Ohioans on both sides of the abortion debate are looking toward November's vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution after anti-abortion advocates on Tuesday lost their push to increase the threshold to pass a referendum amendment.

"I think this just is really going to bring our base together more and make us realize how much more we need to be messaging to all Ohioans and really broadening our base of support," Amy Natoce of Protect Women Ohio, the lead anti-abortion group in the state, told the Washington Examiner.

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Ohioans voted in a special election on Tuesday on Issue 1, whether to require a super majority of 60% popular vote to add an amendment to the state constitution. The final results showed a 57-43 opposition to Issue 1 after over 3 million ballots had been tabulated.

"Our pro-life grassroots base is incredible. They carried this fight in August," Natoce affirmed. November, however, must be "a matter of bringing everybody into the fold because every single parent should be concerned about this amendment. Every single woman should be concerned about this amendment."

Supported by the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood, November's amendment prohibits the state from acting in a way that would, “directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” individual exercise or assistance in obtaining abortion and contraception access. Although the amendment allows the state legislature to regulate abortion after fetal viability, the amendment still allows a physician to determine that an abortion is in the best health interest of the mother past that point.

The amendment also would invalidate existing parental consent laws and certain safety regulations for abortion clinics, such as required hospital admittance privileges and proximity to an emergency room.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican running for the Buckeye State's open Senate seat in 2024, was a vocal supporter of Issue 1 and remains against this November's abortion amendment.

"Ohioans will see the devastating impact of this vote soon enough," LaRose posted in a statement on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "I've said for months now that there's an assault coming on our constitution, and that hasn't changed. I'm just getting started in the fight to protect Ohio's values."

Abortion rights advocates, by contrast, are taking the Issue 1 vote as a sign that they have rallied even greater support for the November vote.

"The voices of Ohioans will never be silenced. Ohioans will now turn their focus to protecting their right to access abortion and to once again rejecting extremism and government control," said the state's top pro-abortion rights organization, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights. "Ohioans still have a voice and an opportunity this November to ensure families have the freedom to make decisions that are best for them, free from government meddling and interference."

"Just 90 days till we secure abortion access for all Ohioans in November," said Jordan Close, deputy director of Ohio Women's Alliance, another pro-abortion rights advocacy organization.

In August 2022, voters in Kansas struck down a proposed constitutional amendment that would have given the state legislature the opportunity to act to restrict abortion access by explicitly stating that the constitution did not recognize the right to an abortion. Since then, Kansas has become a prime destination for those out of state traveling to obtain an abortion, with nearly 69% of the over 12,000 abortions in Kansas being from out-of-state residents.

Natoce also said that it is a "tremendous concern" that November's amendment will make Ohio another destination in the Midwest for traveling to obtain an abortion.

The amendment states that "it would protect anybody any third party that assists somebody with obtaining an abortion," Natoce said. This, combined with the removal of parental consent, "means we would now be seeing, you know, a teacher, a soccer coach, a predator. Anybody could take an underage girl to get an abortion with no questions asked, and they will face no repercussions."

"That is a major concern that it will be harder to find and to prosecute predators," Natoce said.

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Abortion rights advocates, however, fear that not passing the amendment will eventually result in the abolition of abortion entirely.

"All year, hundreds of thousands Ohioans have been fighting for their reproductive freedom, volunteering, talking to their neighbors, and signing our ballot petition to protect abortion rights," Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights said. "Ohioans know that if we don’t succeed, the government will have the power to ban abortion completely, even in cases of rape, incest, or when someone’s life is in danger. Our grassroots movement across Ohio is continuously growing, and we will be working hard every day to ensure their voices are heard in November."