“I Wish, As A Man, I Didn’t Have To Make This Decision”*

John Curtis (R-UT), on abortion. Curtis is considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat Mitt Romney vacates next year.

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

Conservative states and certain members of Congress, including the new House speaker, are doing everything imaginable to keep women second-class citizens, to prevent them from having bodily autonomy and making their own reproductive healthcare decisions.

When given the opportunity, a majority of voters in conservative states unvaryingly and overwhelmingly reject those efforts.

Ohio is among the most prolific examples.

In May, the Ohio legislature sought to prevent passage of a constitutional amendment to protect bodily autonomy and reproductive care by voting along party lines to put a proposal on the ballot requiring “amendments to the State Constitution gain approval of 60 percent of voters, up substantially from the current requirement of a simple majority.” The Ohio legislature also tried to curb voter interest — and opposition — by scheduling the measure for a “sleepy summer election in an off year.” Voters weren’t tricked. The measure lost by 13 percentage points. Ohio Voters Reject Constitutional Change Intended to Thwart Abortion Amendment.

This past week, “Ohioans overwhelmingly chose to enshrine abortion protections in the…