For the first time in years, the fight for the sanctity of life is gaining recognition. On Dec. 6, Ohio lawmakers passed the Heartbeat Bill, which serves to prohibit abortion as soon as fetal heartbeat can be detected—typically around 6 weeks.
One week later, Ohio Governor John Kasich vetoed the bill. But there’s still hope.
“Certain provisions that were amended into [the Heartbeat Bill] are clearly contrary to the Supreme Court of the United States’ current rulings on abortion,” Kasich said, who then stated his concern that the bill would have been declared unconstitutional, just like similar legislation that the Supreme Court recently declined to review.
“Furthermore, such a defeat invites additional challenges to Ohio’s strong legal protections against unborn life. Therefore, this veto is in the public interest.”— Governor John Kasich.
Instead, he signed Senate Bill 127, a bill to ban abortion procedures after 20 weeks gestation—a month earlier than what is normally considered the point of viability for a fetus outside the womb. It is the second abortion ban bill embraced by lawmakers in a span of just three days.
Abortion advocates across the country are predictably outraged of the possibility that babies capable of feeling pain cannot be terminated, even though the bill will have an exception for the extremely rare case of a mother’s life being in danger.
Luckily, Kasich opposes abortion. During his tenure, he’s signed over a dozen abortion restriction measures into law, put the president of Ohio Right to Life on the state medical board, and has seen half of Ohio’s abortion clinics close.
In addition, president-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks have almost uniformly spoken against pro-choice litigation. Trump also pledged to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationally. There is currently one vacancy in the court after justice Antonin Scalia’s death last year, and while experts say that another conservative justice could not likely change the dynamics of the court enough to alter the chances for such pro-life progress, luck could change if Trump can appoint a replacement of one or more liberal justices.
Real change is happening. In 2015, fewer lives were lost to abortion than at any time since the state began keeping records in 1976, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Now is the time to defend the unborn. Choose life.
