Ohio Republicans Get Called Out for Lying to Voters

After their 10-Year-old rape victim scandal, Ohio Republicans and Gov. DeWine are trying to trick voters into voting against abortion rights. Local papers are calling them out on it.

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Ohio Republicans already tried to stop this abortion and healthcare amendment pre-emptively several months ago, when they used the same title to try to get people to vote against abortion. But Ohio voted in a way seen to mean they chose to protect abortion rights.

Cut to: Issue One is on the ballot on November 7th — and Republicans fear they are losing the battle. So they’ve resorted to actively deceiving voters any way they can. Local papers are calling them out on it. Buckle up because the lies are relentless.

Issue One

Issue One is described as

“The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.” We need only look back at the ten-year-old rape victim whose family had to take her to another state for an abortion to refresh our memories about what protections for health and safety abortion rights cover.

A Yes vote enshrines the protection of the health and safety of women and girls.

A No vote leaves abortion up to the people who gave Ohio a 6 week ban with no exceptions for rape or incest.

Lying on their government website

Ohio Republicans are now not just lying to voters in their ads, but lying directly from their state Senate government website.

Republicans have used their government website, which the AP noted is prioritized in searches for "Issue One," to lie to voters, using "inflammatory language", "warning of 'abortion on demand' or 'dismemberment of fully conscious children' if voters approve it."

None of that is true.

The AP points out, “And because the source is a government website, the messaging is being prioritized in online searches for information about Issue 1, the question going before Ohio voters Nov. 7 to enshrine abortion access in the state Constitution.”

Secretary of State website also misleading

The very first Google response in a search for Issue One Ohio is the OLD measure on the Secretary of State website.

Yes, the Secretary of State is a Republican and yes, he admitted outright they ran the first Issue 1 in an attempt to trick voters.

“Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose — who is also a Senate candidate — openly acknowledging that the purpose of the measure was to help prevent the November abortion-rights proposal from passing,” NBC reported.

Republicans lie about Issue One amendment

NBC4 pointed out that opponents, that would be Republicans, of Issue One cite “late term abortions” as the problem with the amendment. Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted made the case that late term abortions are too radical.

They sure are. Because they’re not real. NBC4 says:

“Late-term abortions” do not exist in the medical field, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Medical providers describe a pregnancy as “late term” when a person enters the 40th week of gestation, followed by “postterm” pregnancies at 42 weeks gestation – but those terms are independent from the types of abortion performed at various stages of pregnancy.

The Governor lies to Ohio voters, too

It's not just Republicans in the Senate, either. The lies are pounding down hard upon Ohio voters, coming from Republican Governor DeWine and his wife, too. They lie to say there will be partial birth abortions, when not only has there been a federal ban on “partial birth” abortions for 20 years, but Governor DeWine was there in 2003 when former President George W. Bush signed it.

"They’re lying. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and wife Fran cut a homey anti-Issue 1 ad with warm lighting and soft music that features the couple as honest-to-goodness people with heart-felt concerns about the abortion rights amendment on the ballot Nov. 7. Then the lovely pair proceed to lie through their teeth," commentary in the Ohio Capital Journal reads.

The Akron Beacon Journal agrees. "Gov. DeWine hits new low with false claims about Ohio Issue 1," it's titled. "(T)he governor strays far from belief, policy and principle. He joins in the deceitfulness of opponents. He fans their misleading claims."

They dig into it:

First, he suggests the issue invites confusion. Actually, the choice is clear: A “yes” vote means enshrining the right of women to make their own decisions about abortion and other reproductive care. A “no” vote opens the way to Ohio all but banning abortion, and to the punishing fallout that would follow.

Fran insists the proposal “would allow an abortion at any time during a pregnancy.” Not so. After the fetus reaches “viability,” at roughly 24 weeks, the state may set restrictions, as long as doctors are permitted to protect the health and life of the woman.

This part of the ad alludes to “late-term” abortions. Yet such procedures are exceedingly rare, less than 1% of all abortions, and usually involve tragic circumstances for the woman or the fetus or both.

Fran then warns, also falsely, that Issue 1 “would deny parents the right to be involved when their daughter is making the most important decision of her life.” The proposed amendment says nothing about restricting parental rights, let alone carving an exception from current limits on the rights of minors.

It’s positively craven for Ohio Republicans to use “parental choice” as an argument for banning abortion, given that their previous ban led to the 10-year-old rape victim’s parents having to take her out of state to enact their choice to save their daughter’s health and life.