Protect parents: Vote 'no'  on Issue 1

By Frank LaRose
Ohio Secretary of State
 
As a father of three young women doing my best along with my wife Lauren to raise them amid today’s mixed-up culture, there is so much to be concerned about. What messages are they getting about the world outside from the shows they watch? What will it be like when they are old enough to date? And what will it take to raise up smart, courageous, independent women?
 
Until recently, one thing we didn’t worry so much about was whether underaged girls could be secretly convinced to get abortions or even sex change operations without their parents even knowing.
 
But if the radical Issue 1 amendment passes, this will be a new and horrifying fear for every parent of younger girls in Ohio.
 
During my years in uniform, I’ve faced dangerous, outside threats from drug cartels on the border to Iranian-backed terrorists in Iraq. In Ohio we face a different kind of threat – this one from the radical left, which is waging a relentless war on Ohio’s family, way of life and the values which have made us strong. They’re attacking all the major societal institutions: our Constitution, our rights as parents, law enforcement, families, and even the integrity of our elections. They won’t stop until they turn Ohio into California.
 
Back in August, I warned that extreme ideas from out of state liberals would plague Ohio if we didn’t raise the threshold to amend our constitution. Unfortunately, too many Ohioans didn’t heed our warning. Now, we are seeing just the initial effects. These extremists have started their attack by taking aim at the rights of parents to know what their children are doing and to do what is best for them. This deceitful and dangerous effort is on the ballot this November as Issue 1.
 
Shrouded in the clever mask of “reproductive freedom,” the abortion lobby wants to impose limitless abortion on demand in Ohio. With intentionally vague language aimed to test legal boundaries and deceive voters, this amendment would accomplish a sinister goal of the abortion industry: taxpayer funded abortion at any time during the pregnancy, including after the point at which an unborn baby can feel pain, and long after viability when the unborn child would survive outside the mother’s womb.
 
I’m unapologetically pro-life, but I understand that many Ohioans don’t share my exact views on the issue. I think we can all agree that late-term abortions are barbaric. I can remember a time when Democrats, even the more liberal among them, agreed that abortions should be rare and safe. And the idea of a late-term abortion was admonished as an unthinkable practice. Gone are those days. Now the liberal out-of-state special interests have abandoned any semblance of humanity.
 
That is the reality we face in Ohio if Issue 1 passes.
 
Even worse, this amendment would target our rights as parents to decide what’s best for our children’s health and wellness. Imagine the difficult position of an underage child becoming pregnant. Any parent would want to be there for their child to love, guide and care for them. Now imagine being completely cut out, unaware and uninvolved. Imagine that child facing this alone. Issue 1 allows for parents to be cut out of any decisions related to their child receiving an abortion procedure or from even knowing. It also cuts out important screening and counseling by licensed doctors to protect their health in case of common medical emergency situations that could occur.
 
Beyond abortion, Issue 1 creates an intentional loophole to completely deteriorate parental rights through radical sex-change surgeries, again, without parental notification. Constitutional scholars wrote in their legal analysis that Issue 1 would “effectively obliterate most limits to abortion or sex-change surgery.”
 
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, in his recent analysis, also outlined the dangerous effects this amendment can have on parental consent and current laws protecting life.
 
The sad truth is these forces believe the government or a Planned Parent abortionist is a better parent than you.
 
As parents, our first priority and responsibility is to protect our children. We put their helmet on when they ride a bike. We talk them through difficult times. We are there for them through the ups and downs. We strive to raise them with our values. That’s our right and responsibility as parents. This dangerous amendment strips away the very nature of what it means to be a parent.
 
Far from the focus group tested, dishonest slogans about “choice” and “reproductive health,” Issue 1 is an attack on Ohio-values that would put our state on the radical fringe of this difficult and divisive issue. It should be rejected by pro-choice and pro-life Ohioans alike as far too extreme.
 
As a father and a proud Ohioan, not only am I “no” on Issue 1, I’m “Hell No!”
 
Frank LaRose is Ohio's Secretary of State and candidate for the U.S. Senate.