Comment on this story
LOVELAND, Ohio – For the past few weeks, people have been canvassing Ohio to collect signatures for a November ballot proposal that codify the right to abortion in the state constitution.
I take our dog for a walk on a popular walking and biking trail where signature gatherers have, for two or three days a week, staked out a spot near a busy side street with shops and restaurants.
A petitioner came up to me early on and asked, “Do you want to sign the petition to protect the choice?” I smiled and replied, “I’m pro-life. But I support your right to do what you’re doing.” He smiled back at me and wished me a good day.
The suburb of Cincinnati where I live it has a conservative bent, but its historic downtown area, where the petitioners work, attracts visitors from all walks of life who are drawn to eat, bike and kayak. Little Miami River.
I ran into one of the petitioners a few days ago and asked him how he and his fellow signature gatherers were doing. He acknowledged that the effort in this particular area was a challenge some days, but the foot traffic made it worth his time. He showed me several pages of signatures collected that day.
State law requires that enough signatures be gathered from half of Ohio’s 88 counties for the 5th of July, so avoiding the more conservative regions was not an option, he noted. He added that apart from one time when a man threatened to call the police, people had been respectful regardless of their stance on abortion.
keep going this authorGary Abernathyopinions of
My discussion with the petitioner did not resemble the heated conflicts that we often imagine when people on opposite sides of issues, especially abortion, interact. We were friendly as we calmly talked about the legislature controversial attempt change the amendment threshold from a simple majority to 60 percent of the vote, as well as other issues, including recreational marijuana, which he noted could be an upcoming ballot issue. After a few minutes, we wished each other well, shook hands and parted amicably.
Similar scenes, I am sure, happen every hour in this place on the days when the petitioners meet. I walk the path two or three times a day, and often notice the signature gatherers in animated but respectful conversations with passers-by. Some people sign the petition, and others politely decline it while debating the merits of abortion or Ohio’s method of amending its constitution. Obviously, I’m not there every minute of every day, but I haven’t seen any angry shouting matches, or the need for the police to break up fights. Lively but civil interactions are the norm.
Abortion remains one of the most controversial issues in our country and in my state, and the Supreme Court’s decision a year ago Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has rekindled the passions. Ohio he didn’t they technically have an “active law,” but just hours after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a judge standing up an injunction against the state’s 2019 “heartbeat bill,” which banned most abortions after six weeks. That ban caused the widely informed case of a 10-year-old rape victim who traveled to a state to get an abortion, even though some state officials said she qualified for an exception. Since then, the ban has been paused by the courts
As a pro-lifer, I know how I will vote in November. But I also know that my beliefs on the issue are losing ground, and there’s a chance that Ohio will follow the example of states that have voted with the pro-choice side on similar measures.
I support the concept of citizen initiatives or referendums, but as a believer in representative democracy, I worry about abusing this practice. We elect people, whether to school boards, city councils, state legislatures, or the United States Congress, to represent us. However, as evidenced by the increasingly raucous local government meetings and the popularity of citizen-led electoral initiatives, people on all sides doubt that representative democracy works.
Therefore, I will respect the process and outcome of the November vote on the constitutional amendment, and then continue to vote for pro-life candidates. This is how it should work, peacefully, respectfully and democratically, as I have witnessed the petition campaign unfolding in my city. We all need to understand that even though we can be adversaries at times, we don’t have to be enemies.
Popular opinion articles
See 3 more stories
Source link
