“Ohio Right to Life is heartbroken and appalled by the abortion industry’s utter disregard for human life,” said Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life. “This child suffered doubly at the hands of the abortion industry: first, by being subjected to a brutal death by dismemberment and second by the degradation of his or her broken body being dumped into the trash like garbage. Tragedies like this are why Ohio Right to Life worked tirelessly to pass the Unborn Child Dignity Act.” 

Governor Mike DeWine signed S.B. 27, the Unborn Child Dignity Act, into law in December 2020. S.B. 27 requires the Ohio Department of Health to establish rules for the proper and humane burial or cremation of children who have lost their lives to an abortion procedure. 

“It is a tragedy that a woman can legally choose to end the life of her preborn child,” said Denise Leipold, executive director of Right to Life of Northeast Ohio,  “It may be legal, but that doesn’t mean it is morally or ethically right.  The discovery made at this abortion facility only proves the disregard for the sanctity of life, along with a total disregard for the law, and the wellbeing of our community.”

The Unborn Child Dignity Act was first introduced after then-Attorney General DeWine discovered that Planned Parenthood had dumped the bodies of abortion victims in a Kentucky landfill. In March 2021,  Planned Parenthood, along with the ACLU, filed a lawsuit to stop the law from going into effect. After a judge issued a preliminary injunction against S.B. 27 in April 2021, Governor DeWine signed an executive order regarding the emergency adoption of the law’s required rules by the Ohio Department of Health.

“This heartbreaking situation puts the reality of abortion on full display,” said Gonidakis. “Abortion is not empowering- it is the violent and bloody ending of a baby’s life. Our hearts are broken by what this helpless child suffered. Abortion is a blight on our state and its legality speaks against any moral high ground our society could claim to have. Ohio Right to Life, in tandem with Right to Life of Northeast Ohio, will ensure that this child receives the dignity in death that he or she was not afforded in life. We will do everything in our power to hold the abortion industry accountable for their actions.”

A press conference will be held today, July 7 at 1 PM at the offices of Right to Life of Northeast Ohio, Ohio Right to Life’s Akron-area affiliate. The office’s address is 572 W Market St # 2 Akron, OH 44303. A livestream of the event will also be available on Ohio Right to Life’s Facebook page. Further details about this tragedy and Ohio Right to Life’s response going forward will be disclosed during the event. 

Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 45 chapters and local affiliates, is Ohio’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement in Ohio, ORTL works through legislation and education to promote and defend innocent human life from conception to natural death.

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