This Week’s Pro-Life Update!
In the midst of these challenging times, the fight for life persists! We at Ohio Right to Life have been hard at work, tirelessly advocating for the protection of the most vulnerable in our society. Check out this week’s Pro-Life Update!
To listen to the audio version of this update, click here.
Toledo Ordinance Aims to Stop Sidewalk Advocacy
Today, the Toledo City Council is set to vote on an ordinance that would target sidewalk counselors’ life-saving work and make it increasingly difficult for them to offer resources to women in crisis.The ordinance, which has been proposed by several members of the city council, would impose a fourth-degree misdemeanor on anyone who is considered to be blocking access to an abortion facility and would institute an 8-foot buffer zone around each facility.
If passed, this ordinance would have disastrous consequences for the sidewalk counselors who stand outside of Toledo’s abortion facilities to offer women support and alternatives to abortion. It would however offer cover for abortion facilities and make it much harder for their clientele to back out of their scheduled abortions. This ordinance would quite literally empower abortion facilities and minimize the choices available to young women in crisis. Additionally, it poses a very real threat to women’s health, given that Ohio’s abortion facilities, most notably Toledo’s own Capital Care of Toledo, have egregious safety inspection reports.
Capital Care of Toledo has a record of failing health inspections and was confiscated of its surgical license by the Ohio Department of Health in 2019. Over the years, the facility has been found to have numerous health code violations including holding their exam tables together with duct tape and using patient’s blood without their knowledge.
Whether at the moment a woman first realizes she is pregnant or at the eleventh hour as she is approaching a dangerous facility, every woman deserves to be able to back out of an abortion. Blocking women from the very people in their community who are committed to embracing them with love and real solutions, is not empowerment. It is doing whatever it takes to protect a dangerous abortion industry’s bottom line.
If you’re able, we would ask you to speak up and contact the Toledo City Council’s members and respectfully urge them to vote “no.” For contact information, click here.
To read a list of Capital Care of Toledo’s numerous health and safety violations, click here.
Pro-Life Ohio Marches on Despite 2021 Challenges
Although the 2021 National March for Life was sadly moved to a virtual format this year, that didn’t stop Pro-Life Ohio for standing for life! In January, across Ohio, Ohio Right to Life’s local chapters and affiliates held rallies, marches, and events in their communities in lieu of their annual trips to our nation’s capital.
Lorain County Right to Life targeted social media and their local newspaper with pro-life ads, encouraging their community to stand for life. Ashtabula County Friends for Life helped host a local March for Life, which was covered in a featured story by their local newspaper. Greater Columbus Right to Life, based in central Ohio, held their annual Roe Remembrance Event at the Ohio Statehouse, despite heavy opposition by local pro-abortion protesters.
Even though we couldn’t gather together in D.C. this year, so much is still being done on the local level to stand against abortion. If you’d like to learn how to become more involved in the work that your local pro-life champions are doing to protect the unborn, we’d encourage you to get connected with your local right to life group!
To find the right to life chapter or affiliate in your area, click here.
Ohio Right to Life Announces 2021 Oratory Contest
Ohio Right to Life is proud to announce our 2021 Oratory Contest! Like last year, this year’s state contest will take place virtually, with the contestants pre-recording their speeches and uploading them to an online platform to be reviewed by Ohio Right to Life’s panel of judges. First, second, and third place prizes will be awarded, and the first-place winner of the state competition will receive Ohio Right to Life’s “Pro-Life Ohio” Scholarship which will constitute either an all-expenses paid trip to the National Right to Life Convention or a monetary amount.
Ohio Right to Life chapters and affiliates across the state will hold their local oratory contests and send the winners to Ohio Right to Life’s state contest. The winner of the state contest will represent Ohio at the 2021 National Right to Life contest!
For more information about Ohio Right to Life’s 2021 Oratory Contest, email ORTL’s Director of Communications, Allie Frazier at [email protected]
Founded in 1967, Ohio Right to Life, with more than 40 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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