On Nov. 7 in Ohio, the passage of Issue 1 dealt the pro-life movement another stunning defeat in a long string of statewide losses since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
It would be too easy for politicians and pundits on the left, and even some on the right, to jump on the “Being pro-life is political suicide” bandwagon and integrate that notion immediately into a long-term strategy to shape our American political life. We have already seen this in the days following Nov. 7.
But before we write the obituary of the “all life is sacred” mantra, it would be wise to consider why we lost in Ohio.
The Truth Was Blocked
We lost because the levers of power (the donor class, the media, and the ideological medical establishment) blocked the truth about Issue 1 at every turn, despite our best efforts. Somewhere near $50 million (most of it from out-of-state groups) was spent on pro-abortion advertisements, almost twice as much as the pro-life side.
Media outlets now refuse to use the word “heartbeat” anymore as applied to a preborn baby. They consistently alter public perception with phrases like “abortion care,” and they refused to “fact check” the glaring untruths about the ballot initiative.
A thousand doctors ignored the science of fetal medicine completely to claim a “pregnant person’s” (note: not “woman’s”) reproductive choices such as contraception, miscarriage, and ectopic pregnancy treatment were at stake (which they never were). Pro-life doctors in Ohio were doxxed, silenced, and harassed
