Neighborhood Ministries

The Supreme Court has overturned Roe vs Wade and declared that the baby is a person and so protected by the courts. However, the federal government has not enacted laws to protect babies. As a result, it has become the obligation of the States to enact laws protecting babies. Ohio has enacted strict laws limiting abortion and protecting the mother by requiring facilities be licensed and inspected. While laws in all States require medical facilities to be licensed and inspected, abortion supporters claim that under Roe vs Wade, they were not required to be licensed since the baby wasn’t a person protected by the law. It made no difference to them that the mother was a person protected by the law and the laws were enacted to protect her.  They felt they were above the law simply because they performed abortions. Ohio responded by enacting laws specifically requiring abortion clinics be licensed to protect the mother.  Planned Parenthood is targeting Ohio and other pro-life States. They are seeking to overturn the pro-life laws currently in effect by pushing through a Constitutional amendment in November that will not only open Ohio to unlimited abortion up to birth, it will also wipe out all the current laws protecting the mother. Currently, it is easy to enact Constitutional amendments. The federal government requires a 2/3 majority of Congress and an approval of 3/4^th of the Staes. Only 27 amendments have been enacted since it was ratified in 1788. Ohio currently only requires a simple majority and has had 187 amendments since 1803. It is open to being amended anytime someone feels like pushing a ballot issue and can get half the people to vote for it. As a result, the Ohio legislature has enacted a law setting up a special ballot issue in August to raise the requirement to 60%.  This has great importance, not only for the abortion ballot issue, but for all future attempts to amend the Constitution. The Constitution should be a sacred document and only amended with strong support from its citizens. No issue as important as whether to kill unborn babies should be left to a simple majority. The amendment in August would make it more difficult for Planned Parenthood to pass their amendment in November, as well as make it more difficult to pass any future attempts to amend the Ohio Constitution. Up until 1973, all States had laws banning abortion and the vast majority of people supported laws against abortion. In 1973 Roe vs Wade ruled that we did not know when life began and so the courts could not protect the baby. It never ruled that abortion was legal, however it prevented the courts from enforcing laws against abortion.  It opened the door to a profitable abortion business which has operated openly without fear of court interference. Most people took it that since the abortion businesses were operating openly, it must not be bad. Three generations have grown up believing abortion was legal. While a majority still oppose abortion, many do only half-hearted and cannot be depended on to oppose it. The life of hundreds of thousands of babies should not be left up to a simple majority.