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

• September 15th - 54-day Rosary Novena to pray for the defeat of Issue 1. Join us in person at the Church or on Zoom.
• October 6th – Ohio March for Life, at the Statehouse.
• October 13th – St. Matthew parish day for 40 Days for Life. Sign up for a time at this link.

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