Seeing the inside of a bill and the inside of the city

Today I attended a "celebration" (aka rally) for the HeartBeat Bill in the Atrium of the Statehouse in Columbus. There was a prayer service from about 7-11, so I got there about 10:30 and got a fairly decent seat, although it was filling up. When the lineup of speakers started all the introductions (for speeches of about 2 minutes) were done by Janet Porter--and I must say, she was outstanding. Just the right personality and voice to do this. The organization of the pro-lifers was stunning--I thought--as I browsed the booklet and list of county organizations. A number of the people introduced have been working on this for 38 years! When they started, they never expected the abortion movement to end up as powerful and deadly as it has--some thought Roe v. Wade would be overturned quickly. They were certainly wrong, as 50,000,000 dead children show. But they have made a number of inroads and have been saving children, although many fewer than they want.

The Bill passed the House in June, so now it goes to the Senate, and it is Senators they are working on, and a number of them spoke to us. They are confident this will go to the Supreme Court and that Ohio will win. There's nothing in the bill about when life begins--it's all about the heartbeat since everyone recognizes that as a sign of life.

One of the black speakers expressed regret there weren't more "American faces like his" in the audience (I saw perhaps 10-15) because for the black community abortion is nothing short of a Holocaust, being a much greater cause of death for them than all the major diseases. One of the oldest speakers was Dr. Jack Willke, Founder of the National and Ohio Right to Life. Another speaker was a young woman named Katelyn who is a paramedic and a former Marine whom I'd met at another gathering. She knows the importance of a heartbeat in determining life.

One of the speakers was from Texas, another from Illinois, another from Indiana. It's a long way to come on your own dime to speak for 2 minutes! That's how committed to saving lives these people are.

I left about 2 p.m. and caught a bus to return home that went down Neil Avenue to the campus area, and I saw many lovely restored houses--must have been a very grand neighborhood about 100 years ago. The bus went through the medical and law campus, past the new Union, on to Woody Hayes Drive and the new (very odd) architecture building, past the agriculture campus, then turned east to Olentangy. Soon everyone but three of us on the bus were either Asian or Indian. They seemed to be headed for apartments north of where I live and don't live on the campus.

All in all, an interesting day.