September 26, 2023
“We are calling on Ohioans to stand and protect human beings showing the universal sign of life,” said Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins. “Life is literally on the ballot, and the protest this week is the first of many more to come to show that we are not backing down from the abortion industrial complex in the State of Ohio!”
MEDIA ADVISORY: Students for Life Action team members and students will be onsite for interviews and B-roll at these events. Contact [email protected] for details.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (09-27-2023) – Students for Life Action (SFLAction) is coming back to the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday, September 27th to rally in support of the Heartbeat Abortion Prevention Act. The court is set to hear oral arguments about the law, and a win in the case would save thousands of preborn lives every year, if enforced.
“We need to ensure that existing pro-life laws are enforced and that lawmakers like Attorney General Yost are supported in their fight for the human rights of the preborn – not undermined by activist judges and greedy lawsuits by the abortion lobby,” said Hawkins. “There are more fights coming on the horizon, like what’s on the ballot in Ohio this November. But we won’t let this radicalism win, and we will not let the Biden administrations brand of abortion extremism take root here in Ohio!”
Attorney General Yost was sued for enforcing the Ohio Heartbeat Protection Act by local abortion facilities eager to make more money off of abortions conducted later in pregnancies. Currently, Ohio law allows for abortion up to 5 months into a pregnancy, but in 2019 the heartbeat law was passed and signed. This has been held up in court ever since, thanks to the abortion industry.
Hawkins discussed heartbeat legislation in an op-ed at The Hill: Hey, Donald: You can’t ignore the human rights issue of our time and still get our vote, and wrote: “If a human person’s worth is negotiable, then we are all at risk. For every one of us, there will come a day when it’s just not worth it to someone else to keep any of us alive. Human rights for human beings need to begin at conception and end at natural death. In between, our policies have to empower those unique lives, rather than evaluate them for their money-making potential or convenience … My organization is challenging each of the GOP presidential candidates to pledge that they will sign any Heartbeat Protection legislation that comes to their desk. Usually, on a battlefield or in an emergency room, compassionate medical teams rush to save the lives of those with a heartbeat — the universal sign of life. In acts of courage around the nation, many states have risen to the challenge of providing real protection for human beings in the womb with a heartbeat …”
Beyond this Supreme Court ruling, Ohio is staring down a critical vote on Tuesday, November 7th – if it passes, the changes to the state constitution will:
- Prohibit any attempt to “burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate” against abortion.
- Establish a “right” to sterilizing treatments, by saying that “reproductive decisions” must be allowed.
- Attack parental involvement and notification by defining a “right” for “individuals” to get abortions, meaning citizens of all ages.
- Ensure that any “person” that “assists” an “individual” to get an abortion, or receive sterilizing surgery, or exposure to irreversible hormones will be protected against prosecution.
- Prevent criminal prosecution of instances where abortion is used to cover up crimes like rape.
- Open the door to Ohioans’ tax money being used to pay for abortion.
“Your Governor Mike DeWine was right on the money when he called what’s happening in Ohio a “a radical approach” that is out of step with Ohioans!” said Hawkins. “Thousands of preborn lives are at stake – and we must not fail them.”
SFLAction is travelling America as part of its Stop Abortion Extremism Tour – engaging voters, recruiting, training, and creating a groundswell of active grassroots supporters to push back against this pro-abortion radicalism. For more details about how to get involved on the ground in Ohio, click HERE.
For interviews, email [email protected]
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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest, pro-life youth organization, managing a political and policy operation engaging Americans of all ages but with a special emphasis on the largest segment of voters — the Youth Vote. Together they provide political, legal, educational, and community support for women and children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA serves more than 1,400 groups on middle, high school, college, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with this generation targeted by the abortion lobby than any other pro-life operation in the world, each week reaching more than 4 million across social media platforms and averaging 1.3 million video views. SFLA has also launched multiple initiatives to lead and serve the future of the pro-life movement including the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing With You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement . Over more than 17 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA and the Pro-Life Generation into a nearly $20M organization, now preparing for an abortion-free America.