"Friday Five"
RIGHT TO LIFE ACTION COALITION OF OHIO
Friday Five
Barry Sheets, Legislative Consultant
September 18th 2020
This week we celebrated the birth of the Constitution, a document that has guided this country uniquely for over 230 years. We now work to get policymakers to follow the constitution, and to secure the promises of our Declaration of Independence that our inalienable right to life is extended to all of us, both born and unborn.
NEWS AND VIEWS
1. If you don’t think your vote matters, perhaps hearing from our ideological opponents might change your perspective. In recent social media, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) has alerted its supporters that if Donald Trump wins reelection, then they clearly foresee the end of abortion rights coming in the next four years. They then doubled down on their support (both in votes and in money) of Joe Biden’s candidacy, especially since Kamala Harris’ voting record in the Senate with them is 100%. Your vote does matter, and may matter most pointedly to the millions of unborn children whose lives are in the balance in the next four years.
2. If NARAL doesn’t convince pro-lifers to get to the ballot box and vote for life, then perhaps the report issued by CatholicVote might do the trick. This 93 page document looks at Joe Biden’s 47 year public career and his positions and votes on a number of key social issues. The takeaway from this report? CatholicVote states that “Joe Biden now represents the most pro-abortion presidential nominee in American history.” And whether it is called the Biden-Harris ticket, or the Harris-Biden ticket (as Biden has done repeatedly), the outcome is sill the same: the most pro-abortion ticket in history.
3. However, some voices in the public seem to think that the pro-life issue is not really all that important in this election. While doing an interview with The View (a bastion of leftist ideology), former Republican Ohio Governor and opponent of the Heartbeat Bill John Kasich tried to defend his indefensible endorsement and public support for the Biden-Harris ticket by saying that the issue of abortion is “dwarfed” by Biden “pulling us together” appealing to “the power of God” to help us overcome division. Umm, Mr. Kasich, Biden wants to “pull us together” by pulling apart babies in the womb. Kasich really should actually pick up a Bible and read the words of God that he so often shows he misunderstands completely, especially those parts about God abhorring the shedding of innocent blood.
4. More thinking turned upside down: Kasich is not the only to succumb to the political seduction of leftist ideology. The United Nations has also shown their moral and intellectual schizophrenia by choosing abortionist Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng as the Special Rapportuer on the Right to Health. Dr. Mofokeng’s main platform: decriminalizing prostitution, including teen prostitution. Numerous human rights organizations and pro-life advocacy groups are rightly aghast at this appointment. Perhaps it’s past time to send the UN packing from US soil!
5. Another group whose thinking may need to be checked with the Bible as well is the Association of US Catholic Priests (AUSCP), based out of Tiffin. They have recently blasted the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast for giving an award to Attorney General of the United States William Barr. Although one of their concerns is a legitimate issue of contemplation and dialogue (the death penalty), their other is purely political—they are upset that President Trump gave a speech in front of St. John’s Episcopal church during the DC riots, calling it a “political photo op”. The bigger problem: AUSCP is fully supportive of the “peaceful protests” that generated this so-called “photo op” in front of the church that had been set on fire by the “peaceful” protesters!
Friday Five
Barry Sheets, Legislative Consultant
September 18th 2020
This week we celebrated the birth of the Constitution, a document that has guided this country uniquely for over 230 years. We now work to get policymakers to follow the constitution, and to secure the promises of our Declaration of Independence that our inalienable right to life is extended to all of us, both born and unborn.
NEWS AND VIEWS
1. If you don’t think your vote matters, perhaps hearing from our ideological opponents might change your perspective. In recent social media, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) has alerted its supporters that if Donald Trump wins reelection, then they clearly foresee the end of abortion rights coming in the next four years. They then doubled down on their support (both in votes and in money) of Joe Biden’s candidacy, especially since Kamala Harris’ voting record in the Senate with them is 100%. Your vote does matter, and may matter most pointedly to the millions of unborn children whose lives are in the balance in the next four years.
2. If NARAL doesn’t convince pro-lifers to get to the ballot box and vote for life, then perhaps the report issued by CatholicVote might do the trick. This 93 page document looks at Joe Biden’s 47 year public career and his positions and votes on a number of key social issues. The takeaway from this report? CatholicVote states that “Joe Biden now represents the most pro-abortion presidential nominee in American history.” And whether it is called the Biden-Harris ticket, or the Harris-Biden ticket (as Biden has done repeatedly), the outcome is sill the same: the most pro-abortion ticket in history.
3. However, some voices in the public seem to think that the pro-life issue is not really all that important in this election. While doing an interview with The View (a bastion of leftist ideology), former Republican Ohio Governor and opponent of the Heartbeat Bill John Kasich tried to defend his indefensible endorsement and public support for the Biden-Harris ticket by saying that the issue of abortion is “dwarfed” by Biden “pulling us together” appealing to “the power of God” to help us overcome division. Umm, Mr. Kasich, Biden wants to “pull us together” by pulling apart babies in the womb. Kasich really should actually pick up a Bible and read the words of God that he so often shows he misunderstands completely, especially those parts about God abhorring the shedding of innocent blood.
4. More thinking turned upside down: Kasich is not the only to succumb to the political seduction of leftist ideology. The United Nations has also shown their moral and intellectual schizophrenia by choosing abortionist Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng as the Special Rapportuer on the Right to Health. Dr. Mofokeng’s main platform: decriminalizing prostitution, including teen prostitution. Numerous human rights organizations and pro-life advocacy groups are rightly aghast at this appointment. Perhaps it’s past time to send the UN packing from US soil!
5. Another group whose thinking may need to be checked with the Bible as well is the Association of US Catholic Priests (AUSCP), based out of Tiffin. They have recently blasted the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast for giving an award to Attorney General of the United States William Barr. Although one of their concerns is a legitimate issue of contemplation and dialogue (the death penalty), their other is purely political—they are upset that President Trump gave a speech in front of St. John’s Episcopal church during the DC riots, calling it a “political photo op”. The bigger problem: AUSCP is fully supportive of the “peaceful protests” that generated this so-called “photo op” in front of the church that had been set on fire by the “peaceful” protesters!
PROFILES
Each installment of the Friday Five will bring thumbnail profiles of key policymakers and committees. We now move to the federal district courts, and will begin with the judges of the Northern District court, which convenes at the Carl B. Stokes United States Court House on Superior Avenue in Cleveland.
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio—Chief Judge Patricia A. Gaughan –The presiding judge of the Northern District Court, whose jurisdiction is roughly all of Ohio sitting north of Interstate 70, was nominated by former President Bill Clinton in 1995 to fill an opening on the Ohio Court’s bench, after having been recommended to the President by Senator John Glenn. She was confirmed by the US Senate in December of 1995 and received her commission. She was appointed to the position of Chief Judge of the court in June of 2017. Her appointment was a judicial milestone, as she was the first female chief justice of the Northern District Court of Ohio.
Judge Gaughan was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1953, and is currently 66 years old. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975 from St. Mary’s College, and obtained her Juris Doctor from the Notre Dame Law School in 1978. She then served in many roles, first as an assistant prosecutor in Cuyahoga County, then as Assistant US Attorney in the early 1980’s while at the same time serving as an adjunct professor at the Cleveland Marshall College of Law until 1987. She was then made a judge on the Common Pleas court in Cuyahoga County from 1987 until her elevation to the federal District court seat in 1995. This Cleveland Plain Dealer article goes into further background on Chief Judge Gaughan.
NOTE: We would like to thank each of you for your prayers and support as we worked to get meetings with key leaders. Those meetings happened this week, and we are very optimistic that solid pro-life policies will begin to move in the General Assembly. The meetings with House Speaker Cupp and with the chief of staff for Senate President Obhof were cordial, informative and allowed RTLACO to clearly lay out our priorities for the remainder of the 133rd General Assembly. Now, we ask you to pray that life-affirming and effective legislation will be advanced and enacted prior to the end of this year!
Each installment of the Friday Five will bring thumbnail profiles of key policymakers and committees. We now move to the federal district courts, and will begin with the judges of the Northern District court, which convenes at the Carl B. Stokes United States Court House on Superior Avenue in Cleveland.
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio—Chief Judge Patricia A. Gaughan –The presiding judge of the Northern District Court, whose jurisdiction is roughly all of Ohio sitting north of Interstate 70, was nominated by former President Bill Clinton in 1995 to fill an opening on the Ohio Court’s bench, after having been recommended to the President by Senator John Glenn. She was confirmed by the US Senate in December of 1995 and received her commission. She was appointed to the position of Chief Judge of the court in June of 2017. Her appointment was a judicial milestone, as she was the first female chief justice of the Northern District Court of Ohio.
Judge Gaughan was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1953, and is currently 66 years old. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975 from St. Mary’s College, and obtained her Juris Doctor from the Notre Dame Law School in 1978. She then served in many roles, first as an assistant prosecutor in Cuyahoga County, then as Assistant US Attorney in the early 1980’s while at the same time serving as an adjunct professor at the Cleveland Marshall College of Law until 1987. She was then made a judge on the Common Pleas court in Cuyahoga County from 1987 until her elevation to the federal District court seat in 1995. This Cleveland Plain Dealer article goes into further background on Chief Judge Gaughan.
NOTE: We would like to thank each of you for your prayers and support as we worked to get meetings with key leaders. Those meetings happened this week, and we are very optimistic that solid pro-life policies will begin to move in the General Assembly. The meetings with House Speaker Cupp and with the chief of staff for Senate President Obhof were cordial, informative and allowed RTLACO to clearly lay out our priorities for the remainder of the 133rd General Assembly. Now, we ask you to pray that life-affirming and effective legislation will be advanced and enacted prior to the end of this year!