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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 133
rd
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!
PROFILES
Each installment of the Friday Five will bring thumbnail profiles of key policymakers and committees.
United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
-Justice Alito, nominated to the Court by former President George W. Bush in 2005, was formerly a justice with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals from 1990-2006. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Deputy Assistant Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey prior to ascending to the bench. He holds degrees from Princeton University and Yale Law School. Alito, 59, has been on the nation's highest court since 2006. His judicial philosophy is self-described as "practical originalist" and is considered one of the most conservative justices on the Court. He most notably joined the majority in upholding the Partial Birth Abortion Ban in the case of Gonzales v. Carhart, agreeing with the majority that Congress was within its power to ban the procedure.
U.S. Congress Bob Latta
-Bluffton's own Bob Latta has served the 5
th
Congressional District in northwest Ohio since winning a special election upon the death of former Rep. Paul Gillmor in 2007. Latta, an Attorney, served as a Wood County Commissioner prior to serving in the Ohio Senate and the Ohio House from 1997-2007. Latta serves on the Committee on Energy and Commerce; as Chair of the Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection; the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, and the Subcommittee on Energy. He also co-chairs a number of issue caucuses in the U.S. House. Congressman Latta has introduced the "Support and Value Expectant Moms and Babies (SAVE) Act of 2019." The SAVE Act amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the approval of new abortion drugs, prohibit investigational use exemptions for abortion drugs and to impose additional regulatory requirements with respect to previously approved abortion drugs. It is pending in committee. A consistent Pro-Life Vote and Voice in Congress, Latta, along with all of the members of the House of Representatives seeking to return, will be running for re-election in 2020.
Ohio State Board of Education District 2
-Kirsten Hill of Amherst was elected to the State Board of Education in November 2018, representing District 2 along the north coast and seven counties from Fulton to Lorain. Her first term began in January 2019 and expires in December 2022. Hill and her husband operated her family's year-round farm market in Lorain County for 25 years and she has worked as a Certified Public Accountant for Key Bank in Cleveland. She is a former 20-year member and one-time president of the Amherst Schools Education Foundation, which awards grants to teachers and scholarships to students graduating from Amherst Schools. Hill has a Bachelor Degree in Accounting with a minor in German and a Master Degree in Business Administration. Hill is the chairman of a local zoning board, chairman of a local community group, voting precinct committeeman and past chapter leader of a statewide business organization.
Ohio House Civil Justice Committee
-this committee works on bills that make changes to Ohio's judicial statutes and civil laws, including bills relative to public records, handguns, civil rights, judgeship's and many other issues. The committee consists of nine Republicans and six Democrats and is chaired by Rep. Steve Hambley of Medina. Two key issues this committee is tasked with reviewing are the Fetal Remains Dignity bill (SB 27) and the Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity "fairness" bill (HB 369). The committee is one of the busiest in the House, having been assigned 34 bills to this point in the session. The Ohio House Civil Justice Committee meets on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. in room 115 of the Statehouse (which is one of the smallest, most cramped 'committee' rooms in the building).
Ohio Senate Finance Committee
-this committee is responsible for receiving the budget from the House and negotiating a final version to implement for the state's two-year spending, is an extremely busy committee. The committee consists of thirteen members, 10 Republicans and three Democrats. Senator Matt Dolan of Cuyahoga County is the chair of the committee. Along with the state budget, this committee reviews bills dealing with school funding, water and public utility fees and hold hearings on any bill that includes an appropriation of funds, often as a second committee to the committee that has heard the substance of the bill's policy changes. They have had 24 bills assigned to the committee so far this session. The Ohio Senate Finance Committee meets on Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m. in the Finance Hearing Room in the Senate.
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The Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio is an association of metropolitan, county and local pro-life organizations. RTLACO focuses on developing and strengthening local grass roots pro-life leadership, true representative governing for the statewide organization, a commitment to a consistent and holistic pro-life standard to evaluate both policies and elected officials/candidates, and collaborative engagement to develop priorities for action.
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