Jack Butler raises some good points in his response to my Corner post about last night’s election results in Ohio. While there are reasons for long-term pro-life optimism, yesterday’s election results certainly raise some legitimate concerns. Not only did pro-lifers suffer a defeat at the ballot box, but the margin was worse than many of us expected.
I thought that pro-lifers in Ohio would fare better than pro-lifers in Michigan fared last year. Ohio is a more conservative state than Michigan. In 2020, President Trump ran more than 5 percentage points better in Ohio than in Michigan. Ohio pro-lifers also had more time to prepare and had the vocal support of popular Republican Governor Mike DeWine. Even so, last night’s election results in Ohio were nearly identical to the results in Michigan in 2022.
That said, when I encourage pro-lifers to stay the course, I am encouraging continued involvement and investment in pro-life educational, service, and political activities. I am not saying to continue the same strategies. For one thing, I am not sure that parental rights is the strongest argument for pro-lifers moving forward.
Nowadays people are marrying later and having fewer children. Furthermore, teen pregnancy rates have fallen dramatically during the past 30 years. Today, parents are probably less concerned about teen pregnancies and teen abortions than parents were in the 1980s and 1990s. I would like to see, in future direct-democracy campaigns, greater pro-life emphasis on the issue of taxpayer funding for abortion.
Pro-lifers have successfully adapted in the past. We have certainly gotten better at fundraising and more savvy at public relations. Innovative outreach efforts to students and post-abortive women continue to bear fruit. Current Republican elected officials are giving greater priority to sanctity-of-life issues than did their predecessors. Persistence has paid off for pro-lifers in the past. I am confident that it will continue to do so in the future.