Ohio to vote in latest post-Roe US abortion referendum
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Transcript
00:00 Last-minute campaigning on the streets of the state capital Columbus.
00:05 Summer McLean and her mother Laurie have been going door-to-door for days on end,
00:09 as well as phoning and texting,
00:11 and every conceivable way of persuading people to vote in favour of the right to abortion.
00:18 It's a deep, visceral issue for them.
00:21 They say they've been enraged since the Roe v Wade case was overturned,
00:26 ending the constitutional right to abortion.
00:28 It was tough and it just...
00:32 having somebody say what you can and can't do with your body is really scary.
00:38 So, for me.
00:40 It just set me on fire, literally, and I think it did a lot of people.
00:44 While filming, they find they've got support in this community.
00:48 It's our body and we have the right.
00:52 And the government is trying to take it away from us and they shouldn't have the right.
00:56 Pro-choice campaigners successfully petitioned for this vote to go ahead.
01:00 ...show up in droves on Tuesday and vote no on issue one.
01:03 But there's fierce opposition here too.
01:05 Inside the Centre for Christian Virtue, the fight is around what's called Article 1.
01:10 It would establish in the state constitution the right to one's own reproductive medical treatment
01:15 and allow abortion up to around 24 weeks of pregnancy,
01:19 or right up until birth, if necessary, to protect the life of the mother.
01:23 I have a lot of problems with the idea of somebody being able to take my daughter to go get an abortion without me ever knowing.
01:29 I mean, the stakes could not be higher in that regard.
01:31 And the idea that we would have abortion all the way up until the point of birth when the child can feel pain,
01:36 that we'd be one of the most liberal states in the nation.
01:38 This is Ohio, for goodness sake. This isn't California.
01:40 The issue divides the state and divides the nation, split on political lines too, ahead of next year's election.