Another exhibit in the decline of SOS LaRose:

 Secretary of State Frank LaRose offered an unusually blunt assessment while defending the ballot language he helped write for state Issue 1, the abortion-rights ballot measure that voters approved earlier this month, to a conservative critic at a local Republican Party event.

In doing so, LaRose confirmed something that abortion-rights supporters have suspected all along: Abortion opponents helped him craft the ballot language in a way meant to benefit their campaign to defeat the measure….

In response to a question about specifics in the amendment language, LaRose said his office consulted with three prominent anti-abortion groups that led the anti-Issue 1 campaign – Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America, the Center for Christian Virtue and Ohio Right to Life – as it crafted the ballot language. All three groups played central roles in leading and funding Protect Women Ohio, the main anti-Issue 1 campaign group….

The audience member’s question was about including the term “woman” in the ballot language, a decision that upset abortion-rights supporters backing the amendment. The word didn’t appear in the amendment’s text. But the audience member suggested that LaRose actually helped the measure pass by diffusing opponents’ arguments that Issue 1′s sweeping language affected issues unrelated to abortion.

Part of the feedback LaRose said his office received from anti-abortion groups was to include the word “woman” in place of “pregnant patient,” the gender-neutral term that appeared in the amendment language. LaRose said this was meant to convey his view that only women can get pregnant.

But, LaRose said the anti-Issue 1 groups pushed for the language to benefit their campaign while still also remaining accurate enough to withstand an inevitable court challenge.

“That [writing ‘woman’] was something that the pro-life community felt very strongly should be included in that,” LaRose said. “And they liked that as well, because the name of the ‘no’ campaign was Protect Women Ohio, and the yard signs said: ‘Protect women.’”

“So they wanted that, they thought that was reasonable and would be helpful to them. And they thought it would be honest.”