COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republicans on the Ohio Ballot Board have refused any wrongdoing after significantly changing the November ballot language for the abortion rights amendment.
Ohioans will vote in mere months if abortion rights should be a part of the state constitution. But before that, there is controversy surrounding what the new Issue 1 will look like.
Advocates gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures supporting the reproductive rights proposal, but the language voters will see on the ballot isn't what they signed up for.
"They're trying to affect the result by changing people's understanding of what's happening here — that's wrong," state Rep. Elliot Forhan (D-South Euclid) said.
Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit against the GOP-led Ohio Ballot Board. Forhan, one of the two Democrats on the five-person board, explained it's to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the Republican changes to the amendment.
RELATED: Abortion rights amendment petition writers sue Ohio Ballot Board for 'deceptive' summary
"See through the nonsense that the majority on the Ohio Ballot Board is trying to pull," the lawmaker said.
The board is made up of Sec. of State Frank LaRose, state Sen. Theresa Gavarone (R-Bowling Green) and appointee William Morgan for the GOP side. Forhan and state Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-Toledo) for the Democrats.
LaRose, who admitted that he pushed for an August special election to try to stop the abortion rights amendment from passing, "worked extensively on drafting" the new language.
RELATED: Ohio Sec. of State LaRose admits move to make constitution harder to amend is ‘100% about… abortion’
The Republicans on the ballot board responded to the lawsuit. They denied that their language is “incomplete, inaccurate, and misleading.”
Anti-abortion group Ohio Right to Life’s Mike Gonidakis agreed.
"The ballot board did their job as the law required and it will be upheld by the Ohio Supreme Court," the lobbyist said.
Changes
The original version states everyone has the right to make their own reproductive decision — including contraception, fertility treatment, continuing ones own pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.
But the GOP version only lists abortion, removing the other rights — like contraception.
The original version explains that abortion may be prohibited after fetal viability.
The new version says it would allow abortions “at any stage of pregnancy, regardless of viability.”
The original version used the medical term "fetus," but the GOP changed it to "unborn child."
To read more about the changes, click or tap here.
"The Revised Code has the phrase unborn child in it; they have absolute justification," Gonidakis said. "I think the court will uphold that — to use the term unborn child."
The Republicans, in their filing, stated that they don't legally have to use the language from the petition.
"I very much hope... that Ohio Supreme Court would do the right thing and fix the language," Forhan said.
The court will most likely hear the case this month.
Context
It is important to note that no matter what voters read at the polls, the language that would be implemented into the Ohio Constitution is the version that the abortion rights groups supported and petitioned for.
This GOP change would only impact voting, not the actual state constitution or law.
Oftentimes, amendments or statutes are just tweaked before being sent to the voters. For example, Issue 2 on the ballot is recreational marijuana legalization. The ballot board didn't touch their petition language at all.
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