The US state of Ohio, controlled by Republicans, will vote on Tuesday in a referendum to decide whether to include the protection of the right to abortion in the state constitution, according to a poll conducted across America, News.ro reported with reference to AFP. .

Abortion advocates are calling for a “yes” vote to prevent the state from interfering in a “personal decision,” while opponents are calling for a “no” vote because the bill “goes too far.”

Polling stations opened at 6:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. Romanian).

A line of ten people lined up outside Northwest Christian Church in Columbus, the state capital, the night before the opening.

Erin, 45, who works at a brewery and prefers not to give her last name, said the two questions on Tuesday — Ohio is also voting on whether to legalize cannabis — “are very close to my heart.”

“We have to make our voice heard,” she emphasizes, without elaborating.

Both camps waged a fierce multimillion-dollar campaign in the North American state.

A bet on the presidential election

After the Supreme Court overturned its Roe v. Wade decision in the summer of 2022, which guaranteed American women’s federal right to abortion, the issue of abortion rights returned to the states.

Several states have restricted or banned abortions, while others have strengthened them.

Last year, abortion rights supporters scored sweeping victories in several polls, including in conservative states, much to the surprise of Republicans.

The highly mobilizing issue is expected to matter in the 2024 presidential election, including among Americans who do not consider themselves progressive, some of whom see the bans passed by several states as too radical.

Control work

In Ohio, in August, an attempt by the right to make it more difficult to organize and hold referendums, which were actually directed against abortion, failed.

Defenders of abortion managed to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to bring to a national vote an amendment to the Constitution, which enshrines the right to abortion.

It was also about opposing a law that came into effect after a Supreme Court decision that bans most abortions, including in cases of rape or incest, as soon as a heartbeat appears, which is in the sixth week of pregnancy, often before a woman is pregnant. to know that she is pregnant.

Ohio currently allows abortions up to the 22nd week of pregnancy. (News.ro)

photo: Traci Hahn | Dreamstime.com