It's the Bryan Lair Show on WNYC, good morning everyone.

Today is referendum day in the state of Ohio, maybe you've already heard this in the news.

The word abortion is not on the ballot, but that's what it's about and states all over

the country are watching this model of fighting for and against abortion rights.

Many states have Republican majority legislatures that are banning abortion

now that the Supreme Court earlier this year removed abortion as a constitutional right.

But many of those same states have a majority of the people who support a right to choose.

So abortion rights advocates are trying to go around the legislatures with these referendums

where the people decide at the polls.

It's called direct democracy as opposed to representative democracy.

There have already been some notable abortion rights victories this way in some otherwise

red states like Kansas, Montana and Kentucky.

Ohio now has an abortion rights referendum set to go for this November.

We'll go over the wording which is really important and different than in some other states.

But here's the catch.

Republicans are pushing back with referendums of their own like the one up for a vote in Ohio today

that would make all other referendums harder to pass.

It's a referendum on referendums.

So the word abortion is not on the ballot today, but that's what it's really about.

Don't kid yourselves.

Only Ohio is having this fight this year by the way.

So many states are watching with 2024 in mind.

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