People gather for Medina County Right to Life's annual Candlelight Vigil
MEDINA — More than 30 people gathered outside the 1969 Medina County Courthouse with candles in hand for the Medina County Right to Life’s annual candlelight vigil on Monday.
Throughout the evening, audience members heard from several speakers who shared their perspectives on abortion and what it means to be anti-abortion on the 51st anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, which was overturned in 2022.
“There really is no other greater cause than to speak out in front of the town here on behalf of babies,” speaker Gary Fox said.
Fox, who is running for the Ohio House of Representatives District 66 seat, said that abortion is not a political issue.
“Whenever you are talking to people, they are going to want to talk about other stuff,” Fox said. “They are going to want to talk about politics, or they want to talk about women’s rights. They want to talk about everything else but what the issue is.”
Fox believes that people have allowed the issue to become a hot topic. He said that it is now muddled and open to debate when it should not be.
Aidan Haggard, a senior at Medina High School, spoke briefly about the anti-abortion stance and how it is not only about opposing abortion but also about cherishing and protecting life from its beginning.
“The argument for a woman’s right to choose is rooted in the belief that women have the right to control over their own bodies,” Haggard said. “However, we cannot ignore the undeniable fact that lives of unborn children are at stake.”
Haggard said that as a compassionate society, people must extend their support to women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy and provide them with the necessary resources and assistance to complete the pregnancy.
The final speaker for the evening was state Rep. Melanie Miller, R-Ashland, who has also served as the executive director for the Ashland Pregnancy Care Center for nine years.
During her speech, Miller said that several years ago, she was at a Sanctity of Human Life Sunday event and heard from a woman who had gone through an abortion. At the event, the woman talked about her journey of healing and forgiveness as she talked about what she had done.
Miller said that after hearing that woman speak, she prayed that she would find her calling and purpose like the woman had.
“One of the reasons I felt called to run for state representative was for this issue because we have a culture of death in America,” Miller said.
All three speakers discussed the recent passage of Issue 1 in November, which is a constitutional amendment regarding the right to make one's own decisions regarding contraception, fertility treatment, pregnancy, miscarriage care and abortion.
Miller said that people who are opposed to abortion should respond with love, not with hate or judgment.
“It’s a moral issue that has already been decided in the hearts of many people long ago — for nearly 50 years abortion has been legal,” Miller said. “It’s going to take years to change the hearts and minds of people in this state, in this country, to not dehumanize the people but to see life as a gift.”