MICHIGAN ADVANCE

In Michigan, where voters in 2022 approved enshrining the right to an abortion into the state constitution, legislation that would classify elective abortions as homicide has been introduced.

Last week, Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) introduced House Bills 4670 and 4671 to create the “Justice for Babies in the Womb Act.” The bill aims to adjust all definitions in assault, assault and battery, and homicide cases to apply to “an unborn child in the same manner as they would if the victim were an individual who had been born alive.”

CLEVELAND.COM

The Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, or House Bill 370, seeks to “entirely abolish abortion in this state,” by granting legal personhood from the moment of fertilization. The legislation would extend criminal and civil protections to “unborn persons,” effectively making abortion a criminal act equivalent to homicide.

Although IVF and contraceptive care are not explicitly addressed in the bill, defining legal personhood at conception could threaten access to both.

SAN MARCOS DAILY RECORD

Despite Texas’s so-called abortion “ban,” Foundation to Abolish Abortion reports that over 60,000 abortions are expected to be committed by Texas women this year — and that number doesn’t even include the rising tide of unrecorded self-managed abortions. The truth is, abortion remains legal in Texas at any stage and for any reason — as long as it’s committed by the mother.

This shocking reality prompted Texas abortion abolitionists to file HB2197, an equal protection and justice bill that would apply existing homicide laws equally to protect prenatal children. But to the dismay of many, Texas Alliance for Life, one of the largest pro-life political groups in the state, actively opposed the bill. And it didn’t stop there. TAL lobbied legislators to reject equal justice, insisting that women should have blanket immunity from prosecution for their part in abortion.

WCMH

Reps. Levi Dean and Jonathan Newman introduced the “Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act,” which would legally recognize personhood from the moment of fertilization and ban abortion. Under the bill, having an abortion could lead to homicide charges. The proposed ban only grants exceptions for “life-saving procedures” on pregnant women and spontaneous miscarriages.

A Christian organization, End Abortion Ohio, proposed the effort to lawmakers. President Austin Beigel said the group worked alongside a constitutional lawyer with the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, a national nonprofit, to craft the bill.

ABORTION EVERY DAY

Speaking of fetal personhood: we’re still keeping an eye on this “equal protection” bill in Ohio, proposed despite the fact that voters codified abortion protections into the state constitution.

Ohio abortion rights activists know it’s unlikely to pass, but they’re paying attention regardless. Here’s what Ohio Women’s Alliance Deputy Director Jordyn Close said: “I don’t think that this bill has any legs to stand on, but I do think that it’s very important to highlight just how gross it is that they would even try it… Because if it’s not this bill, it will be another one introduced in the next session… it just continues because they do not respect Ohioans.”

BELIEFNET

The group Foundation to Abolish Abortion, however, has been critical of “pro-life laws.” Abortion abolitionists have often criticized so-called heartbeat bills and other abortion bans, claiming such bans only drive up the number of people getting abortions through abortion pills, meaning they never get an ultrasound, which could help change someone’s mind about going through an abortion.

“We must not merely regulate methods of abortion like abortion mills or abortion pills. We must criminalize the act of abortion,” the group asserted. Abolitionists have been considered controversial amongst other members of the pro-life lobby for supporting charging women for murder for obtaining banned abortions. “Guns do not kill people. People kill people,” the group stated. “Abortion pills do not kill people. People kill people.”

REDSTATE

After three years, the Dobbs decision still stands as a watershed moment for both sides who have been forced to reassess, pivot, and recalibrate. While it is the same battleground for Life, the tactics employed have had to change, and must continue to change.

Foundation to Abolish Abortion president Bradley Pierce said in this statement: “Though three years have passed, the act of murdering a preborn baby remains legal in all fifty states, including conservative states where Pro-Life leaders claim they have banned abortion.”

NEWS FROM THE STATES

This year, “equal protection” model bills crafted with the help of groups like Abolitionists Rising and the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, were introduced in several states, including: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. Most of these bills died in committee, but activists said they’ve seen more support from state lawmakers than in any other year.

“So far this year, 122 state lawmakers have sponsored equal protection bills, easily eclipsing every other past session,” said Bradley Pierce, a constitutional attorney and president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, in an email. He said 16 such bills were introduced in 14 states this year.

REFORMATION RED PILL with JOSHUA HAYMES

In this episode of Reformation Red Pill, Joshua Haymes hosts a discussion between Bradley Pierce, president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, and J. Chase Davis, pastor of The Well Church in Boulder, Colorado. Bradley defended the position that abolishing abortion has more priority for American Christians than deporting illegal aliens.

FOSTORIA REVIEW TIMES

Proponents of the bill say the legislation would grant preborn persons the same legal protections as citizens under state law from the moment of fertilization.

House Bill 370, or the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, if approved, states that it would fulfill Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that “[n]o state shall deny…to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Having an abortion could result in criminal charges, and exceptions to the law are only for “life-saving procedures” on pregnant women and spontaneous miscarriages.

CHRISTIAN POST

The “Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act,” introduced by state Reps. Levi Dean, R-Xenia, and Johnathan Newman, R-Troy, last Wednesday, seeks to “entirely abolish abortion” by granting criminal and civil protections from the point of fertilization and overturning a 2023 amendment to the state constitution that establishes "an individual right to one's own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion.”

Under the bill, which has six co-sponsors, the state of Ohio would uphold the U.S. Constitution by “protecting the lives of preborn persons with the same criminal and civil laws protecting the lives of born persons by repealing provisions that permit willful prenatal homicide or assault,” including the 2023 amendment.

LIFENEWS.COM

The Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, introduced Wednesday by State Reps. Levi Dean, R-Xenia, and Johnathan Newman, R-Troy, seeks to classify abortion as homicide and extend criminal and civil protections to babies before birth, effectively abolishing abortion in Ohio. The legislation, House Bill 370, also challenges the state’s 2023 constitutional amendment, which 57% of Ohio voters passed after a very deceptive multi-million dollar campaign that lied to voters.

End Abortion Ohio, a Christian nonprofit that collaborated with the bill’s sponsors, hailed the legislation as a step toward “the legal abolition of abortion.” The group argues that the 2023 amendment, known as Issue 1, violates the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection and is “null and void.” They called for an appeal to “the highest law; the law of God.”

THE SENTINEL

Two lawmakers in Ohio introduced legislation to completely abolish abortion in the state, a measure that was controversially opposed by a prominent pro-life establishment group.

The newly submitted legislation, entitled the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, would work to “abolish abortion in Ohio by establishing equal protection of the laws for preborn babies,” according to a release from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion. The bill would simply apply existing homicide laws that already protect born people to protect preborn people as well.

THE WESTERN JOURNAL

Rather than only regulating the circumstances around abortion or limiting the types of people who can legally induce an abortion to pregnant women, we should establish true equal protection by safeguarding preborn people with the same laws safeguarding born people. Opposing this standard is not consistent with the belief that preborn babies are image-bearers of God, who are worth protecting.

An analysis from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion contended that “the abortion amendment in the Ohio Constitution is null and void” since the measure violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The amendment also “contradicts the Law of God, which makes clear that we shall not murder.”

OHIO CAPITAL JOURNAL

Pro-abortion rights advocates are taking a proposed total abortion ban in Ohio to heart. Noting the celebration of Juneteenth and Black emancipation, they say the use of the 14th Amendment to try to exert state control over individual freedom and bodily autonomy is vile.

The new bill a pair of freshman Republican House lawmakers are planning to introduce would ban abortion and criminalize it, along with in-vitro fertilization and certain types of contraception. The measure’s filing was first reported by WEWS. The bill is meant as a direct challenge to the state reproductive rights amendment passed by 57% of Ohio voters in 2023.

THE GATEWAY PUNDIT

The Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, House Bill 370, points to the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws’ to protect the life of preborn persons.”

The Foundation to Abolish Abortion said in a press release, “There were over 22,000 babies in Ohio murdered through clinic-based abortions in 2023, with at least 45% of those abortions taking place through non-surgical methods such as abortion pills. Ohio women are increasingly seeking medication abortions instead of surgical procedures.”

LIFE & LIBERTY PODCAST with SHARAYAH COLTER

In this episode of the Life & Liberty Podcast, Sharayah Colter talks with Bradley Pierce, president of the Foundation to Abolish Abortion. Bradley’s aim is to see all humans treated equally and protected by law equally, whether born or preborn. A committed Christian, Bradley appeals to God and Scripture as the guiding force in directing the fight to defend the sanctity of life.

YOURNEWS

Ohio State Representatives Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman this week introduced House Bill 370, known as the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act, a sweeping proposal to abolish abortion by granting full legal rights and protections to preborn children beginning at fertilization.

In a press release, the Foundation to Abolish Abortion emphasized that in 2023 alone, more than 22,000 abortions were performed in Ohio, nearly half through non-surgical methods such as abortion pills. “Merely banning abortion clinics and doctors will not fully abolish abortion unless self-induced abortion is also addressed,” the group stated.

NEWSWEEK

State Representatives Levi Dean and Johnathan Newman introduced the Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act on Wednesday. The bill would grant legal protections from the moment of fertilization, meaning abortion would be treated as homicide, in a challenge to an abortion rights amendment to the State Constitution that voters approved in 2023.

While Republicans in Ohio have historically passed abortion restrictions and bans, legislation in the past has been aimed at penalizing abortion providers rather than the people who have them.

PROBLEMATIC with SARAH STOCK

Sarah Stock speaks with Ben Zeisloft, the communications director for the Foundation to Abolish Abortion. The two discuss the “second victim narrative” prevalent in the pro-life movement and whether or not women should be penalized for abortion.