As the executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life, I am unreservedly pro-life, and if you have read this far, I am guessing you are as well. 

Even if you are not, though, I’d like to invite you to keep reading. Because we might find some common ground here, and honestly – it is really important. 

This year, Issue 1 will be on the Nov. 7 ballot. Voter registration is available through Oct. 10, and voting begins on Oct. 11. I’m asking you to join me – regardless of how you personally feel about abortion, in voting no by Nov. 7. 

Issue 1 goes far beyond the issue of pro-life and pro-choice. It is a proposal to amend into Ohio’s Constitution extreme and intentionally broad language regarding reproductive decision making. This would not only force Ohioans to accept taxpayer-funded abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, but it would also envelop anything that could eventually be deemed as falling under the umbrella term of “reproductive decision making.” The amendment is self-executing, meaning that overnight it would wipe out basic guardrails that protect the health and safety of women, girls, and unborn children, and no level of government would have any ability to establish basic health and safety regulations unless the abortion industry itself determined that those regulations advanced the desired outcome of abortion.  

Ohioans also need to understand that this amendment would gut current requirements that parents be involved before children are provided with procedures like abortion, sterilization, puberty blockers, and even radical sex change surgeries. Because the language of the amendment gives complete autonomy to “individuals” and those persons and entities “helping individuals,” parents would be cut out of the discussion entirely. This is not only consistent with the language of the amendment itself, but with 50 years of policy goals by the organizations pushing the amendment. The backers of the amendment have acknowledged this is the intended outcome.

If you’ve seen the disingenuous commercials related to Issue 1, you should take note of two things. The first is that they use footage of a person praying, with an image of Divine Mercy and the Stations of the Cross in the background, to advance their amendment. Using distinctly Catholic imagery to advance ideologies so at odds with church teaching is offensive to the core. Even those who struggle with Church teaching should reject such an obvious effort to use our faith as a means to their political goal. It is repulsive, and completely at odds with the statements by Ohio’s Catholic bishops, including our own Bishop Earl Fernandes, that this amendment should be rejected. 

The commercial ends with hollow assurance that Issue 1 will protect access to miscarriage care and protect women experiencing a medical emergency in pregnancy. This ad – like their entire amendment – is deceptive and rotten to the core. Ohio law already provides very broad protections to women experiencing miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or any other medical emergency, and doctors can take steps to protect a mother’s health even in cases where the baby cannot survive. This gold standard of care can be found in Ohio’s Revised Codes sections 2919.11, 2919.191, 2919.12, 2919.15, etc. 

If this were not the case, the first people beating down the doors of the General Assembly to fix the problem would be Ohio’s pro-life community. Protecting the dignity of human life always includes treating mom and baby with dignity and giving them life-affirming care. 

This is intentionally deceptive language that uses a definition of “life and health” of the mother that is different than what most people would adopt in daily use, because this specific phrase has been interpreted in court after court to include age, physical, emotional, or psychological well-being, or even economic circumstances. This is what will open up Ohio’s Constitution to permit abortions of perfectly healthy babies in the third trimester. These cruel and unnecessary procedures are only legal in a handful of states, but where they are legal, they still happen thousands of times each year. It is too extreme for Ohio. Too extreme for our Constitution. 

If you are reading this article, we need you to join us, and there are a few things you can do. The first is to pray and fast. Prayer and fasting are not platitudes. They are a necessity for this work. 

The second is to learn more. Both Greater Columbus Right to Life and the Catholic Conference of Ohio have valuable resources on our websites. 

The third is to get involved. From door knocking and phone banking, attending events, joining in community conversations, and even donating – we need the involvement of everyone if we want to win. 

Lastly, please vote No by Nov. 7. 

None of us can sit this one out. We are in the fight of our lives – for theirs. Get involved with us at gcrtl.org/stop.