Eight Minutes to Protect the Unborn

by Tiffanie Broadbent

Note: The legislation mentioned in this post has changed, but the issues and urgency are the same. House Bill 144 has been replaced by Senate Bill 92, and House Joint Resolution 1 has been replaced by Senate Joint Resolution 2.

Eight minutes…that’s all it took…just eight minutes.

I wanted to contact the Speaker of the Ohio House and all the members of the House Government Oversight Committee. I wanted to urge them to quickly pass House Bill 144 out of their committee so it can be brought to vote on the House floor. Using the tools on FortifyGeauga.org, I did it in 8 minutes. I’ll post what I wrote below so you can copy & paste it…you might just beat my time. If you don’t want abortion added to the Ohio Constitution, please contact these Representatives today!

It’s a crucial bill (so I told the committee) because if it doesn’t pass by May 4th, we won’t have a Special Election in August; and if we don’t have a Special Election in August, we won’t be able to pass the proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution in HJR1/SJR2. That amendment raises the threshold for passing new amendments from 50% +1 to 60%; and if we don’t pass that amendment in August, it won’t be in effect by November when the pro-abortion activists may be voting on their own amendment to the Ohio constitution enshrining the “right” to abortion. Sound confusing? Believe me, I know. Allow me to explain… (and if you already know this, just skip to the bottom.)

Right now, pro-abortion activists like Planned Parenthood are collecting signatures to get an amendment on the Ohio ballot this November. What do they want? They want abortion enshrined in the Ohio Constitution. Their amendment also “protects” the “rights” of minors to receive abortion and other “reproductive” care (i.e., gender reassignment?) without parental consent. That’s horrifying.

You’ve probably seen them on social media, trying to get people to sign their petition. “Women’s Rights” is what they call it, or “Reproductive Freedom.” They are setting up meeting places in libraries and coffee shops to collect signatures, selling the lie that murdering a child is acceptable, that not being able to kill your baby makes you unfree, and that girls as young as 12 should be facing these life-altering decisions without the support and guidance of their parents. “Sign our petition to protect your rights,” they will tell you. Hogwash.

Right now, it’s uncomfortably easy to amend our Constitution. An amendment is placed on the ballot either by the Legislature or via citizen petition, and then if 50% percent of the voters plus one vote for it, it’s in. So their plan is to collect enough signatures on their petition to get their amendment on the ballot this November and then hammer Ohioans all Summer with loads of special interest advertising and union pressure in an attempt to convince 50% + 1 of our voters to approve it.

What’s a life-loving conservative to do? Well first of all, DONT SIGN THAT PETITION – no matter what misleading phrases they throw at you – and make sure you tell EVERYONE you know about the parental consent pitfalls (even some of the ladies out there getting petitions signed don’t seem to know about that, or they…um…mysteriously forget to mention it).

Second, we can protect our Constitution by raising the threshold for passing new amendments. How do we do that? By passing an amendment to the Ohio Constitution. So our Republican lawmakers introduced a Resolution to put that amendment in front of voters. It’s called House Joint Resolution 1 (also called Senate Joint Resolution 2). The tricky part: they need to get that passed by the voters before the November election. If they can do that, the new, higher threshold will be in place in November and the pro-abortion lobby will have a much harder time getting their amendment.

It has probably occurred to you to ask, “How can we vote on that amendment to raise the threshold before November? There aren’t any state-wide elections between now and November.” Right you are, Astute Patriot! And that’s why good Republicans introduced House Bill 144, to hold a Special Election in August. And that’s why I wanted to contact the members of the Government Oversight Committee and the Speaker of the House.

That also is why I want YOU to please do the same. Click here for instructions. It’s really easier than you think. After you contact Speaker Stevens, use the links in the House Oversight Committee list to contact each representative. After you’ve done one or two, your browser will likely populate most of the fields for you, then just copy the same message in the Message box and…voila! On to the next one. Feel free to use my script below. It might take you only 6 minutes. The hardest part is proving you’re not a robot 15 times.

My message…

I am writing to urge you in the strongest possible terms to do everything in your power to move House Bill 144 swiftly through the Government Oversight Committee and pass it promptly so that it can be voted on in the House before May 4th. The citizens of Ohio are keenly interested in seeing this bill pass without delay. We need you to work to amend the Revised Code in order to ensure our ability to vote on the very important upcoming Constitutional Amendment (HJR1/SJR2) in August. Time is of the essence!

Thank you.