Posted on by Doug

Toledo Humanists Condemn Passage Of Another Anti-Abortion Law In Ohio

Toledo, April 16, 2019 — The Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) has issued a state­ment about the recent anti-abortion bill (also called the ‘Heartbeat’ bill) that was signed by the Governor.

The state­ment con­demns in strong terms the leg­is­la­ture for pass­ing the law that has nei­ther pub­lic sup­port nor is it based on any sound sci­en­tif­ic facts.

“This is just plain cod­i­fied the­ol­o­gy,” Douglas Berger, President of SHoWLE said. “Conservatives com­plain about Muslims want­i­ng to make Sharia law in the US and here the Ohio leg­is­la­ture pass­es a bill that is a Christian ver­sion of Sharia law. This has noth­ing to do with help­ing women and every­thing to do with con­trol­ling and pun­ish­ing women.”

The so-called ‘heart­beat’ bill is one of over a dozen anti-abortion laws or poli­cies passed in the GOP dom­i­nat­ed leg­is­la­ture since 2013.

“As a group, we’ve decid­ed enough is enough,” Berger said. “We will not work with any group that active­ly or philo­soph­i­cal­ly sup­ports ban­ning or restrict­ing abor­tion and we would sug­gest that busi­ness­es and non­prof­its avoid Ohio when select­ing loca­tions for meet­ings or plan­ning con­fer­ences.”

The Ohio leg­is­la­ture also has not sup­port­ed com­pre­hen­sive sex edu­ca­tion in schools or efforts to pro­vide free or low cost access to birth con­trol and fam­i­ly plan­ning.

Studies, such as one by the Guttmacher Institute in 2016, showed that one sure way to reduce abor­tion is to have com­pre­hen­sive sex edu­ca­tion and easy access to birth con­trol. Teen abor­tions declined 64% in Colorado after a pro­gram pro­vid­ed low cost IUDs to pub­lic health clin­ics in that state.

“It seems like a com­mon thread in leg­is­la­tures that like to pun­ish women. They also fear sci­ence,” Berger said. “This is why Humanists sup­port sep­a­ra­tion of church and state because reli­gious peo­ple should­n’t make their reli­gious beliefs into pub­lic laws that hurt oth­ers who don’t share those reli­gious beliefs.”

Statement on the pas­sage of the Heartbeat Bill in Ohio

In April of 2019, the Ohio leg­is­la­ture passed and the Governor signed the most restric­tive anti-abortion law in the nation. If this law is not over­turned, it would pro­hib­it abor­tions when a “heart­beat” is detect­ed.

The log­ic and rea­son­ing for this bill are not based in sci­ence fact or in basic human com­pas­sion. An entire seg­ment of Ohio cit­i­zens will have their basic bod­i­ly integri­ty denied.

The pas­sage of the bill was not based on any actu­al pub­lic sup­port. Majorities of those polled in recent years have sup­port­ed unre­strict­ed access to abor­tions. In addi­tion, the law will do more harm to those less able to afford an abor­tion and those already strug­gling with pover­ty.

The same theocrats who passed this ter­ri­ble law are the same ones who refuse to fund real com­pre­hen­sive sex edu­ca­tion in the pub­lic schools or to help pro­vide free or low cost birth con­trol. Sex edu­ca­tion and birth con­trol are one way to actu­al­ly reduce abor­tions with­out forc­ing your reli­gious beliefs on oth­ers**.

The so-called “heart­beat” bill is just one of over a dozen attacks on repro­duc­tive rights in Ohio the past few years and the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie (SHoWLE) will no longer stay silent.

Going for­ward, SHoWLE will not work with ANY group that active­ly or philo­soph­i­cal­ly sup­ports ban­ning or restrict­ing abor­tion. In an effort to not sup­port the polit­i­cal, finan­cial, and reli­gious agen­das of the peo­ple who passed the ‘heart­beat’ bill, SHoWLE will encour­age busi­ness­es and non­prof­it groups avoid Ohio as a loca­tion choice for events or con­fer­ences.

SHoWLE will sup­port groups and ini­tia­tives to restore our state gov­ern­ment to one that bases pub­lic laws and poli­cies on sci­ence facts instead of reli­gious big­otry.

SHoWLE will sup­port efforts to restore the Ohio leg­is­la­ture to one that actu­al­ly rep­re­sents how Ohioans vot­ed rather than ger­ry­man­dered to keep and abuse its leg­isla­tive pow­er.


**New Clarity for the U.S. Abortion Debate: A Steep Drop in Unintended Pregnancy Is Driving Recent Abortion Declines, Guttmacher Institute, 2016 https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2016/03/new-clarity-us-abortion-debate-steep-drop-unintended-pregnancy-driving-recent-abortion

IUD pro­gram leads to big decline in teen preg­nan­cies, abor­tions in Colorado https://www.denverpost.com/2017/11/30/colorado-teen-pregnancy-abortion-rates-drop-free-low-cost-iud/

About Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie

The mis­sion of the Secular Humanists of Western Lake Erie is to pro­vide a sup­port­ive local com­mu­ni­ty for human­ists and oth­er non­the­ists, while pro­mot­ing an eth­i­cal, rea­son­able, and sec­u­lar approach to life through edu­ca­tion, com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice, out­reach, activism, and social events.

We envi­sion a Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan where sec­u­lar peo­ple are respect­ed and inte­grat­ed in broad­er soci­ety, live val­ues of rea­son and com­pas­sion, and enjoy a friend­ly human­ist com­mu­ni­ty.

Media Contacts

Douglas Berger — President
419–356-8568

Shawn Meagley
419–266-7945

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