On Dec. 12, which happens to be the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, two different groups announced different efforts to guarantee abortion in the Ohio Constitution. This is a big deal, and pro-life people and people of faith need to take notice.
Many are confused as to the status of abortion in Ohio right now. In late June, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Dobbs that overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion laws to the states. Some states have responded by expanding and funding efforts, some have not changed their laws and some restricted or banned abortion further.
In Ohio, things are in legal limbo. In the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision, Ohio’s Heartbeat Law, enacted in 2019, went immediately into effect. This banned most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. The Heartbeat Law was in effect for about two months, saving an estimated 3,000 lives, when a group of abortion advocates filed a lawsuit in a Hamilton County court alleging that Ohio’s Constitution protects abortion as a right.
The court they went to has historically been friendly to abortion, and its judge granted first a temporary and then a permanent injunction – blocking enforcement of the Heartbeat Law. With the Heartbeat Law blocked, abortion is generally legal in Ohio until the point of viability (about 22 weeks), with various legal exceptions that permit abortion further on in pregnancy.
The fate of the Heartbeat Law is expected to work through the legal system for several months and will ultimately be decided by the Ohio Supreme Court.
In 2021, just over 20,000 Ohio babies were aborted. We can probably expect similar to slightly higher numbers for 2022 when they are published. Although thousands of babies were spared in the two-month reprieve, in the months since, we’ve seen increased abortions due not only to the economy but also an uptick in abortions from out of state.
Even though their legal challenge of Ohio’s Heartbeat Law rests on the fanciful idea that abortion is guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution, abortion advocates are not taking any chances and have been vocalizing for months now their plan to pursue an abortion amendment to guarantee abortion a place in the Ohio Constitution.
The first announcement was made by a new group called Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, which has formed a ballot group called the Protect Ohio Choice coalition. That group announced its intention to place a ballot amendment on the Nov. 7, 2023, ballot.
Shortly thereafter, a group of establishment abortion proponents rushed to announce that they, too, have an effort, under the name “Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom.” Initial information suggested that the group planned to place its issue on the 2024 ballot, although updated reports indicate that they are considering both 2023 and 2024.
Neither group has circulated exact language, but each emphasized that its proposals will prioritize abortion access without interference and/or identify abortion as a fundamental right in Ohio. This is code for unrestricted abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, funded by taxpayers, and enshrined in the Ohio Constitution.
Some previously circulated language along with what we’ve seen in states such as Michigan suggest that it could include provisions that seek to silence or penalize pregnancy help centers and expand the concept of “reproductive rights” to include fertility treatments as well as gender-affirming mandates.
Coupled with recent announcements by the Biden administration to roll back or eliminate rights of conscience for churches, faith-based institutions such as hospitals and schools and medical providers in areas, this is very serious.
In many ways, this is no surprise. For months, pro-abortion advocates have said that this is their plan, and we have been taking them at their word. We have been working to form a coalition to defeat this extreme abortion agenda in Ohio.
Big abortion's efforts will be seeded with multimillion-dollar donations from out-of-state special interests, far-left social engineers and highly partisan political interests. It is reasonable to estimate that they will spend $50 million in their efforts, and that to be competitive in a campaign against them we will need to raise a similar amount of money.
On a personal note, before I came to Greater Columbus Right to Life, I worked as a lobbyist and legislative staffer and on numerous local and statewide political campaigns. In that time, I led or had a leadership role with three different amendments to the Ohio Constitution – first to draft proposed resolutions to place the issue on the ballot and then on the campaigns to pass the amendments. All three passed with significant portions of the vote. I also worked on a team to defeat an initiated constitutional amendment, an effort that kept the issue off the ballot.
First, know that I will be taking every bit of that experience to this fight. We can win, and Ohio can be the first state to defeat big abortion’s attempts to buy itself into our Constitution. But we need to know what we are facing. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus warns that He is sending the disciples out as sheep among the wolves, so be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
To win, we need every one of us to become engaged early in the process. That means joining our response team and supporting our efforts financially (visit gcrtl.org/stop).
We also need you to join us in prayer and fasting. Specifically, I need you to pray that we are unified as a movement, that we are disciplined in our efforts and that we remember that while every one of us needs to commit our best to defeating this great evil, it is God Who ultimately is in control and Who guides our path. Mindful of the timing of their announcements, I suggest we do this under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Beth Vanderkooi is the executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life.
