The fate of Ohio’s Issue 1 on the ballot this November, titled the “Ohio Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion,” is as evil as it is barbaric. If approved, it would permit the killing of preborn babies up until the moment of birth.
And it’s not just a chilling law being considered in the Buckeye State. Other states are eyeing measures that would allow for the killing of preborn babies who are older and more developed than I was at birth – at just 29 weeks.
When I was born 11 weeks premature, I weighed just 2 pounds, 15 ounces. Had a measure like the one Ohioans are voting on been in place … That’s right. I would not be alive to complete the previous sentence.
Thankfully, after my mom arrived at the hospital, the doctors delayed my birth for two days to allow my lungs time to develop. Praise God for the miracle of modern medicine. Thankfully, I came out breathing on my own.
Like many babies, I lost weight after I was born and soon dropped to just 2 pounds, 9 ounces.
I needed a feeding tube because babies born so early don’t yet know how to suck.
But after spending five weeks in the hospital, my parents brought me home happy and healthy – and still six weeks shy of my due date.
Now, it’s a well-established medical fact that life begins at conception.
But there’s something particularly pernicious about killing preborn babies who can survive outside their mother’s womb. These babies are young, small, and helpless – but fully and truly alive.
If I could move, breath, blink, cry and kick when I was born at 29 weeks, surely babies who are older – babies who are 30 weeks, 32 weeks or 34 weeks old – deserve a chance at life too.
One’s location does not determine their worth or their humanity.
Mother Theresa once said, “Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion.”
Ohio’s Center for Christian Virtue estimates that Issue 1 would lead to the loss of 30,000 preborn babies every year.
The abortion lobby is desperately pouring money into Ohio to try to deceive voters into approving the measure. Originally, pro-abortion groups had committed to spending at least $35 million to get Issue 1 across the finish line. They have already far surpassed that goal – by the millions.
According to Ballotpedia, pro-abortion groups have spent more than $38 million to support Issue 1; Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights has spent in excess of $27 million and Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom PAC has spent almost $9 million. Millions more will likely be spent in the coming week before the election.
Far-left dark money groups make up the largest contributors to these pro-abortion committees. The liberal Washington, D.C.-based Sixteen Thirty Fund has contributed more than $5 million to these pro-abortion committees, while the Open Society Policy Center – the philanthropic brainchild of far-left billionaire George Soros – has poured in $3.5 million.
In contrast, pro-life groups have spent nearly $25 million to oppose Issue 1. In politics, money matters. But it isn’t everything. This Ohio ballot measure has another negative layer to it and would destroy parental rights by permitting minors to receive abortions and transgender medical interventions without parental notification.
Pro-life advocates are often portrayed as “extreme” or “radical.” But there is nothing more extreme than permitting abortion up until birth and allowing young children to access harmful and damaging puberty blockers, opposite-sex hormones and surgeries without their parents’ knowledge.
Ohio is the next battleground in the abortion industry’s campaign to codify abortion rights in as many state constitutions as possible. And other states will follow. These are local issues with national stakes.
After codifying abortion rights in Michigan, California and Vermont last year, so far the abortion industry is batting 1.000.
In 2024, the well-funded pro-abortion lobby has six more pro-life states in its sights — Florida, Nebraska, Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri and South Dakota.
Let’s hope and pray Ohio voters will reject Issue 1 this year, finally breaking the abortion industry’s post-Dobbs winning streak. Preborn babies are counting on it.