Press

EVERETT POST

The “Ohio Prenatal Equal Protection Act” would overturn the amendment to the Ohio constitution, voted on in 2023, that establishes “an individual right to one’s own reproductive medical treatment, including but not limited to abortion” before viability.

Beigel said he has been working with Republican state Reps. Levi Dean and Jonathan Newman on the bill, which uses the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause — part of the Fourteenth Amendment — to override Ohio’s constitutional amendment. Beigel said the co-sponsors will be announced on Wednesday.

WONKETTE

Michigan State Rep. Josh Schriver has introduced legislation that would classify abortion as a homicide and also change the definitions of every criminal statute involving homicide, assault, and battery to also apply to “an unborn child in the same manner as they would if the victim were an individual who had been born alive.”

“House Bill 4671 is the first legislation in Michigan state history that would establish equal protection of the laws for preborn children,” Foundation to Abolish Abortion President Bradley Pierce said. “This bill would simply make murdering anyone illegal for everyone, in recognition that preborn babies are image-bearers of God and are just as worthy of legal protection as people who have already been born.”

THE DAILY WIRE

Advocates of criminalization often clash with traditional pro-life groups, who say that criminalization will drive more women to underground abortions and lead them to stop turning to crisis pregnancy centers for help.

This year, the debate has played out across the country — from North Dakota to Georgia, from Texas to Missouri — where Republican lawmakers have proposed “equal protection” bills that would criminalize abortion. According to the Foundation to Abolish Abortion, 16 criminalization bills have been introduced across 14 states so far this year, with support from 122 Republican lawmakers.

NEWSMAX

Republican Michigan State Rep. Josh Schriver wants abortion to be classified as murder. He has introduced a two-bill package in the Legislature to accomplish that goal in what is likely to be an uphill battle.

Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2022 upholding an individual’s “right to reproductive freedom” and that the state may not prosecute anyone for pregnancy outcomes, including “miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion.”

ABORTION EVERY DAY

State Rep. Josh Schriver has introduced legislation that would punish abortion patients as murderers. HB 4671, which would codify fetal personhood, is similar to the “equal protection” bills we’ve seen introduced in more than a dozen states across the country.

Schriver doesn’t have the votes, and abortion rights are protected in the state constitution. But as I’ve pointed out again and again, these bills are gaining support (and cosponsors) by the day. And I’m sick of Republicans saying these are fringe efforts with no future while they gain ground right in front of our faces.

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.