Ohio Senator JD Vance: Passage of Issue 1 a ‘Gut Punch’ to Pro-Lifers

U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) took to social media Wednesday reacting to the passage of Statewide Issue 1 in Ohio.

Ohio voters passed Issue 1 on the ballot Tuesday, according to unofficial election results published by the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, a total of 56.62 percent of voters voted for the constitutional amendment while 43.38 percent voted against it.

With the passage of Statewide Issue 1, the Buckeye State will now allow for late-term abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, nullifying the state’s current law which permits abortions up until 22 weeks of pregnancy for any reason.

For pro lifers, last night was a gut punch. No sugar coating it.

Giving up on the unborn is not an option. It’s politically dumb and morally repugnant. Instead, we need to understand why we lost this battle so we can win the war.

I was very involved in the “no” campaign for…

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) November 8, 2023

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Vance called Tuesday’s election results in regard to Issue 1 a “gut punch” for pro-lifers.

“Giving up on the unborn is not an option. It’s politically dumb and morally repugnant,” Vance said before diving into his thoughts on why the amendment was approved by Ohioans.

“First, we got creamed among voters who disliked both Issue 1 and also Ohio’s current law (heartbeat bill). We saw this consistently in polling and in conversations,” Vance said. “I don’t like Issue 1, but I’d rather have that extreme than the other extreme. This is a political fact, not my opinion.”

“Second, we have to recognize how much voters mistrust us (meaning elected Republicans) on this issue,” Vance continued. “Having an unplanned pregnancy is scary. Best case, you’re looking at social scorn and thousands of dollars of unexpected medical bills. We need people to see us as the pro-life party, not just the anti-abortion party.”

The senator added that the topic of abortion “is not about moral legitimacy but political reality,” saying former President Donald Trump was right when he once said, “you’ve got to have the exceptions.”

“I am as pro life as anyone, and I want to save as many babies as possible… I’ve seen dozens of good polls on the abortion question in the last few months, many of them done in Ohio. Give people a choice between abortion restrictions very early in pregnancy with exceptions, or the pro choice position, and the pro life view has a fighting chance,” Vance added.

Vance also noted that the Republican Party has “spent so much time winning a legal argument on abortion that we’ve fallen behind on the moral argument,” suggesting the party needs to “do a much better job of persuasion” in regards to showing the “heart of the pro life movement.”

Vance also acknowledged the lack of advertising and funding that went into urging voters to vote against Issue 1.

“We got outspent big time on Issue 1, and across the country. Republicans are almost always outspent by Democrats. Relatedly, Democrats are better at turning out in off-year elections. The national party should be focused on two, and only two issues: how to juice turnout in off year elections and how to close the finance gap with Democrats,” Vance explained.

Vance said by looking towards the future while also acknowledging the repercussions the passage of Issue 1 has on Ohio families.

“A lot of people are celebrating right now, and I don’t care about that. I do care about the fact that because we lost, many innocent children will never have a chance to live their dreams,” Vance said. “There is something sociopathic about a political movement that tells young women (and men) that it is liberating to murder their own children. So let’s keep fighting for our country’s children, and let’s find a way to win.”

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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Background Photo “Ohio Abortion Protesters” by Becker1999. CC BY 2.0.