DeWine calls Ohio abortion ballot measure a ‘radical proposal’

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) called a referendum on reproductive rights on the ballot Tuesday in his home state a “radical proposal,” just days before voters will take to the polls to weigh in on the issue.

“If you look at Issue 1 — it’s a radical proposal and whether you’re pro-choice or pro-life, it just goes much, much too far,” DeWine said Sunday on CBS News’s “Face The Nation.” “It is a radical proposal and does not fit Ohio.”

The proposed constitutional amendment, called Issue 1, would establish abortion protections in the state’s constitution. The highly anticipated vote comes after weeks of rallies from both supporting and opposing groups, political leaders and celebrities.

Ohio, which has increasingly trended red, is being looked at as a testing ground for whether Democrats can pass such abortion protections. The Buckeye State passed a six-week abortion ban shortly after the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade last year, before a state court put the ban on hold last fall. 

DeWine previously released an ad with his wife urging voters to reject the measure.

When pressed by CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan about the issue of viability — an indication of the chance a fetus can survive outside of the uterus — DeWine said the “viability equation” will be determined by the person performing the abortion, whether that be at Planned Parenthood or elsewhere.

“So that’s the person who’s going to determine — there’s no review of that,” DeWine continued. “Second, there is a wide exception written into this law, which talks about the health of the mother. The Supreme Court, the United States has defined this extremely broadly; [it] can mean health, can mean something having to do with her income, it can have something to do with how many children she has and again, it is the person performing the abortion in the clinic who’s going to make that determination, and there’s no review of.”

“So as a practical matter … the lawyers [were] very mindful [of] what language they were using,” DeWine continued.

He claimed the bill would allow “abortion at any point in the pregnancy, and that is just much too far.”

Ohio residents will be able to vote on the measure Tuesday, with a surge in early voting already reported.