the strongest among young voters, with nearly 70 percent of those aged 18-34 supporting the measure.
Support for the measure was largely divided along party lines, with 81 percent of Democrats in favor of it and 32 percent of Republicans in favor. Nearly 70 percent of independents also supported the measure, the poll found.
The proposed constitutional amendment states that “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion.”
Under this proposal, abortion could still be banned after a fetus is considered viable — or can live outside the womb.
Even though the proposed amendment appears to have widespread support, state Republicans are determined to make it more difficult to enshrine in the state constitution.
Ohio abortion rights groups said earlier this month that they submitted more than 700,000 signatures to place a measure on the Nov. 7 ballot that would codify abortion rights into the state constitution. State election officials have until Wednesday to codify the signatures.
Under Ohio state law, a ballot question needs more than 50 percent of the vote to amend the constitution. However, a court allowed an August special election to proceed that will allow lawmakers to raise the threshold of all future measures to a 60 percent supermajority, which critics say will make it harder to pass a constitutional amendment enshrining the right to an abortion.
The USA Today poll also found that 57 percent of respondents opposed raising the threshold to amend the state constitution.
The poll was conducted July 9-12 among 500 likely voters in Ohio and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.