Friday 5
Barry Sheets
Legislative Consultant
November 1, 2019
November, the month of Giving Thanks for all of our Blessings
is upon us and there is much for which to be Thankful.
NEWS AND VIEWS
1. A CALL FOR FALL: The Right to Life Action Coalition is working with Representative Candice Keller to introduce the Life at Conception legislation for the 133rd General Assembly. The bill would outlaw abortion entirely and provide criminal penalties for providers who attempt to perform abortions (surgical or chemical) after the enactment of the law. The bill would protect women who are forced, defrauded or coerced into submitting to an abortion, and provides whistleblower protections for personnel who provide evidence to convict medical providers of violating the law. Please contact your member of the Ohio House of Representatives TODAY and respectfully ask them to join as a Co-Sponsor on this ultimate Life-affirming legislation!
2. The Ohio Supreme Court, on an identical 4-3 vote (Chief Justice O’Connor, Justice Stewart and Justice Donnelly dissenting) once again denied the petition of Women’s Med Center (Martin Haskell) to delay the inevitable loss of their ambulatory surgical facility licensure. The vote closes their appeals on the state level. On the very same day, a federal suit was filed by Haskell’s attorney to get the Federal Courts to do what the state court refused to: force the Ohio Department of Health to re-instate their licensure even after they have had multiple violations. Oh, WMC is also trying to file for a new license from the Ohio Department of Health, even as the Department cancels their current invalidated license.
3. The Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee has scheduled hearings with potential votes on both SB 155/Abortion Pill Reversal and SB 208/Born Alive after Abortion Infant Protection Act. Both bills are scheduled for open testimony (proponents, opponents, and interested parties), and SB 155 is marked for potential amendments (we have offered two to the bill’s sponsor and will see if they are included). If you are interested in attending, testifying or submitting written comments, please contact me by the weekend. The committee meets on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the Senate South Hearing room.
4. The hearing on Senate Bill 121/to establish State Education Standards for the Health Curriculum, for opponents was held this week. Nineteen witnesses filed testimony in opposition to SB 121 introduced by Republican Stephanie Kunze of Columbus and Democrat Vernon Sykes of Akron, After extensive testimony, the Chair of the Senate Education Committee (Senator Peggy Lehner) indicated that they will be looking for ways to amend the bill to try to “address” concerns of the opponents. It would seem that the only way to accommodate those concerns is to pull this bill and move to direct local school districts to follow the existing statutes (and there are a large number of them) regarding teaching Health Education!
5. A ruling in the Supreme Court of Connecticut regarding in-vitro fertilization (IVF) issues should be of concern to Pro-Life supporters. The court ruled unanimously in a divorce proceeding that a contract that allows the woman to destroy the extra embryos created in the IVF process is enforceable even over the husband’s (father’s) objection. He wanted to donate the embryos for others seeking to have children. In their decision, the court refers to “pre-embryos” and explains its reasoning in a footnote describing the process by which eggs are fertilized in a laboratory dish and begin growing, in anticipation of later implantation. They argue that the fertilized egg (embryo) isn’t an embryo (life present) until it is implanted in the womb (which can be up to 14 days after fertilization). This is just another reason to keep working for the full legal personhood of the unborn from the moment of fertilization!
Barry Sheets
Legislative Consultant
November 1, 2019
November, the month of Giving Thanks for all of our Blessings
is upon us and there is much for which to be Thankful.
NEWS AND VIEWS
1. A CALL FOR FALL: The Right to Life Action Coalition is working with Representative Candice Keller to introduce the Life at Conception legislation for the 133rd General Assembly. The bill would outlaw abortion entirely and provide criminal penalties for providers who attempt to perform abortions (surgical or chemical) after the enactment of the law. The bill would protect women who are forced, defrauded or coerced into submitting to an abortion, and provides whistleblower protections for personnel who provide evidence to convict medical providers of violating the law. Please contact your member of the Ohio House of Representatives TODAY and respectfully ask them to join as a Co-Sponsor on this ultimate Life-affirming legislation!
2. The Ohio Supreme Court, on an identical 4-3 vote (Chief Justice O’Connor, Justice Stewart and Justice Donnelly dissenting) once again denied the petition of Women’s Med Center (Martin Haskell) to delay the inevitable loss of their ambulatory surgical facility licensure. The vote closes their appeals on the state level. On the very same day, a federal suit was filed by Haskell’s attorney to get the Federal Courts to do what the state court refused to: force the Ohio Department of Health to re-instate their licensure even after they have had multiple violations. Oh, WMC is also trying to file for a new license from the Ohio Department of Health, even as the Department cancels their current invalidated license.
3. The Senate Health, Human Services and Medicaid Committee has scheduled hearings with potential votes on both SB 155/Abortion Pill Reversal and SB 208/Born Alive after Abortion Infant Protection Act. Both bills are scheduled for open testimony (proponents, opponents, and interested parties), and SB 155 is marked for potential amendments (we have offered two to the bill’s sponsor and will see if they are included). If you are interested in attending, testifying or submitting written comments, please contact me by the weekend. The committee meets on Tuesday, Nov. 5 at 9:30 a.m. in the Senate South Hearing room.
4. The hearing on Senate Bill 121/to establish State Education Standards for the Health Curriculum, for opponents was held this week. Nineteen witnesses filed testimony in opposition to SB 121 introduced by Republican Stephanie Kunze of Columbus and Democrat Vernon Sykes of Akron, After extensive testimony, the Chair of the Senate Education Committee (Senator Peggy Lehner) indicated that they will be looking for ways to amend the bill to try to “address” concerns of the opponents. It would seem that the only way to accommodate those concerns is to pull this bill and move to direct local school districts to follow the existing statutes (and there are a large number of them) regarding teaching Health Education!
5. A ruling in the Supreme Court of Connecticut regarding in-vitro fertilization (IVF) issues should be of concern to Pro-Life supporters. The court ruled unanimously in a divorce proceeding that a contract that allows the woman to destroy the extra embryos created in the IVF process is enforceable even over the husband’s (father’s) objection. He wanted to donate the embryos for others seeking to have children. In their decision, the court refers to “pre-embryos” and explains its reasoning in a footnote describing the process by which eggs are fertilized in a laboratory dish and begin growing, in anticipation of later implantation. They argue that the fertilized egg (embryo) isn’t an embryo (life present) until it is implanted in the womb (which can be up to 14 days after fertilization). This is just another reason to keep working for the full legal personhood of the unborn from the moment of fertilization!
