Ohio abortion rights measure to head before voters on November ballot

Washington — A proposal to enshrine reproductive rights in the Ohio Constitution will head before voters in the state after the secretary of state announced Tuesday that a measure to amend the state constitution qualified for the November general election ballot.

The proposed constitutional amendment, called "The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety," provides that every individual has the right to make their own reproductive decisions, including on contraception and abortion, and prohibits the state from prohibiting or interfering with the "voluntary exercise of this right." 

The measure would allow the state to prohibit abortion after fetal viability, which it defines as "the point in a pregnancy when, in the professional judgment of the pregnant patient's treating physician, the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus with reasonable measures."