The Debate Continues

Supporters of a ballot measure that would keep abortion rights in the Ohio Constitution far outraised their anti-abortion opponents in the months leading up to the November election, bringing in nearly $29 million from donors since Sept. 8, the campaign’s, latest filings show. The effort against Issue 1, which would amend the constitution to protect abortion rights, raised just under $10 million in the same period. The largest donations backing the amendment since Sept. 8 came from out-of-state groups, including three gifts totaling $5.3 million dollars from the progressive Sixteen Thirty Fund, based in Washington, D.C. The campaign, known as Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, also received $3.5 million from the New York-based Open Society Policy Center, a lobbying group associated with the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, and $2 million from the American Civil Liberties Union, also based in New York.