By Dave Andrusko
“Months of ads deliberately lying about the goals of pro-life Republicans misled many voters”—Olivia Gans Turner, President, Virginia Society for Human Life.
“Big money and big lies are a dangerous combination. That’s the chief takeaway of the 2023 general election in Pennsylvania”– Maria Gallagher, Legislative Director, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation
“Backers of Ohio Issue 1 to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution boast a hefty fundraising advantage over their opponents”– Jessie Balmert, Cincinnati Enquirer
We live in Virginia, and it is no exaggeration to say that for weeks on end the airwaves were clogged with one pro-abortion ad after another, after another, after another. Need I even mention that the ads were preposterous? Pro-life candidates were viciously caricatured as unfeeling monsters who would allow women to die.
For example, in the race for governor of Kentucky—as well as a race to the bottom– incumbent pro-abortion Andy Beshear “had run one of the sharpest abortion-related ads of the year, featuring a young woman who says she was raped by her stepfather at age 12.”
Ohioans endorsed “Issue 1,” which embedded abortion in the state constitution. (It’s interesting that most accounts say it “enshrined” the amendment.) They finessed the truth that Issue 1 means that there will be no limits on abortion up until the birth of the child.
How’d they do that?!
The editors of National Review Online explained how:
The amendment was written in a way to give voters the wrong impression that it would permit meaningful limits on abortion after “viability.” Ohio voters who want some limited right to abortion may have a hazy understanding of what viability means or when a heartbeat begins. Ohio voters were also misled about the amendment’s true implications for taxpayer funding of elective abortions.
From a biased media, you would expect that the lion’s share of stories would focus on the most difficult cases. “It is telling that a large percentage of abortion stories in the mainstream media focus on the very small percentage of hard cases involving rape, incest, or fatal fetal-health conditions,” writes the editors of National Review Online.
“It is also essential that pro-life officials everywhere counter the lies of the abortion-industrial complex that hospitals may need to delay treatment of conditions that threaten the life of the mother due to pro-life laws. No law requires waiting until such a threat becomes imminent to act. There has been some progress in countering such misinformation, but there is more work to be done.”
The results last night were terribly damaging to unborn babies, to their moms, and, I would argue, to the soul of our nation. Personally, that just makes me work harder.
When we signed on to be a member of the greatest social justice movement of our time, we did so in season and out.
To borrow from the Bible, pro-lifers must continue to gird up our loins–prepare ourselves mentally and physically for the challenges ahead. I know you will join with National Right to Life as together we battle this despicable evil.