Posted on 11/07/2023 6:35:59 PM PST by Morgana
Ohio voters approved Issue 1 tonight after a monumental abortion battle in the Buckeye State. With 48 percent of the vote counted, Ohio voted 56% to 44% for Issue 1, which will make killing babies in abortions a so-called “right” in the state constitution.
The result was not surprising given how abortion advocates bought the vote. Also, Ohio voters also voted today on a ballot measure to legalize marijuana. That very likely increased turnout of liberal voters who were more likely to vote for abortion.
The pro-abortion side dominated fundraising – with reports towards the end of the election showing that they had 3-1 fundraising advantage over pro-life groups. The out of state dark money and millions from leftists like George Soros, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood allowed the pro-abortion side to dominate TV and online with blatantly false commercials that further angered liberal voters and drove them to the polls in higher numbers.
The Associated Press (AP) reported last Thursday that since September 8, the pro-abortion “yes” side in the referendum has raised almost three times more money than the pro-life “no” side: $29 million compared to less than $10 million. Much of the money for the pro-abortion side — likely over $50 million by the time it’s said and done — came from out of state and even out of the country while major pro-life donations came from within Ohio.
AP indicated that “the largest donations” supporting the pro-abortion “yes” campaign came from outside of Ohio. This included “three gifts totaling $5.3 million from the progressive Sixteen Thirty Fund, based in Washington, D.C.”
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is largely bankrolled by Hansjörg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire.
According to the AP, the organization behind the “yes” campaign
received $3.5 million from the New York-based Open Society Policy Center, a lobbying group associated with the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, and $2 million from the American Civil Liberties Union, also based in New York. Billionaires Michael Bloomberg of New York and Abigail Wexner, the Ohio-based wife of retired Limited Brands founder Les Wexner, each gave $1 million.
The Ohio Issue 1 election results differ significantly from Gallup’s polling that it conducted on abortion this summer.
As Gallup notes, “Specifically, close to half of Americans, 47%, now say abortion should be legal in all (34%) or most (13%) circumstances, while a similar proportion, 49%, want it legal in only a few (36%) or illegal in all (13%) circumstances.”
That means 49 percent of Americans take a pro-life position opposing all or most abortions while a lower 47% take a pro-abortion position supporting all or most abortions.
Even though Americans are still nominally pro-life overall, radical abortion activists are more angry that Roe was overturned than pro-life voters are happy about the Dobbs decision overturning it. That results in more abortion advocates turning out to the polls to vote for abortion because the smaller poll of pro-abortion voters are more incentivized to vote than the slightly larger poll of pro-life voters.
To counter this, pro-life groups need to a) emphasize the great things Dobbs accomplished – from saving babies to helping women, b) engage in more work to identify and turn out voters in elections, c) do more to fundraise and find large donors who can help the prolife movement overcome the massive fundraising disparity so it can counter the avalanche of false ads.
Current Ohio law permits abortion up until 22 weeks of pregnancy for any reason. After 22 weeks, Ohio law contains exceptions to protect the life of the mother and to prevent “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function” of the mother. Should Issue 1 pass, Ohio will become the most radical abortion regime in the country, allowing for late-term abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, including when science confirms an unborn child is capable of feeling pain. As a constitutional amendment, Issue 1 will trump state law, rendering the 22-week ban unenforceable.
By failing to explicitly define viability, and by giving abortionists the final word in determining when post-viability abortions can be performed on a case-by-case basis, Issue 1 leaves the door wide open for painful, late-term abortions. Issue 1 also contains a major loophole by allowing late-term abortions to protect the “health” of the mother. The United States Supreme Court has interpreted “health” to include not just a mother’s physical health, but also her mental, emotional, social and financial health, essentially permitting late-term abortion for any reason.
The groups supporting Issue 1 have refused to rule out the fact that Issue 1 will legalize late-term abortion up until the moment of birth in Ohio.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm of the abortion industry, more than 50,000 abortions are performed annually after 15 weeks when an unborn child is capable of feeling pain, and at least 10,000 are performed after 20 weeks.
PWO highlighted the fact that Issue 1 will permit painful, late-term abortions in Ohio in a recent ad featuring Ohio abortionist Martin Haskell. Haskell invented the barbaric partial-birth abortion technique in Ohio, and brags that he “routinely” performs late-term abortions at 20-24 weeks, even admitting 80% of the partial-birth abortions he performs are “purely elective.” Haskell gave $100,000 to the campaign supporting Issue 1 because he knows it is an investment in his late-term abortion practice.
Issue 1 will also remove parents from the equation, allowing minors to obtain abortions and life-altering medical procedures without parental consent. As a recent Cleveland.com report explains, parental consent laws “could stay in place if the state or anti-abortion attorneys can successfully argue to a court that parental involvement would advance a girl’s health.”
The ACLU, which wrote and is bankrolling Issue 1, has a long and well-documented history of attacking parental rights across the country, including in Michigan, Indiana and Alaska. The ACLU also publicly rallies against parents’ rights on its website, and its coalition partners call for the abolition of parental rights on social media.
Reports show that the pro-abortion side in Ohio’s fast-approaching Issue 1 referendum is vastly out-spending the pro-life movement.
The Associated Press (AP) reported Thursday that since September 8, the pro-abortion “yes” side in the referendum has raised almost three times more money than the pro-life “no” side: $29 million compared to less than $10 million.
AP indicated that “the largest donations” supporting the pro-abortion “yes” campaign came from outside of Ohio. This included “three gifts totaling $5.3 million from the progressive Sixteen Thirty Fund, based in Washington, D.C.”
As radical abortion activists promote Issue 1, which would allow abortions up to birth, they have also been targeting churches that are opposing it. Catholic schools, churches and cemeteries across the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, for example, have posted in recent weeks that they have been victims of vandalism and attacks.
Pro-abortion extremists have stolen, defaced or damages No on Issue 1 signs at pro-life business that are displaying them. And pro-life residents have experienced the same sorta of vandalism of their lawn signs on private residences.
A legal analysis of the extreme anti-parent amendment is available HERE from constitutional scholars Carrie Campbell Severino, President of Judicial Crisis Network, and Frank J. Scaturro, a former special counsel to the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives.
Ping to Post #25. :(
Appalling. The Left is going to try this in every state now.
Obviously liberals do.
>> This is a winning issue for the gop
That’s when I would join the ranks of those who say “I didn’t leave the party... they left me.”
A GOP that embraces every single freaking facet of the progressives — open borders, sexual immorality, child mutilation, freewheeling spending, murder of the innocent unborn — to HELL with them and I mean that literally.
That’s a good point.
There are millions of suburban women who say they are conservative, Christian and pro-life, and then get into the voting booth and think, "what if my 15-year-old daughter gets knocked up?"
The border is wide open to replace those would be voters.
I agree. Sadly…
The Republican Party, by not prioritizing the defeat of Issue 1, failed the unborn babies of the Buckeye State.
If there is a hard lesson to be learned it is that the GOP must, in every election, in every state, focus on protecting life.
Every Republican candidate must make their Democrat opponents answer for their advocacy of abortion.
Even though I am opposed to abortion, I feel that misguided people of good faith can be of the opinion (wrongly) that an abortion in the first trimester is not infanticide
After the first trimester, it becomes increasingly harder and harder to hold that opinion
In the third trimester, abortion is simply murder
This law is state sanctioned murder which is evil , no two ways around it
What were they thinking
Don’t you get it?
This world is ruled by Satan. America was founded on Judeo/Christian principles, but that has long faded. Satan is the ruler of the world, but he will not be victorious.
It’s weird, but I the results tonight oddly are “comforting” because they make me steadfast in the knowledge that the Word of God is true, and the (evil) things of this world will pass away. God can do great miracles in the meantime.
Praying that hearts are changed.
>> The Left is going to try this in every state now.
Thank GOD not every state allows for referenda like this one in Ohio.
But it’s a sure bet that it’ll be “coming soon to a state near you” that DOES allow referenda. After all, well-funded NGOs were set up FOR THE EXPLICIT PURPOSE of bringing this evil thing into Ohio. It’s not an accident that it occurred, nor was it an organic grassroots movement of Ohio citizens.
AMEN
But losing is for losers.
The abortion question is easily winnable for us.
See the thing is if conservatives started to support abortion on demand under the guise of it saving taxpayer money and it will slowly erode future generations of democratic voters. It would literally drive liberal people crazy as they have so framed the issue as you denying them their previous rights to abortion children. Say well I agree with you please have more abortions they literally wouldn’t know what to do. I always tell people I’m pro choice I don’t want liberals having children and they don’t know what to say.
That is absurd. Trump won and will win again here easily.
Sherrod Brown is very beatable.
I predict there will be a backlash to this amendment that will result in a ban on late-term abortions and validate parental rights on the issue.
No. I'm not killing them, and there's nothing I can do to stop this.
We should think of ourselves as missionaries explaining to pagan aborigines that throwing their children into volcanoes as human sacrifices isn't a good idea. If you just let things be, the society eventually just collapses around them.
It is not. This has been on every ballot since 1980 and we’ve won a lot in that time. Red wave happened in many places in 2022 where there were good candidates and well run, well funded campaigns. The House electorate moved five points to our side. We are losing campaigns due to bad candidates and underfunding. The left has massive funding advantages in many cases like this one. Look at the Kentucky governor race tonight. Incumbent dem won in a deep red state where republicans have every other state wide office. He outraised our guy 3-1. Same in this Ohio election.
Precisely, have to change the narrative.
You cannot legislate morality. It simply does not work. You have to win hearts and minds.
>> This country turned its back on God years ago.
If not decades ago.
>> The judgement will not be pretty.
There will come shaking and discipline for this nation from the Almighty. It will not be pleasant. I hope and pray it won’t be fatal to the nation. So often the wrath of GOD is expressed when He simply goes into “hands off!” mode and allow us to experience the natural result of our wickedness. “Removes His hedge of protection”, so to speak.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.