“The ACLU and the abortion industry have a long history of working to abolish parental rights and they are now bringing this anti-parent campaign to our state, hoping to enshrine their hostile political agenda in our state constitution.”
-Molly Smith, Board member, Protect Women Ohio.
COLUMBUS, OH — The ACLU has unequivocally declared war on parental rights in Ohio, telling local media this week that existing parental consent and notification laws in Ohio “should not be enforced” if the abortion industry succeeds in passing its anti-parent ballot initiative later this fall.
ACLU of Ohio attorney Jessie Hill recently admitted that passage of the dangerous constitutional amendment proposed by the ACLU, abortion industry insiders, and their out-of-state allies “would mean that laws that conflict with it cannot be enforced, should not be enforced.”
Courts across the country have already interpreted language similarly contained in the proposed Ohio amendment to strike down parental notification and consent laws, erasing parents from the picture and forbidding them from providing consent – or even being notified – if their underage daughter chooses to undergo an abortion. Unfortunately, the Ohio amendment takes this even further. Its loosely defined language forbidding any law that “directly or indirectly” would “burden” or interfere” with “reproductive decisions” means parents would also be left blindfolded if their child chose to pursue sex change surgery.
The ACLU has been fighting against parental rights for decades now – and Ohio parents are simply their latest target. In 2016, they fought to undo parental notification laws in Alaska. The following year, they claimed Indiana parental consent laws create an “unconstitutional burden on emancipated minors… who wish to obtain an abortion.”
The ACLU even has an entire page on its website outlining its opposition to parental consent and notification laws.
Hill was responding to the launch of Protect Women Ohio (PWO), a pro-woman, pro-parent coalition that wants parents to remain involved in important medical decisions involving their minor children.
Earlier this week, PWO launched its first ad in a multimillion-dollar campaign to defeat the dangerous anti-parent amendment proposed in Ohio. The ad can be viewed HERE.
And 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.
Protect Women Ohio is a coalition of concerned family and life leaders, parents, health and medical experts, and faith leaders in Ohio. Molly Smith, Founding Member of Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, Aaron Baer, president of Center for Christian Virtue, and Peter Range, CEO of Ohio Right to Life, serve as members of the PWO Board of Directors.
To learn more please visit www.protectwomenohio.com.