Support Women and Minors of Ohio by Rejecting the Proposed Amendment
A radical abortion ballot initiative is underway in the state of Ohio. The proponents of this initiative seek to amend the state constitution and enshrine a right to abortion at any time during a pregnancy. The initiative would eliminate all restrictions on abortion, including parental rights and other health and safety standards that are currently in place. In eliminating the protections for minors regarding abortion, the initiative takes a step further by including the negation of parental notification and consent before their child undergoes sex change surgery as well. The abortion proponents crafted this initiative in such a way to make sure to allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy for anyone, including minors.
This initiative would also:
- Eliminate the 24-hour waiting period
- Eliminate the Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Act
- Allow late-term abortions on demand
- Allow chemical abortions on-demand and over-the-counter purchases.
- Eliminate health and safety standards for abortion clinics
The process for passage is underway. The language of this initiative has been sent to the Attorney General and been approved. Now, the abortion proponents are required to get just over 400,000 signatures for this to be placed on the ballot in November 2023.
The Catholic Conference of Ohio issued a letter addressing the threat that this initiative brings to the lives of the unborn and all the citizens of Ohio. “This proposal demands a response, and we strongly encourage Catholics and all people of good will in Ohio to work against including the proposed amendment for the November ballot…” The letter also stated that the Catholic Conference of Ohio will be collaborating with statewide organizations and diocesan respect life offices to help with mobilization efforts to defeat this initiative.
A group called Protect Women Ohio (PWO) is a coalition of pro-life groups formed to fight against this radical abortion initiative. Please consider how you can participate at this critical time and tell your friends and neighbors to oppose this radical abortion agenda.
Abortion in South Dakota?
Alarmingly, an effort is underway to overturn South Dakota’s pro-life laws. A citizen-initiated proposal seeks to amend the state constitution to create a nearly unlimited right to abortion.
Read more here.
Veterans Affairs Vote
On April 19, 2023 the Senate voted 51-48 to go against the longstanding policies of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) by pushing to implement providing abortion services through the taxpayer-funded VA health care system. This is a break with long-standing federal law to push abortion-on-demand. Taxpayers do not want their tax dollars being used to pay for abortions, that includes using this money for VA medical facilities to provide publicly funded abortions. This is a radical and harmful shift in military policy and should be overturned. For more information see the letter from the Most Reverend Timothy P. Broglio, Archbishop for the Military Services and Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge, Bishop of Arlington.
Abortion and Public Policy: Review of U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Teaching and the Future
The abortion issue, the United States Supreme Court asserts in its June 24, 2022 Dobbs opinion, is to be resolved not by the Court but by “the people and their elected representatives.”
In a recent article, Dr. Michael Taylor, the Executive Director Emeritus of NCHLA, examines how the development of the abortion issue provides perspective on the challenges before us. He steps back from the new legal situation created by Dobbs and reviews how the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ teaching on abortion and public policy has interacted with the U.S. legal context both before and after Roe.
Both before Roe and following Roe some in the pro-life movement thought that the Court, consistent with the historical developments in law and modern science, should explicitly affirm that the right to life of the unborn is part of constitutional law. As Dobbs makes clear, this is not the approach the present Court will take.
The Court overrules Roe and its important 1992 Casey decision on the grounds that the Constitution contains no right to abortion. But it also declines to hold that the Constitution affirms a right to life for the unborn. The right to life for the unborn and all other vulnerable human beings will be a part of constitutional law only if pro-life citizens work to make it so. The challenges before the pro-life movement are as great as ever. All program aspects of the Bishops’ Pastoral Plan for Pro-Life Activities—prayer, education, pastoral care, and public policy—must continue to be pursued with great determination.
In the area of public policy, a renewed interest certainly must be placed on state legislative activity, not only in terms of statutory law but, as we have seen since Dobbs, also in terms of state constitutional law. At the same time Dobbs does not rule out law-making at the federal level. Already efforts in Congress and orders from the federal Executive branch seek to promote abortion on demand as the policy for the whole country. As Justice Kavanaugh states in his concurring opinion, the processes of self-government recognized by the Constitution include “state legislation, state constitutional amendments, federal legislation, and federal constitutional amendments.”
While the pro-life movement engages in the multiplicity of tasks at hand, the movement should re-commit itself, Dr. Taylor argues, to the long-term intergenerational goal of affirming in the federal constitution the right to life for all human beings. Admittedly the present cultural and legal contexts are very challenging. Dr. Taylor concludes with a quote from Archbishop John Roach in the bishops’ testimony before Congress November 5, 1981: “We are committed to full legal recognition of the right to life of the unborn child, and will not rest in our efforts until society respects the inherent worth and dignity of every member of the human race.”
Read the full article here.
Abortion and Catholics | Archbishop Sample
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