Abortion would be made illegal in Ohio, with any abortion classified as aggravated murder, under ballot language submitted to Attorney General Mike DeWine. A proposed constitutional amendment was submitted to DeWine's office Friday. The attorney general has until Monday to determine if the wording meets constitutional requirements.

Abortion would be made illegal in Ohio, with any abortion classified as aggravated murder, under ballot language submitted to Attorney General Mike DeWine.

A proposed constitutional amendment was submitted to DeWine's office Friday. The attorney general has until Monday to determine if the wording meets requirements.

The issue was turned in by three individuals � Laura Burton of Cleveland, Anthony Dipane of Monroe Falls, and Dustin Paulson of Strasburg � and is not connected with Right to Life or other organized anti-abortion rights groups. It would "prohibit abortion of all unborn human beings, without exception, and classifying it as aggravated murder in the state of Ohio."

It was accompanied by more than 100 partial petitions with an uncounted number of signatures. The proposal must have 1,000 valid signatures of registered voters for approval.

The ballot language classifies an "unborn human" as being "an individual organism ... from fertilization, whether fertilization occurs inside our outside of a human, until live birth."

A violation would be aggravated murder, punishable by a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.

Dipane said he and other two supporters are "just three Christians in Ohio. We saw that since Roe v. Wade (the 1973 decision legalizing abortion) no one had proposed a ballot issue saying you can't murder babies."

Dipane said the group used volunteer help in gathering the signatures to submit the issue to DeWine. "We don't take donations. We don't pay people. We're financing this out of our pockets at this point."

At this stage, the attorney general's only duty is to decide if the wording of the issue is in proper form. He job is not to decided the constitutionality of the issue.

If approved, the proposal will be submitted to Secretary of State Jon Husted to verify signatures and forward it to the Ballot Board.

Abortion opponents would have to collect 305,591 signatures to place the issue on the ballot, probably in Nov. 2017.

Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said the issue "would punish women, plain and simple. If passed, women and doctors would be imprisoned for any abortion, even one to save a woman�s life. Also, the language would block prescription birth control, emergency contraception, IUDs, and could impact access to in-vitro fertilization."

Copeland said the issue is similar to a rejected proposal in Oklahoma that the courts found would violate U.S. Supreme Court decisions saying women have a constitutional right to abortion.

ajohnson@dispatch.com

@ohioaj