A commendable effort by everyone involved here, but alas, it was not enough:

Ohio voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state's constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation's latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections last year.

The measure, if passed, would have raised the threshold voters have to clear in order to get a proposed constitutional amendment passed. Right now it's a simple majority; the failed measure would have put it at 60%.

Outwardly, the supporters of the initiative said the 60% threshold would have protected the state constitution from being manipulated by special interest groups. But most observers fairly concluded that the effort was meant to keep a proposed abortion rights amendment off the November ballot.

That amendment would impose "a fundamental right to reproductive freedom" in Ohio, a direct response by abortion advocates to the repeal of Roe v. Wade.

This week's loss doesn't mean that the abortion measure will pass in November, but it does mean it will be easier for it to get voted through.

Here's why this is significant. Trump won Ohio by 8 points. The swing state isn't deep red, but its population includes massive numbers of small-town, traditional values, church-going conservative families.

Despite that, this measure to change the rules regarding constitutional amendment failed by 14 percentage points.

Ohio voters reportedly "cast nearly 700,000 early in-person and mail ballots" ahead of Tuesday's vote, a significantly higher early turnout than in normal Ohio primaries.

This does have massive implications for 2024. The Right is finally moving against the cultural slippery slope for the first time in 50 years, but the Left has had 50 years to convince the American public that its ideas and beliefs are right and true.

Within the pro-life movement, there is debate between the abolitionists who want an immediate and total ban on abortion or nothing and the incrementalists who are willing to push slowly for small victories wherever they can be found.

The abolitionists point out that slowly pushing back abject evil that spits in the face of God is not righteous or just; incrementalists note that expecting total reform or no reform at all means millions of extra dead children in the meantime.

But these two sides aren't looking at the larger issue: The need to convince their countrymen - those indoctrinated in leftist thought for generations - that the case for life is right, honorable, and best.

Babylon Bee Managing Editor Joel Berry, a resident of Ohio, put it well:

The bad news for 2024 is that many pro-life politicians will push hard and fast on the heels of Roe's death to push for reform that causes massive backlash and allowed leftists to focus in on singular issues to maintain power. My advice, for whatever it's worth, is twofold.

First, before you ever try to push legislation, talk to your neighbors. Get a movement going. Win the hearts of the people before the media and its leftist allies start the spin. Momentum is a powerful thing.

Second, it would be wise for legislators in the pro-life movement to study the life of William Wilberforce and learn how political shrewdness and tactical prowess may win the day in overcoming evil - most especially when God in heaven is on their side.