According to The Catholic Telegraph, Catholic churches, schools, and cemeteries in Ohio are dealing with vandalism and theft ahead of the upcoming abortion-related Issue 1 vote.
Catholic locations throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati have been vandalized with spray paint, and signs urging Ohioans to vote no on Issue 1 have been stolen and replaced with signs stating ‘Vote Yes’. In all, about 20 Catholic properties were attacked.
A Vote No sign at St. Monica-St. George Church in Clifton was stolen and tossed into a nearby dumpster in early October. It was put back on church property after it was located before being stolen again.
Incarnation Catholic Church in Centerville was vandalized on October 18. Its front door window was spray painted to cover a sign that was posted on the inside of the window.
Pro-abortion activists removed Vote No signs from the church property of St. Bartholomew Church in Cincinnati sometime between October 29 and 30. They were replaced with Vote Yes signs, which church members quickly removed and replaced with more Vote No signs. In addition, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati had multiple signs stolen, and St. Mary Church in Oxford had a large display sign cut in half and a smaller sign vandalized. St. Mary Church has had its signs stolen multiple times a week, said The Catholic Telegraph.
Catholic high schools and cemeteries have also reportedly dealt with Vote No yard signs being stolen in recent weeks.
In a press release from August, The Archdiocese of Cincinnati explained why it is urging voters to vote no on Issue 1 on November 7. The Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr, Archbishop of Cincinnati wrote, “On the November ballot will be a proposed amendment (deceptively named “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety”) to the Ohio Constitution that would enshrine the ‘right’ to take the lives of innocent children in the womb while harming women and families in the process.”
He continued, “Every woman, regardless of circumstances, should be able to depend upon a community of support. That is why Catholic social service agencies, in collaboration with many other faith-based and secular organizations, assist pregnant women in need with material resources and personal accompaniment, both during pregnancy and after the child is born.”
However, he said, the amendment does not offer support. Rather, it would eliminate basic safety regulations of abortion facilities, including that a licensed physician must commit the abortion. It would allow minor girls to have abortions without parental consent or notification, potentially allowing victims of abuse to be coerced into abortion and allowing the abuse to continue. The amendment would allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, despite 79% of Americans stating they do not want abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy, according to a 2023 Knights of Columbus-Marist Poll. In addition, 66% of Americans said they believe abortion should at least be limited to the first three months of pregnancy, according to an NPR/PBS/ NewsHour/Marist National Poll released earlier this year.
Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, there has been an increase in attacks against pro-life organizations, including Catholic churches. CatholicVote has been keeping track of those attacks and has reported there to have been over 350 acts of vandalism including arson, spray-painting, graffiti, and broken windows.
