Columbus, Ohio — “The unborn are the poorest of the poor,” Jeanne Mancini emphasized in front of the statehouse here, echoing “Vote for the Voiceless” placards that could be seen in the crowd gathered. Mancini is the president of the March for Life. (She was echoing the late Mother Teresa, who was known to offer to raise children rather than see them aborted.) For a half-century the March for Life has been a frigid annual event in January in Washington., D.C., marking the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that ruled abortion legal in all three trimesters of pregnancy throughout the country.

Abortion is still a national issue, inasmuch as it’s a human-rights issue and just about as contentious as things get. But after Roe, there are also now 50 states of debate. And with a proposed abortion amendment on the ballot this November here, the sense of urgency among pro-lifers is palpable. Ohio does not want to be Michigan. After Roe fell and a combination of fear and national abortion advocacy ensued, funding flooded into Michigan, which became competition for states such as New York, known as the abortion capital of the country. Will the Buckeye State join that crowd?

The second annual Ohio March for Life began in prayer with a standing-room-only morning Mass at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, just a few blocks from the statehouse. In her rally remarks afterward, Mancini made clear that the pro-life movement reflected there represents more than religious folk, and more than Republicans. The uniting factor, she said, is that “every life is a gift,” adding that “every life has inherent human dignity from the moment of conception.”

Heartbeat International, which has a national hotline connecting vulnerable pregnant women to resources, had a presence there, as did some of the local women’s care centers that free women to choose life against often overwhelming pressures to abort. And while there were plenty of John Paul II quotes on T-shirts, there were also people who identified as Democrats and LGBT. Parents were the most obvious population in attendance, many with more than one — or four, or more — young children with them. The “No on Issue 1” focus is not just on the radical nature of the ballot measure, which would allow abortion in all three trimesters of gestation, but on how it would override the parental-consent law already on the books in the Buckeye State.

Ohio is at “a cultural crossroads,” Mancini said. “It has been said that a society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable.” There is a sense here that, should Ohio go the way of Michigan (which expanded abortion in their constitution after Roe fell), the state would be contributing to a post-Roe domino effect. At the rally before the march, the tone of United States Senator J.D. Vance was the opposite of political-rally red-meat rhetoric — because abortion is about so much more than politics. He talked about his children — should any of them every find themselves facing an unplanned pregnancy, he would want to make sure he and his wife could be part of the decision. Isn’t that the whole point of parents? You could count counter-protesters on one hand, with fingers left over.

While clearly focused on educating Ohio voters about Issue 1, the event also had the same flavor of the D.C. March for Life, which infamously doesn’t get the media attention that could actually inspire a nation. Young women who want their contemporaries to know they will be accompanied in trying circumstances. Grandmothers who know the challenges of family life and will not leave the younger generation alone. Men who respect women enough to take responsibility for their actions — to love them in all circumstances.

Jon Husted, the lieutenant governor, appeared with his wife, who gave thanks for his life. He began life in the foster-care system. He didn’t know the circumstances of his birth until he was in his thirties, and he could never thank his birth mother, but she lost her husband in the Vietnam War. Already a single mother, she became pregnant and didn’t have the father’s support. She did an amazingly courageous thing and had that baby. That inherent dignity of human life needs to be a rallying point beyond the abortion decision. Adoption today is hyper-politicized, as is foster care. We owe children more than that. And human testimonies such as Husted’s are reminders that there is more than life than politics, even among politicians.

It remains to be seen if Ohio will go the way of Michigan and how many states will join the likes of New York and California in going beyond the gravity of Roe v. Wade. But the best spokeswomen for why Ohio should stand against the voices for abortion expansion may be the likes of Aisha Taylor, author of Navigating the Impossible: A Survival Guide for Single Moms from Pregnancy through the First Year of Motherhood. “The timing just wasn’t right” when she found out she was pregnant. Her boyfriend was no help — “It’s not like we are playing for keeps,” he said, urging an abortion — and she was having twins. Seeing her babies on an ultrasound, the prospect of abortion was “emotionally tormenting.” While struggling with what to do, she heard a sermon that cautioned: “Never make a permanent decision in temporary circumstances.” Not only did she get beyond that moment of seeming devastation, she helps other women in similar circumstances see the hope on the other side of an unplanned pregnancy.

That may be the message for Ohio, too, this November. The post-Dobbs media landscape is inundating people with fear and lies, insisting that medicine is not about real health care for women in need. (If you are pregnant and have cancer or sepsis, pro-lifers want you to get care!) Don’t go radical in the frenzy. The nation is watching, Mancini cautions, adding to the sense of urgency for leadership for protecting life.

This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.