Nov 7, 2023
Ohio Governor IMPLODES As Stunning Voter Scheme Revealed
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine pulls a desperate stunt spreading misinformation ahead of voting for a ballot measure that aims to protect abortion access and has already proven to be popular with state voters. David Shuster and Adrienne Lawrence break it down on The Damage Report.
- 6 minutes
In Ohio,
abortion is very much on the ballot today.
The question there is whether or
not there's a abortion
protections can be enshrined.
And so
there is wall-to-wall disinformation.
We're gonna break down some of this in
the Ohio vote today in a moment, but
[00:00:15]
we also wanna let you know about some
of the dirty tricks that are underway.
But first of all,
Governor Mike DeWine, he says, well,
lemme just read this Ohio Issue 1,
here's the text.
Establish in the Constitution of the state
of Ohio an individual right to one's own
[00:00:32]
reproductive medical treatment,
including but not limited to abortion.
Prohibit the state from directly or
indirectly burdening, penalizing or
prohibiting abortion before an unborn
child is determined to be viable unless
the state demonstrates that it is
using the least restrictive means.
Always allow an unborn child to be
aborted at any stage of pregnancy,
[00:00:51]
regardless of viability, if in
the treating physician's determination,
abortion is necessary to protect
the women's life or health.
Now, less clear, but clear cut on this
is the sort of the ballot language, so
no changes are expected related to
minors obtaining abortions in the state,
[00:01:08]
as there's already a legal process for
that.
Judicial bypass, as it stands now,
has been around 2012 in the state
after then Governor John Kasich
has signed a law that prohibited
forcing a minor to have an abortion,
but leaves in place a legal way for
minors to petition juvenile courts
to bypass parental consent.
[00:01:25]
The legal method uses the court system
to allow underage individuals to make
decisions for themselves where parental
consent would typically be necessary,
such as in cases of abuse.
All right, well, given all of this,
and it's a little bit confusing,
let's hear how the state Governor,
Mike DeWine,
[00:01:41]
let's listen to what he had
to say about all of this.
>> Speaker 2: If you look at Issue 1,
it's a radical proposal, and
whether you're pro-choice or pro-life,
it just goes much, much too far.
It would enshrine in our Constitution the
right to have an abortion up until birth,
[00:01:59]
so at any time during the pregnancy.
The second thing it would do is really
threaten a law that we've had on the books
for many years that requires parental
consent if we're dealing with a minor.
>> Speaker 1: Actually, [LAUGH] that's
not what this ballot amendment would do.
[00:02:16]
But obviously, Mike DeWine,
he's got the platform of being governor so
he can spin this and mislead people
because obviously he's pro-life.
And doesn't like the idea that Ohio voters
might actually support giving women
certain basic rights for
their reproductive health and freedom.
Now, while lying about ballot measures
is nothing new for the Republican Party,
[00:02:34]
they're using of taxpayer funds
to push a certain outcome.
Well, that may be, and the Ohio Senate
has launched its on-the-record blog in
September, describing the page.
The only one linked under the official
site's news tab is the Chamber's own
online newsroom,
publishing the views the news excludes.
Well, in the weeks leading
up to the election,
[00:02:51]
on the Record has focused its
coverage on denouncing Issue 1,
publishing articles from state senators
that repeat the claims of abortion
access outlined in the Protect Women Ohio
ad alongside others.
One claims the amendment would allow for
the dismemberment of fully conscious
children, referring to a procedure
that the US government banned in 2003.
[00:03:10]
While another decontextualizes the high
rates of abortion among black women to
further narrative that the rate
is fueled by an evil and
predatory abortion industry.
Look, with all the confusion,
misinformation efforts to try to spin what
seems to me a pretty clear-cut effort by
voters in Ohio to protect women's rights.
[00:03:29]
Nonetheless, there has been an incredible
sort of surge of early voting,
in part driven by this issue of
abortion rights and women's rights.
Through Sunday,
voters had cast 864, 525 ballots,
compared to 757,653 who voted early for
the entire August election.
[00:03:45]
The numbers include the 79,388 people who
voted early and in person on Saturday and
Sunday during the state's first and only
weekend hours for early in-person voting.
Adrienne a couple of
things to pick apart here,
first of all, the use of taxpayer funds,
whether, even if it's a blog,
[00:04:02]
to spread misinformation
about a ballot issue.
Could there be some legal
vulnerability with that?
>> Speaker 3: Not likely the case,
especially if it's something that
member of the government did.
But it does speak to how insidious a lot
of these efforts to get people to continue
[00:04:22]
to subscribe to your ideology, that you
have to swindle them, you have to lie
to them and misrepresent what the laws
are in order to get people to back them.
That's not democracy, and
that's not how it should work.
If anything, that's an admission of the
fact that you should not be in a position
[00:04:40]
to represent that body of people.
And the thing that I would think about
Ohio right now is that they had all of
the controversy and all the headlines
about the ten year old girl who was raped
and became pregnant and
had to go to Indiana for an abortion.
And so Ohio is doing everything it can
in terms of its leadership to say don't
[00:04:57]
worry, we have situations like this
covered, and it's really not a problem.
But really it is, given the language
that they are choosing for
the proposed legislation.
>> Speaker 1: [INAUDIBLE] An individual
right to one's own reproductive medical
[00:05:13]
treatment, including but
not limited to abortion,
I think if you would poll people
on that without sort of all of
the distractions and without all the false
ads and without all the false blogs.
And when that has been polled
across the United States,
80% of American people support that.
Well, when they're then told that
you're now supporting abortion rights,
[00:05:30]
maybe it drops a little bit.
But most people who are even pro-life,
even most people who are pro-life say.
I may be opposed to abortion personally,
but I do believe that in the state
constitution or in the federal
Constitution, there should be a right for
a woman to choose what's best for
her between her and her doctor.
[00:05:49]
And again, that's essentially
what Ohio was trying to do.
And then this Text 1, this article 1,
is also trying to make sure that the state
cannot throw up all sorts of roadblocks.
So it'll be interesting
to see how this goes.
As we've seen, though, in previous
elections, abortion, at least ever since
[00:06:06]
the Supreme Court in the Dobbs
decision got rid of Roe versus Wade.
Every single ballot measure, every single
election that has been about should there
be a constitutional
amendment banning abortion,
should there be something supporting
abortion rights has always won.
And that's in part because I think the
polling is so clear and dominant on this
[00:06:24]
issue that people recognize that abortion
rights, women's rights are under fire.
And even for Republicans, moderate
Republicans, it's even some pro-life
folks, they believe this should
be a woman's right to choose.
So my prediction is that,
as has happened in Ohio,
[00:06:39]
think there was another
issue in Ohio a year ago.
I have a feeling that the people
supporting Text 1 are gonna be successful,
and this will be enshrined
in the Ohio Constitution.
But we'll see what the voters decide,
and we'll have, of course,
some results that we can analyze.
[MUSIC]
Now Playing (Clips)
Episode
Podcast
The Damage Report: November 7, 2023
Hosts: David Shuster Guests: Adrienne Lawrence
- 4 minutes
- 8 minutes
- 6 minutes
- 6 minutes
- 6 minutes
- 4 minutes