Abortion advocates submit signatures for abortion ballot initiative in Oho by the deadline..... By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Women's March Cleveland leads some 2,500 women and their supporters via a protest for reproductive rights and abortion access held on Oct. 2, 2021 at Market Square Park in Cleveland, Ohio, a sister march to marches held in cities across the country that day spearheaded by Women's March National out of Washington, D.C. ( Photo by David Petkiewicz of the Cleveland Plain Dealer Newspaper and Cleveland.com). Ohio's largest grassroots women's rights group, Women's March Cleveland and its supporters  rallied and marched again, and  on June 24, 2023 outside of cleveland City Hall, a year after the Supreme Court, on June 24, 2022,  overturned Roe v Wade.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

 CLEVELAND,Ohio--As the July 5 deadline ends Ohio advocates sekking to get abortion enshrined in the Ohio constitution  have submitted some 710,000 signatures to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose in an effort to get the  issue before voters in November, far more than the roughly 413,000 needed under state law. 

On Monday, volunteers from across the state processed petitions collected over the weekend in Ohio's biggest cities like Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo and in some suburban and rural areas.

State officials have until July 20 to review the signatures for duplicates and other potential errors and until July 25 to certify the petitions. (Signatures can be thrown out, for example, if the person wasn’t registered to vote at the address submitted or if the person’s handwriting was unreadable.)

A competing measure, an Aug 8 ballot measure where the state legislature is asking voters to raise the threshold for future constitutional amendments in Ohio from a simple majority to a super majority, or 60 percent of voters, has not slowed the momentum,    

Polling shows that the the reproductive rights amendment to enshrine abortion into the Ohio constitution would likely pass with somewhere between 50 to 60% support. time will tell.  

Hundreds of women in greater Cleveland, led by Women's March Cleveland. Ohio's largest grassroots women's rights group that has been fighting for reproductive rights since 2017 when Donald Trump took office as president for a first term, rallied and marched outside of Cleveland City Hall on  Sat., June 24, the one-year anniversary of  the overturning of Roe v wade by the U.S. Supreme Court. These same women's advocates, and others, are the one's pushing for a constitutional amendment for abortion access in Ohio.

Last year, on June 24, 2022, the nation's high court ended access to abortion for women nationwide and gave individual states the authority to legislate abortion, including to restrict or outright outlaw the procedure all together, causing a firestorm of protests throughout the country.

More than 14 states have near-total abortion bans during any point in pregnancy in effect, and at least six states have implemented abortions bans with other limits from six to 20 weeks bans. Ohio has a six-week abortion ban dubbed "the heartbeat bill" that is on hold per a judge's ruling as abortion advocates hope to get abortion on the November ballot in Ohio.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.