COLUMBUS, Ohio – After months of denial, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose admitted that a proposal to make the constitution harder to amend is “100 percent” because of efforts to legalize the abortion
Advocates have argued that Issue 1, which would make it harder to amend the Ohio constitution, is actually about trying to make it harder for abortion to be a constitutional right.
But on November 17, 2022, Secretary of State Frank LaRose said otherwise.
“I should never deal with this kind of change,” said the secretary.
Ohioans will likely have the option this November to enshrine reproductive rights into law.
“‘Why are you doing it now?’ Because it’s ready,” he added.
Every time LaRose has been asked if #1 was related to an abortion vote, he has denied it.
“If it’s a specific issue, then somebody’s not really focused on what we’re trying to achieve here,” the secretary said.
But the words he spoke to reporters seem different from when he spoke to his fans.
“This is 100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution,” LaRose said.
Raw video obtained by News 5 from Scanner media shows the secretary on Lincoln Day on May 22, 2023 in Seneca County, with what advocates call “saying the quiet part out loud.”
“It’s absolutely shameful that Secretary LaRose or anyone would work to take that freedom away from us just because of one issue,” said Jen Miller of the League of Women Voters of Ohio.
Miller explained that it was LaRose who first came up with the idea of raising the threshold for a constitutional amendment to go from a simple majority to 60 percent. This would change the way the Constitution has worked for more than 110 years.
To read more about the battle for #1, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page for relevant articles.
“This is about corrupt politicians and special interest groups trying to trick everyday Ohioans into taking away our rights,” Miller added.
LaRose has continually denied that his idea is related to any specific policy.
In the secretary’s testimony in support of the legislation, he said: “The campaigns will make this a fight over the hot political issues of the moment. . . . We all need to take a deep breath, put aside the current political squabbles, and ask ourselves if this is the best way to govern our state in the long term.”
In the video, he adds that even though it’s about abortion now, it would be helpful down the road to combat what he calls “dangerous plans” from “the left.”
“The next thing they want to do is put a $15 an hour minimum wage in our state constitution,” he said. “And who knows what happens next? Marijuana?”
News 5 tried for days to reach out to speak with LaRose, but his team declined to answer questions.
Spokesman Rob Nichols issued a statement.
“Secretary LaRose has consistently said that we have to raise the bar for amending our state constitution, whether it’s health care, minimum wage, casinos or any other special interest agenda… #1 applies to an unlimited number of policy issues. That’s the point,” the statement said, ignoring News 5’s questions about abortion.
But at the Lincoln Day event, this was the message:
“Some people say this is all about abortion. Well, you know what?” LaRose said. “It’s 100% about keeping a radical pro-abortion amendment out of our constitution, the left wants to introduce it next November.”
No. 1 is “one of the ways we can make sure they don’t succeed,” LaRose continued.
“The secretary of state’s office should be a nonpartisan position,” Miller said. “This just shows that politics is creeping into how Secretary LaRose runs his office, and that’s disappointing.”
Also, in the Seneca County video, the clerk says he hopes to have an announcement this summer about running for U.S. Senate.
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