MANSFIELD — In an earth-shaking court decision, the second-highest court in the land upheld an Ohio law banning abortions from a prenatal Down Syndrome diagnosis. This decision strikes down a previous Federal Judge’s decision who said Roe v. Wade was the ‘law of the land.’ Due to his Planned Parenthood ties, the judge’s decision drew public opposition from one hundred clergy, but now the clergy are singing a different tune.
The U. S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 9-7 that the state has a legitimate interest to protect members of the Down syndrome community from selective abortions. The court decision also protects the consciences of medical professionals who refuse to perform Down-syndrome-selective abortions. For one clergyman, this decision hits close to home.
“This court decision is a great step forward to protecting the life of unborn babies with Down syndrome,” says Pastor Aaron Rose of Fusion Church Madison. “It also sends a clear signal affirming the value of these babies. This issue hits close to home for our family given that our thirteen-year-old son deals with Down syndrome. Our son Kaleb is full of life, has a contagious smile, and adds value to everyone around him. Babies with this diagnosis add joy to any family if they are given the chance to live.”
The Sixth Circuit Court opinion stated, “By involving the doctor in a woman’s personal decision to abort her pregnancy due to Down syndrome, the woman places the doctor in a position of conflicted medical, legal, and ethical duties.”
The opinion went on to say, “Ordinarily, under basic medical ethics, doctors are expected to respond to a diagnosis of Down syndrome with care. In this situation, those doctors who would do so are instead being asked to act directly against the physical life of the fetus based solely on the fact the forthcoming child would have Down syndrome.”
“This court decision is a great step forward to protecting the life of unborn babies with Down syndrome. It also sends a clear signal affirming the value of these babies. This issue hits close to home for our family given that our thirteen-year-old son deals with Down syndrome. Our son Kaleb is full of life, has a contagious smile, and adds value to everyone around him. Babies with this diagnosis add joy to any family if they are given the chance to live.”
Pastor Aaron Rose, Fusion church Madison
Pastor Rose was one of over one hundred clergy who held a press conference in 2018 releasing an open letter addressed to Ohio Congressional members and state lawmakers. The letter sounded the alarm over a federal court judge who previously worked with Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion company. Rose called Judge Timothy Black’s opinion “a gross overreach of the judiciary, coming from somebody with obvious political bias.”
After the press conference, the clergy sent a letter of censure draft to the Ohio Senate President and Speaker of the House. In the draft letter, the clergy pointed out Timothy Black worked as the Director of Cincinnati’s Planned Parenthood Association from 1986 to 1989, and also served as its President in 1988.
The clergy believed Black should have recused himself since he was a former Director of Planned Parenthood, writing “We do not excuse Judge Black’s conflict of interest, and we believe Judge Black’s politically-biased arguments justifying the taking of life are unbecoming for a federal judge and hold no merit.”
Reverend El Akuchie, another one of the spokesmen at the press conference with Pastor Rose pointed out that babies given a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome are particularly vulnerable.
“These babies are disproportionately aborted with close to one hundred -percent of mothers in Iceland receiving a positive test for Down syndrome terminating their pregnancy after receiving a positive test for Down Syndrome. The same thing has been happening in France, Denmark, and the United Kingdom.”
“We are grateful the seeds the Pro-Life movement have planted in the past are now coming to fruition in our state,” says Akuchie. “With the dedicated work of activists, Attorney General David Yost, and the faith community, it would be music to my ears if our state could get abortion outlawed completely.”
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Psalm 121: 7-8 says, “The LORD will keep you from all harm-He will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
