March For Life On Washington: Ohio Abortion Foes See Hope In Trump Presidency

Newly emboldened by the election of President Donald Trump and Republicans’ Congressional sweep, anti-abortion activists from Ohio and around the country will gather in the nation’s capitol with renewed optimism at Friday’s March for Life, seeing for the first time in decades that an agenda to restrict abortion, if not ban it altogether, has a real shot.

Pro-life activists are buoyed not only by Trump’s pledged support for efforts to defund abortion provider Planned Parenthood, which gets $500,000 million, more than a third of its annual $1.3 billion budget, from the federal government, but also by how he may be able to move the Supreme Court farther right with pro-life justices.

Trump has his first chance to shape the court with a nominee to fill the vacancy created with Justice Antonin Scalia’s death almost a year ago. Trump has narrowed his choice to three finalists, and is expected to announce his pick for the Supreme Court next week.

Last month, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed legislation banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, but vetoed the so-called “heartbeat” bill” that would have banned the procedure after six weeks. Still, with some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, Ohioans are hopeful that similar laws will be passed nationwide.

“Abortion has been legal since 1973,” John DeLaat, a member of the Lorain County Right to Life, told The Chronicle-Telegram. “Obviously we’d like to see that change.”

With a ideology shift favoring the pro-life camp’s agenda, the march held annually on or near the Jan. 22, 1973, of the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, has added significance this year. The list of speakers include Vice President Mike Pence, White House senior adviser and longtime pro-life supporter Kellyanne Conway, and Republicans Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Rep. Mia B. Love of Utah and Rep. Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey.

“The attitude during the march is going to be different this year, because we have a pro-life president, a pro-life Senate and a pro-life House,” Jacob Hoback, a member of the Bobcats for Life chapter, told the Athens, Ohio, Post. “We saw (earlier this week) with the defunding of international abortion providers that the tide is turning.”

Hoback said he was encouraged by Trump’s executive order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which prevents the federal government from providing funds to foreign non-governmental organizations that perform or promote abortion services. It was first enacted by Ronald Reagan, rescinded by Bill Clinton, reinstated by George W. Bush, and rescinded again by Barack Obama.

“We saw with the defunding of international abortion providers that the tide is turning,” Hoback said.

The proposed early abortion ban that Kasich vetoed is likely to come back this legislative session and set a tone for the national debate, Ohio Right to Life President Mike Gonidakis told The Dayton Daily News

“I would argue, and we have the data to back this up, that Ohio and Texas are the key battleground states for the abortion debate,” Gonidakis told the newspaper. “What happens in Ohio tends to trickle to other states.”

The group didn’t endorse the heartbeat bill, but is soldiering on to see incremental restrictions on abortion restrictions, Gonidakis said. About half a dozen bills are in play, but he didn’t elaborate, the Daily News said.

Also encouraging for Ohio pro-life activists is sanctity of life legislation recently introduced in Congress. The personhood law, House Resolution 586, provides that human life begins at conception, and generally follows the tenets in legislation introduced in the Senate, including the Sanctity of Human Life Act and the Life at Conception Act, which have been stalled for more than a decade.

Photo by Bob Hunter via Flickr Commons