Join Us: END ABORTION IN OHIO

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:06

Hey guys, welcome to a very, very special edition of Apologia TV and we are just delighted, honored to be able to present to you this very important discussion we're having right now with Representative Ron Hood from Ohio.

00:24

Representative Hood is one of the men behind the bill that is working to end abortion in the state of Ohio.

00:33

We were given a great opportunity today, we connected and it just so happened that Ron actually is in Arizona right now.

00:40

So we're in the studio, very important interview, so thanks for joining me. Oh, thanks Jeff.

00:46

Absolutely. It's a privilege for us anyways. Let's talk for a second about what's happening in Ohio.

00:51

You've introduced a bill that is obviously very, very controversial and I don't think that it ought to be controversial amongst people who are pro -life anyways, but of course those who are pro -choice see this as a very destructive bill.

01:06

And the bill that you have sponsored, the bill that you sponsored works to ultimately ban abortions.

01:14

So not working in incremental steps to maybe work our way down to ending abortion, but this is a consistent bill that recognizes the personhood of the unborn child and it recognizes that we need to end abortion immediately.

01:29

And so can you tell us about the bill? Well, Jeff, it's real simple. For years I've introduced legislation,

01:36

I've also co -sponsored legislation and supported legislation to make some of these incremental changes in abortion because better to have something rather than nothing.

01:48

And so I certainly wanted to be supportive of things like parental notification or Down Syndrome or some of these minor changes that were made.

02:02

I mean, you certainly want to do something. But the problem is, is what I've seen over my years in the legislature, is when these small bills that don't really end abortion or just end certain types of abortion, or yeah you're allowed to kill the baby as long as they're in the womb, but if you wait till the baby's almost born you're not allowed to kill the baby, well the problem is none of these bills stop abortion.

02:24

That's right. None of them. None of them. And therein lies the problem. And so what

02:30

I wanted to do was look for a way to finally end abortion. Now in the 7 -2

02:39

Roe v. Wade decision back in 1973, Justice Harry Blackmun wrote the majority decision.

02:45

And I'm going to paraphrase him here because I don't have the exact quote in front of me. But he said in the majority opinion that if it's such time that either technology or knowledge would increase to where we would know that life begins before birth, that this decision would have to be revisited.

03:04

And he admitted that, even being in the majority opinion writer. So we clearly now know with technology that these babies have heartbeats as early as 5, 6, 7 weeks in gestation.

03:23

So at the very least we know that life certainly exists at that time, and that's indisputable.

03:33

So what I did several years ago is I introduced the heartbeat bill, where it's very simple.

03:38

You've always heard the saying that abortion stops a beating heart. Well the heartbeat bill, our hope was that a beating heart would stop abortion.

03:47

And that once you could determine that there's a heartbeat, you were no longer permitted to abort.

03:55

Now do I believe life begins at conception? Absolutely. But the purpose of the heartbeat bill was to, we felt that it was an obvious bill to work through the court system, and it was the perfect bill to ultimately reverse

04:12

Roe versus Wade, and clearly, as Harry Blackmun said, revisit the decision. Well that bill became very controversial, and I've been working on that bill for a while.

04:24

And it actually passed the Ohio legislature, but it was vetoed by Governor John Kasich in Ohio unfortunately.

04:31

Now, but that being said, now it's time to really do the right thing, and that is life at conception.

04:41

And although I still support the heartbeat bill and would like to see it, if it becomes, if God uses that as a vehicle to ultimately reverse

04:49

Roe versus Wade, I'm all for it. But it's also time to do the principled thing, and that is life at conception.

04:58

And what my bill does in Ohio is very simple. It bestows by the government, it basically says that life begins at conception.

05:07

So it bestows personhood at conception according to state law. So therefore, even though God's already bestowed personhood, and there's nothing in Ohio through the legislature we can do about that, but it makes the state of Ohio recognize that personhood begins at conception.

05:26

And therefore, the fetus has every right, every right to life that even someone post -birth would have.

05:37

Well, Representative Hood, I think you've nailed it, of course. From a Christian perspective, we have image of God.

05:43

We have uniquely created by God, fearfully and wonderfully made. We have all of that basis. But you're right, the unique thing we have today that we didn't have during the time of Roe is that we have the technology to be able to demonstrate that a human being is a human being from the moment of conception.

05:59

All the biological components of a human being are there at the moment of conception. All there is is a difference of degree from that point on in terms of size, level of development, the environment, the degree of dependence.

06:12

So all of the facts, both biblically and biologically, are on your side.

06:18

And I think that's something that Christians today need to grapple with in particular. Anybody that's in the pro -life community need to grapple with and just really embrace is that we're in a position of strength at this point.

06:29

Roe was based upon a faulty premise that it's potential human life in the womb.

06:35

We know now, of course, that it is not potential human life. It is human life from the moment of conception.

06:41

So your bill isn't controversial scientifically. It's not controversial biologically speaking.

06:47

It's not controversial in terms of consistent pro -life legislation. And I think that I am so grateful that you are introducing legislation that is consistent.

07:01

And I want to say this, that one of the things that really I think increases my gratitude is that there are a lot of legislators out there who say that they're pro -life and they get elected based upon a pro -life platform.

07:12

The truth of the matter is there's a lot of Christians who vote people into office on one issue.

07:18

You're pro -life. And a lot of these legislators don't actually consistently move forward legislation that would actually work to finally end, not incrementally sort of whittled down, but finally end abortion.

07:31

And you're doing that right now in Ohio. Now Jeff, you really touched on the real problem we have politically in America when it comes to the abortion issue.

07:42

Politicians have discovered how popular it is to be pro -life. And so they want to be able to be pro -life, but they don't want to be held accountable for being pro -life.

07:55

So if they can vote for a parental notification bill or a parental consent bill or a

08:00

Down Syndrome bill, which by the way, a Down Syndrome bill can't even be enforced, who's to say that's the reason why you're getting the abortion?

08:08

So it can't even, it's not even enforceable. So you have these bills out there that these politicians vote for, and then they can go home to their constituents and pound their chests and say,

08:18

I have a 100 % pro -life voting record. Many of those politicians would never vote for even a heartbeat bill, let alone a life of conception bill.

08:29

And therein lies the problem because the true statesmen that want to save babies, they use elections to save babies.

08:39

But these politicians, they're using babies to win elections. It's not about saving the babies for them.

08:46

They'd never even encouraged to them that abortion's ever going to go away. They want to use the issue for political gain, and that is what's so disgusting.

08:55

And those organizations that support these politicians to be able to enable them to use it for political gain, that's got to be stopped.

09:03

That's absolutely. Representative, where do we go from here? This is obviously now in motion, but what are the steps right now everyone needs to be looking forward to, supporting you in, praying over?

09:15

What's the next line for us? Well, prayer is number one. I mean, I believe prayer changes things.

09:22

And I know many of your listeners believe that as well, and your viewers believe that as well. So that is number one, because God's the one that changes hearts and the power of the

09:37

Holy Spirit comes upon folks and changes their hearts, and that's what we need. So without prayer, it's all in vain.

09:45

So that's number one. But also, folks in Ohio need to talk to their legislators and let them know that they're holding them accountable, and they expect these legislators to support the

09:59

Life of Conception Act. Now, in other states, if you have legislators that would introduce a similar bill in other states, that would be fantastic.

10:06

I know many of your viewers are in the other 49 states, and we certainly could use that as well.

10:13

And so, yeah, but we need legislators around the country with the courage to stand up to the opposition and say, enough is enough, and we're tired of the killing, we're tired of the slaughter of innocent life.

10:31

So in terms of what's happening in Ohio right now, what are we looking at in terms of a timeline? What are the next steps?

10:37

What do we need from people in Ohio that support you? What do we need from them in terms of support?

10:43

Obviously, contact other legislators in Ohio, say, please get on this, be courageous, we'll support you in this.

10:49

But in terms of what's happening in the legislature right now, what's the next step for you? Well, the next step is for the bill to be signed to a committee, and then it'll go through the committee process.

10:58

And what's very important is that these folks on the committee hear from their constituents, hear from Ohioans, to know how important this bill is.

11:10

And it's the grassroots pressure. That's what makes the difference. The other side, they're going to hear from the other side.

11:17

That's right. Okay? But our side's bigger. Our side has more numbers. That's right. And in the case of the state of Ohio, the state of Ohio is an overwhelmingly pro -life state.

11:26

Is it really? It is. It absolutely is. Absolutely is. Wow, that's great. And so in Ohio, if your viewers are letting their legislators know that they expect them to publicly come out and commit to this bill,

11:46

House Bill 565, we certainly need that grassroots pressure in order to move the legislature.

11:53

Okay. So a word to everybody watching right now in Ohio. I want to strongly urge you, plead with you to follow

12:01

Representative Hood's advice. I want you to contact your local legislators in your area. Call on them to be courageous, to be consistent, and to support

12:10

Representative Hood and others who are on this bill, getting it in committee and getting it passed and pushed through.

12:16

What do you think about the governor of Ohio right now? Do you think, what are you looking at there? Well, look, we ran the heartbeat bill through, which was, even though it's not the full life of conception that we actually believe in, the heartbeat bill still was very controversial and many folks did not want to support it.

12:37

It took years of grassroots pressure. That bill was first introduced in 2011, and it took years of grassroots pressure, and we didn't get it to the governor's desk until 2016.

12:49

No kidding. So that's how long it took just to get that there, and the governor vetoed it, and we were very disappointed by that.

12:57

The clock ran out on us in order to have a chance to override that veto vote, or at least attempt an override on that vote.

13:04

So we're going to have to be vigilant, and we have to continue to push, and we have to continue to be relentless that we want to save these babies from the slaughter.

13:18

There's the word. And we have to be relentless. Now, that doesn't mean we take ownership in the results.

13:23

We have to delegate the results to God. If you don't delegate the results to God, you'll make all kinds of compromises and you'll do things that are just not productive.

13:36

But if we take a principled stand and continue to fight and be relentless, the

13:43

Lord will give us the victory. Where did you come from? Where in the world has he been?

13:48

My goodness. Okay, so I guess another main point, and this is a point of emphasis for us a lot,

13:56

Ron. We talk about this quite often in terms of if we're going to finally end abortion, we need to be, number one, consistent with our

14:03

Christian convictions, and we need to be consistent in a legislative sense. And what we've often pointed to as failures, and we're doing this in as loving and as gracious a way as possible and as respectful a way as possible with all the people that have fought so long and so hard and have introduced legislation that has saved some children's lives.

14:20

We're grateful to God for that. But we have to point out some of the failures of the pro -life movement in terms of taking courageous stands in moments like this.

14:30

My thinking is that every pro -life organization in the country right now ought to be banging the ground and making noise in Ohio with a bill like this, because it works to ultimately end abortion immediately.

14:45

No more widening hallways and abortion facilities. No more cleaning up the abortion facility. No more adding things that, like you said, there's no way to enforce it.

14:55

I mean, if a woman goes in and says, I want an abortion, she doesn't have to tell them that it's because there's Down syndrome or because of the sex or because of the race.

15:02

All these things are ineffective. We've learned that. They mean ultimately nothing. Even the most recent bill in Mississippi, as grateful to God as I am that it'll save lives from 15 weeks and on, we all know that the majority of abortions take place underneath that limit.

15:19

Absolutely, Jeff. It does not help us ultimately. So talk to me about the pro -life movement and its support of you in this, because I'd like to try to emphasize we need to get the pro -life movement behind you.

15:34

And for those of us that are saying we want to fight this as Christians and be consistent, I want to get everyone behind you.

15:39

Talk about that, the pro -life movement. Look, the pro -life movement has been split in Ohio and it's been split in other areas of the country.

15:51

There are those that follow the model, what we call access -based lobbying.

15:58

Now, access -based lobbying is where you build a relationship with the politician, you get to know them on a personal level, and then basically you get access from that relationship and you try to encourage that politician to move in your direction.

16:16

And for years, the pro -life community has operated under that model. The problem with that model is if you push the politician too hard, then the politician cuts off that access.

16:28

And then all of a sudden makes the pro -life activist feel, oh,

16:33

I'm ineffective, this won't work anymore, and oh my, if I do anything to upset the politician, oh my,

16:42

I've just lost my access and now I can't save babies anymore and I can't do anything. And those that are

16:49

Christians will say, what value am I to the kingdom of God through what

16:56

God has called me to do? And that is just a lie. That is a lie and you need to recognize that and overcome that.

17:04

As a grassroots activist, as opposed to an access -based lobbyist, you actually hold the politicians accountable.

17:12

See, access -based lobbyists, they represent the politician to the activist and tell them what's feasible.

17:20

The grassroots lobbyist represents the rank and file

17:25

Christians out there trying to end abortion and they represent them back to the politician and we tell the politician what we expect of them.

17:35

It's two different ways. And the men and women of God need to have the courage to not be phased about having their access cut off for the politician and go straight at the politician and hold the politician accountable.

17:51

And that is the only way we're going to end abortion, not only in Ohio but in the United States of America. That's powerful.

17:57

My goodness. This is powerful stuff, guys. Make sure you share it, share it, share it. You just heard

18:04

Ron talk about the need for the grassroots, the difference in methodology and ultimately

18:13

I think the difference in effectiveness is obvious I think for everyone to see and it only comes right now with the click of a button.

18:20

So you're watching this right now on social media across the United States. Some of you guys are in Ohio, some of you guys are not in Ohio. What we have to do is get behind Ron by liking, sharing, commenting, get the word out.

18:32

Yes, it takes us. Yes, it takes you. It's such an amazing time we live in that we have the ability right now to communicate to the entire country, all of us, with the click of a button to support your message.

18:44

We were not here 20 years ago. We were not here 25 years ago. We had to work much harder 25 years ago to be able to get people behind a person like yourself and now it's at the click of a button and it's in your power right now.

18:57

So this is the next step, the final word or say here. So one of the things that causes fear with legislators is number one, facing the pro -choice movement because they're so loud, they're so loud, they're so forceful, they're so committed to their position.

19:14

And I think legislators are often fearful of introducing legislation that might stir them up too much or cause too much conflict.

19:21

I serve with many that are. And so in terms of even pro -life, professing pro -life legislators,

19:27

I think when there's consistent legislation introduced, sometimes the pro -life movement pushes back on it, which is awfully weird.

19:34

And sometimes there's, of course, the making of noise of the pro -choicers and even pro -lifers a lot of times will say,

19:40

I'm not sure if we need to go that far. That could create a lot of problems. So, of course, the question comes up. If we're going to outright ban abortion because we recognize the personhood and humanity of an unborn child from the moment of conception, then that means that abortion would be a criminal act in the state.

19:56

And of course, my answer to that is, of course it would, because that's what happens when you kill all the human beings.

20:01

It's a criminal act. So, yes, the answer is yes, a criminal act by killing a human being in the womb, yes to that.

20:09

And so people will say, do you really want abortion to be criminal? And when I hear pro -life advocates ask that question,

20:18

I oftentimes have to take a step back and take a breath and say, wait, what is our worldview? What do we actually believe here?

20:25

If it's human in the womb and we're killing it, then let's be consistent with our convictions.

20:30

Do we really believe what we say? And your bill, the thing that people have been saying is if this bans abortions in Ohio, then that means abortion is a criminal act in Ohio.

20:38

And that means that it'd be actual penology you have to talk about in terms of punishment. And my answer to that is, but that's the pro -life position, isn't it?

20:47

Well, if we confer personhood as a state upon the unborn, as there already is on the born, what's the difference between murdering someone two minutes after they were born or two minutes before they were born?

20:59

That's right. It's still murder. That's right. And although the

21:06

Ohio bill does not actually deal specifically with penalties, there are existing penalties in code that it refers to, you know, so that would come into play.

21:19

But yes, abortion is murder. That's right. It's the slaughter of innocent children.

21:25

And yes, there has to be a penalty for murder. And there is a penalty for murder.

21:32

And obviously, we want abortion to end in the state of Ohio.

21:39

And of course, I want abortion to end in the United States of America as well. And actually, if there's no deterrent to murdering someone who's one year old or 16 years old or 83 years old, there will be people, more people that will be murdering.

21:56

And the same thing, if there's no deterrent to these abortionists for murdering innocent children, they're going to continue to murder innocent children.

22:07

So there has to be penalties. I am so grateful. And I just have to tell you, from our perspective, this is just such a tremendous divine appointment because you were unaware, ultimately, right, of this, you know, the studio being here and the opportunity for an appointment.

22:25

But you're here and you've just come into town and we have you here. And the perspective of our audience, the people who know our ministry, love our ministry, support our ministry, are all behind your position 100 percent.

22:38

So you step right into the hub of Christians around the country who support your position, our position, and want to want to help you.

22:51

And so. Well, you know what, I believe in divine appointments. So I certainly appreciate your audience.

22:59

I certainly look forward to the continued growth of your audience. And and I continue to look forward to your influence on the political process.

23:09

I appreciate you. And I can I can just say, hopefully this is just the beginning for us.

23:14

We'd like to check in with you and just regularly provide encouragement and ultimately a platform for our perspective of how we feel about the unborn child and our desire for justice.

23:27

So we're behind you 100 percent. Absolutely. Thanks, Jeff. Thank you. God bless you. Thank you so much. God bless you.