Ohio abortion ballot measure 'a human rights issue, not a political football'

• Reproductive health experts available for interviews
• Ballot measures can be ‘a true read on the pulse of the American people,’ and ‘most Americans want abortion rights’
• ‘When people in the privacy of the voting booth tell you they want abortion rights in their state, it tells you how far ideas about women’s equality have come since Roe v. Wade’

CHICAGO --- Ohioans today have voted on abortion access. Issue 1, the ballot measure that would establish a right to abortion in the state constitution, has become viewed as a “political football” instead of the human rights issue it is, said Northwestern University medical ethicist Katie Watson.

“It’s reported as political news, and it is political, but a lot of the news coverage on this has missed how many lives it will affect,” said Watson, an associate professor of medical education, medical social sciences and obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. “It divorces the issue abortion care from its human impact to treat it as just one more political football. This is about human rights. And, when you put it on the ballot, we shouldn't be surprised when voters say, ‘Yes, I would like to have human rights.’” 

“No one wants their health played out on the field,” said reproductive health expert Dr. Melissa Simon.

Both Watson and Simon are available to speak with the media about today’s election results in Ohio. Email Kristin Samuelson at ksamuelson@northwestern.edu to arrange an interview.

“The premise of Dobbs is it returns abortion access to the states,” Watson said. “The ballot initiatives in state elections put the issue directly in the hands of the voters and can be a true read on the pulse of the American people. And the state-by-state story is most Americans want abortion rights. When you have a purple or conservative-leaning state, and the people in the privacy of the voting booth tell you they want abortion rights, that tells you a lot about how far ideas about women’s equality have come since Roe v. Wade.”