Businessman and Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy said during the third Republican debate on Wednesday night that the passage of the abortion rights amendment in Ohio represents an overall weakness for Republicans heading into the 2024 election.
“I’m upset about this. Yesterday, they passed a constitutional amendment that now effectively codifies a right to abortion all the way up to the time of birth without parental consent,” said Ramaswamy. “Why? It’s back to that Republican culture of losing.”
ABORTION RIGHTS WIN OUT IN 2023 ELECTIONS, SHOWING GOP HASN’T FOUND FOOTING FOR 2024
Ohioans on Tuesday voted in favor of Ohio Issue 1, enshrining reproductive rights, including abortion, into their state constitution.
The language of the amendment says that the state cannot “directly or indirectly” burden a citizen’s reproductive health choice, including fertility treatments, contraception, and abortion. Because it is a constitutional amendment, legal analysts say that the passage of Issue 1 will invalidate existing state statutes that regulate abortion, including safety protocols for abortion clinics and parental consent laws.
Although the amendment allows for the legislature to institute limits after fetal viability, or the point at which a child can survive outside of the womb, the amendment also allows for a patient’s physician to determine that an abortion is necessary to protect the health of the mother.
Anti-abortion advocates, including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH), opposed Issue 1, saying that it is too extreme for Ohio.
“The Republicans did not have an alternative amendment or vision on the table,” said Ramaswamy. “I know Ohio, was born, raised, and I live there. It’s representative of the country.”
Abortion rights supporters began rallying support for an abortion rights amendment in response to the passage of a state law banning abortion after six weeks of gestation, at which time a fetal heartbeat is detectable via ultrasound. The heartbeat bill was signed by DeWine in 2019 and has been tied up in legal disputes since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Vance posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the upset in Ohio was a “gut punch.”
“We got creamed among voters who disliked both Issue 1 and also Ohio’s current law (heartbeat bill),” said Vance. “We saw this consistently in polling and in conversations. ‘I don’t like Issue 1, but I’d rather have that extreme than the other extreme.’ This is a political fact, not my opinion.”
Ramaswamy also said on the debate stage that fathers’ rights and “sexual responsibility for men” must play a greater role in the abortion debate moving forward.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“We live in an era of reliable genetic paternity tests that are 100% reliable, so we can say men deserve more responsibility, so we can tell women, ‘We’re all in this together.’ It’s not men’s rights vs. women’s rights. It’s about human rights,” said Ramaswamy.
Ramaswamy has been consistently opposed to a federal abortion ban and instead supports the ability of states to make their own decisions.
