Miscarriage care in Ohio will be completely unaffected by the outcome of Issue 1. Abortion on demand for all nine months of pregnancy will be allowed if Issue 1 passes.
These two facts related to what is on the ballot in Ohio are being conflated by a barrage of confusing, misleading ads in favor of the abortion law, the ads' content repeated and recited as reality.
Ohio’s attorney general Dave Yost has addressed the confusion among voters in advance of the November 7 election. Yost is encouraging voters to understand what the proposed ‘reproductive rights’ constitutional amendment will and will not do.
After multiple encounters with confused voters including one woman who told Yost that she isn’t too worried about Issue 1, because “we will still have the heartbeat bill,” Yost has issued formal statements and provided complete legal analysis on the Ohio AG website.
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Will Issue 1 change/improve miscarriage care?
NO. Directly from the AG’s analysis: “Ohio has no restrictions on miscarriage care or on continuing a pregnancy.”
This question has a clear answer. Miscarriage care has never been outlawed.
Pro-life advocates do not seek restriction of miscarriage care as it comes down to the simple fact that the pro-life goal is to protect life, a miscarriage indicates a deceased child, there is no life present to advocate on behalf of—all focus is on protecting the living unborn.
Christa Brown, senior director of Medical Impact with Heartbeat International, made the case that abortion is not authentic healthcare, and is in contrast to with miscarriage care.
“It’s important to know that this confusion does not occur in true healthcare,” Brown noted. “Obstetricians across the world know how to care for both of their patients—mother and child.”
“This media hype pushed by Big Abortion is intended to scare people into thinking that real healthcare will be limited by abortion laws,” she said. “Because abortion is not part of true healthcare, abortion laws will not and cannot do this.”
Tweet This: “This media hype pushed by Big Abortion is intended to scare people into thinking that real healthcare will be limited by abortion laws”
Likewise, ectopic pregnancy care has never been outlawed. The diagnosis means the pregnancy cannot safely continue. Again, the pro-life community does not advocate for any restrictions on proper medical care in the case of ectopic pregnancy.
“The treatment of an ectopic pregnancy, molar pregnancy or miscarriage is not synonymous with abortion procedures,” said Brown. “In cases where there is no chance of survival of the child, the treatment is offered to the mother to end the pregnancy medically or surgically. These unavoidable losses of life are not the same as an elective abortion in which a living child’s life is ended by chemical or surgical means.”
Supporters of Issue 1 and those advertising in favor of it who bring miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy into their argument for the amendment are either uneducated on the facts, insincere, or are being purposefully deceptive.
Will the Heartbeat Act and other Ohio abortion restrictions remain in effect if Issue 1 passes?
NO. The Heartbeat Act, Down Syndrome Discrimination Law, Ohio laws against partial birth abortion and dismemberment abortions, the 20-week limit or Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, 24-hour waiting period and informed consent and parental consent laws would all be invalidated which are all detailed in AG Yost’s legal analysis.
According to a statement from the American Association of Pro-Life OB/GYN’s (AAPLOG):
“The amendment would legalize abortion through all nine months of pregnancy by allowing post-viability abortion for broadly defined ‘health’ reasons, which have long been understood legally to include any and all factors supposedly affecting health, including socioeconomic reasons.”
The pro-life concern over the removal of legal safeguards currently in place is that it will leave an environment where coerced abortion, abortion practices without proper health and safety regulations for clinics, and no provision of information and counseling for the woman amid a life changing decision.
Nicole Hunt, attorney and spokesperson at Focus on the Family, wrote in the Daily Citizen on the immense amount of funding the abortion industry is putting behind the effort, stating, “Abortion activists believe Ohio is next in a long line of wins at the ballot box on abortion measures.”
Will Issue 1 allow parents freedom to make decisions regarding their minor child’s reproductive medical choices?
NO. Due to the choice to utilize the word “individual” throughout the amendment, parents can be cut out of their child’s choice regarding abortion, contraception, sterilization, and transgender treatment.
From Yost’s legal analysis:
“Given the uncertainty of the breadth of the terms ‘reproductive decision’ and ‘individual,’ as discussed above regarding parental consent for abortion, challenges are certainly likely, with outcomes uncertain.”
Linda Theis, president of Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio Education Fund, has been traveling across Ohio conducting Truth and Light townhalls. This effort is to help clarify facts regarding Issue 1 for voters.
“There is so much in here that is confusing folks,” Theis stated regarding the proposed amendment. “Those who support it attempt to scare people into thinking they are going to lose rights to decision making.”
Theis expressed concern over the actual loss of rights on multiple fronts including the right of parents to protect their children and women being unable to receive full information with the removal of informed consent regulations.
“Parental rights are at stake here,” said Theis. “If they are lost, we are going to lose our kids—and hence our families.”
“Prayerfully and consistently, there is great need for the truth to be told everywhere we can tell it!” she said.
As reported in the Washington Stand, controversial transgender groups such as the Human Rights Campaign have thrown their support behind Issue 1.
The report quoted Mehek Cooke, an attorney from Ohio:
“This opens the door for children of all ages to make life-changing decisions, absent parental involvement, that permanently disfigure or destroy their reproductive systems or organs.”
How are lies being used to promote Issue 1?
Repeating a lie does not turn it into the truth. It may cause an individual to believe it, but eventually the truth will be made known, and the challenge here is when. If that truth is not discovered by voters prior to casting their votes, Ohio may suffer the consequences of ignorance.
The confusion created by the vague language of the proposed constitutional amendment was examined in a previous Pregnancy Help News article.
Ohio State Representative Beth Lear spoke before a townhall gathering in Sunbury, Ohio, recently. She detailed for voters the impact Issue 1 will have on Ohio and current Ohio abortion laws as passage of the amendment would make current abortion laws invalid and unenforceable.
Lear pointed out the amendment does not mention women, only individuals, so it is not for women.
“If this were truly about making abortion safe, legal and rare, this amendment would be about women,” Lear said. “But it’s about individuals.”
This Ohio voter guide provides the facts regarding the language of the amendment, pros and cons, and what organizations are behind the funding of campaigns for and against Issue 1.
A sample Ohio ballot is helpful for the voter to read the exact text of the Issue ahead of voting.
Abortion extremism is on the ballot in Ohio, and efforts toward clarifying the issue and getting the word out can hopefully offset the promotion of Issue 1 misinformation. When the amendment itself is vague, the smokescreen of promoting it simply plays off the distractions already inherent in the proposed amendment.
In summation of what the law would do, AG Yost’s analysis states:
“In other words, the Amendment would give greater protection to abortion to be free from regulation than at any time in Ohio’s history.”
In AAPLOG’s assessment:
“This proposed constitutional amendment was specifically crafted using vague language that appears benign, but which would make Ohio one of the most extreme pro-abortion states in the country.”
Lear hopes Ohio voters will remember as the Issue is placed before them, stating “It is NOOOvember.”
Is Issue 1 good for Ohio families?
NO.
