Senate Committee Approves Unborn Child Dignity Act
Legislation to Protect Aborted Babies from Landfills
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Katherine Franklin
DATE: Wednesday, May 25, 2016 PHONE: 614-547-0099 ext. 304
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Today, the Ohio Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee approved Ohio Right to Life’s Unborn Child Dignity Act (S.B. 254), 9-3. The bill requires that the remains of aborted children are given humane burial or cremation and increases informed consent by requiring full disclosure to women pursuing abortions of their options for the aborted baby’s treatment. The legislation was introduced in December when Attorney General Mike DeWine revealed Planned Parenthood to be sending aborted children’s remains to landfills.
“The more our society learns about the horrors of abortion, the more we are obligated to respond with courage and compassion,” said Kayla Atchison, director of external affairs for Ohio Right to Life. “The Ohio Senate is fulfilling that obligation with their efforts to shine a light on the abortion industry’s inhumane practices, and their work to preserve the dignity of the unborn child. We thank Chairman Coley and the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee for their leadership and work to preserve the dignity of the unborn child.”
State Senator Joe Uecker (R-Miami Township) is the bill’s sponsor. Similar legislation (H.B. 417/419) was approved by the House Health and Aging Committee in April with bipartisan support. The bill does not require the issue of a death certificate but rather tracks the treatment method through an anonymous patient identification number, the same way that the Ohio Department of Health has maintained records for decades for the Ohio Induced Abortion Report.
“Through their own words and actions, America’s abortion industry continues to provide Americans with a haunting picture of abortion,” said Atchison. “Whether by trading the hearts and lungs of aborted children or burying them somewhere in a landfill, Planned Parenthood continues to show us the truth about abortion and compel us to action. By requiring the humane treatment of aborted children, we can ensure that even in their brutal deaths, these unborn children retain their dignity.”
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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