Ohio clergy warn proposed abortion amendment will take state back to ‘Dark Ages’ (VIDEO)

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MANSFIELD — This week the Ohio Ballot Board cleared ballot language to allow Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom to begin collecting signatures to place an amendment on the November 2023 ballot. The constitutional amendment would endanger the health and well-being of both women and children, and would remove any requirements for abortion mills that normal healthcare facilities would have to follow.

Pastor Walter Moss, President-Elect of the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio (RLACO) says the amendment has nothing to do with healthcare. “Abortion is the leading cause of death in the world. We look forward to exposing the dangers of this radical amendment being pushed on Ohio by fringe groups like Planned Parenthood and ACLU. If passed, this amendment would wipe out thirty years of important pro-life laws including the Heartbeat Law and Down Syndrome Abortion Ban.”

Pastor Walter Moss (pictured left), has written a booklet entitled “Why I am a black pro-life pastor.” (Photo courtesy of Frontlines Ohio)

Under Ohio law, anti-life groups must collect four hundred-fourteen thousand signatures statewide, or ten percent of the votes in the last governor’s race across at least forty-four of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties. The deadline for the amendment to make the Nov. 7th ballot is July 5th.

The proposed constitutional amendment would not only allow anti-lifers to embed abortion into the state constitution, it would also deny parents the right to any intervention on behalf of their children that would discourage their child from obtaining any medical procedure involving the human reproductive system, from abortion to sex-change surgery.

“This proposed amendment would strike down parental notification laws for abortion,” says the Stark County Pastor. “I am also very concerned basic health and safety protections for women would also be wiped out. This amendment would make Ohio home to painful late term abortions right up until the ninth month of pregnancy.”

The approved amendment language would amend Article 1 Section 22 of the Ohio Constitution and say “Every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions, including but not limited to decisions on: contraception, fertility treatment, continuing one’s own pregnancy, miscarriage care, and abortion,” and “the State shall not directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against an individual’s voluntary exercise of this right or a a person or entity that assists an individual exercising this right.”

“Since anti-life activists do not control any of the three branches of government in Ohio, they are hoping to do what Michigan did by changing the state constitution. If Ohioans allow this amendment to become enshrined into the state constitution, their elected representatives in Columbus will be powerless to pass any statute that would undo the damage. GOD’s people cannot fall asleep at the wheel, we cannot sit this one out.”

Pastor J.C. Church

Pastor Moss’ RLACO will be hosting town halls for churches and civic groups to encourage Ohioans to speak up, speak out, and be visible in opposition of this abortion amendment. This week Protect Women Ohio, a coalition of concerned family leaders, parents, medical experts, and faith leaders from Ohio, began an advertising campaign on the abortion amendment.

It is assured the proposed amendment will meet resistance from faith leaders. Following the Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision, one hundred-sixty lead clergy from twenty-two counties in Ohio called for a complete ban on abortion saying, “moral clarity surrounding the unborn should be strengthened by eliminating legislative loopholes.” Historically, clergy in the region have advocated for the lives of unborn babies with Down Syndrome and supported the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Over one hundred clergy this past fall endorsed pro-life candidates running for State Supreme Court; all three candidates won.

“Since anti-life activists do not control any of the three branches of government in Ohio, they are hoping to do what Michigan did by changing the state constitution,” says Pastor J.C. Church. “If Ohioans allow this amendment to become enshrined into the state constitution, their elected representatives in Columbus will be powerless to pass any statute that would undo the damage. GOD’s people cannot fall asleep at the wheel, we cannot sit this one out.”

2023 March for Life in Bucyrus, Ohio . (Photo courtesy of Greg Jevnikar)

“The abortion industry profits off organ harvesting and is aiding and abetting sex trafficking. This year alone, nearly one million preborn children nationally will suffer gruesome deaths by dismemberment, lethal injection, or denial of the nutrients they need to live. The abortion industry exploits the broken bodies of these children, and vulnerable women and girls for power and profit.”

Both clergymen agree, with ultrasound technology and undercover investigations, the anti-life agenda has been exposed and is more concerned about money than about its public image.

According to Pastor Church, a Crawford County Pastor, “Planned Parenthood’s insatiable lust for money knows no boundaries. They do not care if our state goes backwards in time with this proposed amendment to the Dark Ages. This barbaric amendment will make Kermit Gosnell’s house of horrors look like child’s play. Unfortunately, I have to tell my grand babies that ‘Yes, there are such things as monsters in this world.’ This election is all hands on deck. This is a matter of good versus evil.”

On November 7th, Ohio families can only hope this story has a good ending.

The Bottom Line:

The Bible says in Jeremiah Chapter Three, “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you…and I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

View video advertisement produced by Protect Women Ohio below addressing the Ohio abortion amendment. Protect Women Ohio is a coalition of concerned family leaders, parents, medical experts, and faith leaders in Ohio. (Duration 30 sec.)

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