807 Havens Corners Road
Gahanna, OH 43230
(614) 471-0212
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Our Social Concerns Committee's Pro-life Subcommittee works promote the dignity of life at all stages. They organize our parish's presence at the 40 Days for Life campaign each October and sponsor other pro-life events throughout the year. If you would like more information about the Pro-Life Group at St. Matthew, please fill out the form below or contact Jeff Solinger at jksolinger@aol.com or (614) 506-2382.
Our parish is praying together each night at 8:30 pm, in person in the church and over Zoom. See details below!
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us05web.zoom.us/j/
Meeting ID: 862 6426 8893
Passcode: K08xkd
The Catholic Conference of Ohio firmly opposes Issue 1, which would enshrine the “right” to abortion in the Ohio Constitution. This extreme amendment endangers the health and safety of women, threatens parental rights, and allows for abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
The Catholic Church has always advocated for and acted to protect the most vulnerable in society, including the indigent, migrants, and preborn children in the womb. We will continue to do so by explaining the harms Issue 1 poses to women, parents, and babies with Catholics and all people of goodwill across Ohio and encourage a no vote on this egregious proposal. Ohioans deserve just laws which provide expansive resources and accompaniment to mothers and young families, not proposals like Issue 1 which does nothing to support women.
The abortion coalition started their media campaign last week with a 30 second advertisement that was shown in the Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland markets. The purpose of the ad was to convince people to vote yes on Issue 1 through various emotional appeals that are deceptive and obscure the dangers of the “reproductive freedom” amendment. It begins by framing abortion as a “personal medical decision” that we do not want the government to interfere with. None of us wants the government to dictate to us medical decisions such as a hip replacement or heart surgery. But abortion is not a medical decision, it is the intentional termination of the life of an unborn child. The question is, if abortion is healthcare, what disease is it curing? Pregnancy is not a disease.
The ad states that this “medical decision” should be made in the context of a doctor’s advice, faith, and family. When it mentions faith, it flashes a picture of a man praying in a Catholic church with an image of Divine Mercy in the background. The connotation being that even Catholics, well known for their opposition to abortion, can reach a prayerful decision to obtain an abortion. When in fact the Church teaches that abortion is a moral evil with no exceptions, and it is not a gray area that requires spiritual discernment. Our prayers should be for the support and service for a woman having a distressed pregnancy and finding solutions for her circumstances.
The ad also states that voting yes on Issue 1 will protect birth control and ER care for miscarriages. This is completely misleading. Contraception is not even being discussed in any upcoming legislative bills. Miscarriage management is specifically excluded from abortion regulations. In some cases, the medical procedure to address the tragic results of a miscarriage, happen to be the same procedure used for a surgical abortion. The abortion lobby conflates these two very different situations to erroneously claim that abortion bans threaten the health and life of a woman who has had a miscarriage.
This ad is representative of the deception Ohio voters will be inundated with over the next 2 months. We need to make sure people understand the truth about their false assertions and that this extreme amendment is not simply about protecting “personal medical decisions”.
Upcoming Events
If you are interested in learning more about St. Matthew’s Pro-Life group, please contact Jeff Solinger at jksolinger@aol.com or (614) 506-2382
Our Pro-Life Group meets on the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7 pm in the church to pray a Pro-Life Rosary. The Pro-Life Rosary is a beautiful way to pray for the unborn children and all who are affected by abortion. It is often prayed on a five decade rosary with different colored beads for different intentions, but any colored rosary will work. All are welcome to join us in person or at home.
How to Pray a Pro-Life Rosary
For more information, contact Jeff Solinger at jksolinger@aol.com or (614) 506-2382.