Voters in areas of the South & the Rust Belt voted in line with preserving reproductive freedoms. Ohioans voted to approve Issue 1, amending the right to abortion in their state constitution. This ballot measure won by a large margin (around 12%), demonstrating notable support for reproductive rights in a conservative state. The Ohio Secretary of State’s office says more than 3.9 million Ohioans voted in this November’s election, about 800,000 more than we saw back in August. Read More
Why This Matters:Voters in these states proved that reproductive rights are an important issue — one that spans beyond party lines. In these elections, constituents rallied together to preserve freedoms. In August, voters in Ohio rejected an anti-democratic measure looking to raise the bar to approve referendums, consequently making it harder to change the state’s constitution and protect the right to abortion. In the November 2023 election, 18 counties that voted for Trump in 2020 also voted in favor of Issue 1. AND, even more counties voted in favor of protecting abortion access than previously did in August 2023. These results send a strong message to lawmakers that reproductive freedom is an important and bi-partisan issue. Read more
How BigTent helped:Our BigTent community sent over 4,000 letters to voters in Ohio and Virginia through our campaign with Vote Forward and Vote Riders- and made hundreds of calls to voters. We hosted David Pepper,Center for Common Ground and We The People for Education. But as they say, “It ain’t over!”
What Happens Now:
Although this election was a huge win for democracy, extremists are already aiming to reverse the decision against the will of their voters. After the results of the election, anti-democratic officials in Ohio have already declared war against the will of the people, vowing to strike down reproductive freedom. Republican Senator J.D. Vance calls the outcome a “gut punch” and calls for “war” on this issue, despite the clear message his constituents are telling him. Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens responded to the election results saying: “As a 100% pro-life conservative, I remain steadfastly committed to protecting life, and that commitment is unwavering. The legislature has multiple paths that we will explore to continue to protect innocent life. This is not the end of the conversation.” Dig Deeper
About author, Breanna recently graduated from Dartmouth college with a B.A. degree in Government, Human-Centered Design, and English. At the college, she was a member of the women’s cross country and track and field teams. Breanna is passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). At Dartmouth, she was a Social Impact Fellow, where she spent two years building a flexible DEI training program for Lebanon NH’s city government and school district. Breanna was also the founding DEI Chair for Dartmouth’s chapter of KKG. Over her gap year, Breanna worked for Senator Maggie Hassan’s (D-NH) press team. Breanna currently lives in Washington state. She loves poetry, photography, knitting & crochet, podcasts, and spending time with her family & two dogs.
