A leading voice behind the push to amend the Ohio state constitution admitted this week what opponents have been warning about for months: the radical rewrite to remove most protections for the unborn in the Buckeye State is really a "Trojan horse" to undercut parents' rights to have a role in their kids' lives and medical decisions.
Kellie Copeland, the executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio — one group in the coalition leading the charge to pass the amendment — said that "Ohio will need to deal with parental consent" and expressed "concerns about what we can do for minors who are in those situations where they cannot safely involve their parents."
The apparent need to "deal with parental consent," as Copeland explained, is "something really important, and something that we should work on," she added according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
When asked whether pro-abortion activists pushing for the Ohio amendment had "discussed spelling out in the language that parental consent would be protected," Copeland showed how little her movement thinks of the role of parents. "Not really," she responded to the question. "You know we wanted to make sure that people who needed care could get it, and that was the clearest language to ensure that."
That is, a leader behind the push to amend Ohio's charter sees it as "really important" to "work on" eliminating parental rights and didn't "really" give any thought to protecting the role they play in their kids' lives. Parents be damned, apparently.
While those such as Copeland invoke hypothetical cases of incest or abuse in attempts to justify such a stance, the answer to such evil is not stripping all parents of the critical role they play in raising children. Pro-Choice Ohio and other supporters of the amendment clearly don't see it the same way.
As Townhall reported earlier this summer, another group in the coalition backing the constitutional amendment has been even more explicit about its desire to eradicate parental rights.
Resurfaced posts on X (formerly Twitter) show Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity (URGE) shamelessly declaring that "parental involvement laws are unethical and must be abolished," apparently for the sake of every "pregnant person." The group also used International Cat Day in 2021 to demand lawmakers "[e]nd parental involvement laws MEOW!" and claimed there's a "need" to "get rid of parental involvement laws" in states across the country.
Amy Natoce, the press secretary for Protect Women Ohio — a group focused on championing women and parents in the Buckeye State — said in a statement provided to Townhall that the radical amendment's "backers are finally admitting what we have been saying all along: that this amendment is an anti-parent Trojan horse. Issue 1 would wipe away existing and future parental involvement laws, cutting parents out of some of the most important and life-altering decisions affecting their child," explained Natoce. "Not only that, but the proposed amendment outlaws any protections for women and unborn children, even through the ninth month of pregnancy. This amendment is way too extreme for Ohio," she emphasized.
“The Ohio Constitution would supersede state law, where most abortion policy is written.”@Enquirer confirms what we've been warning: that this extreme anti-parent amendment would supersede current laws protecting parental rights and involvement. https://t.co/0EPrv5Bmb9
— Protect Women Ohio (@ProtectWomenOH) August 29, 2023