The New Ohio State Connection to the Extreme "Fetal Personhood" Theory
What Ohio's Right-Wing Is Doing To Higher Ed
Last week, I wrote a post about how the far right of the GOP scored a major victory when they convinced the RNC, for the first time, to include a reference to the extreme “fetal personhood” theory that would impose abortion and IVF bans as a matter of the Constitution itself.
As I explained:
“…the far right theory is that the XIV Amendment protects embryos and fetuses as “persons….And if that’s true, both embryos (IVF) and unborn fetuses enjoy equal protection and due process rights under the XIV Amendment. And if that’s true, they believe, that means the United States Constitution commands a national abortion ban.”
The implications of this theory are equally extreme, because as I explained: “who would impose such a ban? The Supreme Court, through a ruling.
And what would the implications be of a Court-imposed, 14th Amendment-grounded ban on abortion or IVF? It would mean that no action by either federal or state lawmakers could undo it. Just as it would mean that voters in states would no longer be able to protect reproductive freedom by passing state-level Constitutional amendments. Amendments in place now, like that in Ohio, would be nullified.”
Think about that! A national abortion and IVF ban would be imposed by Clarence Thomas, Alito, etc. even if the people voted for candidates at all levels who reflect the broad national consensus for reproductive freedom. Essentially, the people no longer matter.
I cited several far right think tanks and a professor for advancing this theory, and their close ties to the Federalist Society.
And because they know the implications of it all, the most conservative voices in America celebrated the inclusion of this language as well:
But as a helpful source informed me, there is a far closer tie to Ohio that has popped up recently that every Ohio taxpayer should know about.
And for Ohio and all red states, it’s a reminder of how gerrymandered lawmakers’ attempt to remake higher ed to advance their views is ushering far right extremism into previously independent academic institutions.
Brace yourself…here’s the full story…
Introducing….The Salmon Chase Center
Last year, as part of a the statehouse’s broader attack on higher ed, the legislature added a new “civics education center” to The Ohio State University, and named it after the abolitionist and storied Ohio and national leader Salmon Chase: the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture, and Society. The State Senator who has led the attacks on higher ed said the purpose was to add “true intellectual diversity” to Ohio State academia. The plan allocated $10 million over two fiscal years to “pay for a center director, staff and at least 15 tenure-track faculty positions.” The new independent center will be housed in the John Glenn College of Public Affairs (John Glenn’s pride and joy—I was honored to once visit a class there with him).
Well, this week Ohio State announced the new executive director of the Salmon Chase Center. His name is Dr. Lee Strang, and he comes out of Toledo's Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership. And apparently his “diverse” viewpoint is that he consistently stands up against Ohioans’ rights and freedoms.
On the one hand, Dr. Strang explained that his goal was that “the Chase Center [would be] one among many answers to the polarization in the broader culture and some of the polarization in higher education.” Sounds good.
On the other hand…
…it seems that in areas where there is actually broad consensus on issues, Strang himself is the one pushing hard to advance laws and prohibitions against that consensus, and undermining the freedom and equality most Ohioans and Americans believe they are entitles to.
For example, as WOSU summarized:“[Strang] testified on behalf of Ohio lawmakers' attempt to institute a 60% threshold to pass amendments to the Ohio Constitution. “The constitution will be better able to serve its mission of being our stable, fundamental law for the next 175 years, when amendments receive support from over 60% of Ohioans," Strang testified before the Ohio Legislature in March of last year.”
As the Ohio Capital Journal observed — Strang was the “one person, however — and really just one — who made a case in testimony in the terms [of that measure] that sponsors publicly asserted.”
And again, speaking of polarization, it was the Statehouse action here that was polarizing—disturbing more than a century of direct democracy in Ohio in order to scuttle the reproductive freedom that was well underway. A strong bipartisan majority of Ohio rejected this cynical effort, through a special election that took place on a day that violated Ohio statute.
Not surprisingly, “Strang is also connected to the anti-abortion movement in Ohio. Strang testified before the Ohio Legislature in favor of banning abortion care several times between 2011 and 2019.”
And when he advocated passing the Heartbeat Bill in 2019, he “argued that Ohio lawmakers aren’t bound by the U.S. Supreme Court’s “nonorginalist interpretation” in landmark abortion cases like Roe v. Wade, because those rulings “are not a proper exercise of federal power.””
So according to Strang, the legislature should simply ignore the law of the land because they don’t agree with it.
In 2003—after graduating from law school—Dr. Strang wrote in an article that “a corrupt society that does not seek to prevent homosexual activity makes it more difficult for us to properly raise our children."
Strang’s Amicus Brief Advancing “Fetal Personhood”
And, most pertinent given that the far right is celebrating the RNC’s adoption of the “fetal personhood” theory, there’s this important detail: Dr. Strang filed an amicus brief in his name (not as a lawyer, but as his belief) in support of upholding the Mississippi abortion ban and overturning Roe v. Wade. But his brief went much further than saying Roe should be reversed—he asserted the “fetal personhood” theory of the 14th Amendment.
As he summarizes up front: “Current originalist theory…can explain how unborn human beings are constitutional persons protected by the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses..” Then his brief goes through pages to make that case. You can read the whole brief here.
And remember, the logical extension of this argument is that no matter what voters and lawmakers of states or the nation do (such as passing last November’s Issue 1, which he tried to scuttle), abortion and IVF should be banned by the Supreme Court itself as violative of the 14th Amendment.
The CCV Connection and Strang’s Late Change of Heart
Notably, in the first footnote of the Brief, Dr. Strang “gratefully acknowledges the monetary contribution from the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) intended to fund the preparation and submission of this brief.”
And immediately following the leaked brief in Dobbs, Strang joined the leader of CCV (Aaron Baer) to talk about the opinion and his brief:
Early on in their discussion, in a real head-scratcher, Strang even explains that for most of his legal career, his view was that “fetal personhood” was not a valid reading of the 14th Amendment. But then he changed his mind.
Why?
“Aaron and Aaron’s organization helped catalyze the idea of writing the brief….[H]onestly, as I told Aaron, my view had been that there was not a constitutional right to personhood for unborn humans….But then after a series of articles that I read last spring, I started to think, gosh, maybe I better rethink that issue. And it culminated after a conversation with Aaron in a brief that I submitted in my own name to the USSC arguing for an interpretation of the word “person” in the 14th Amendment that would protect all human beings including unborn human beings…
The case is personally important to me…as a pro-lifer but as a scholar as well. And Aaron played a big role in helping me think through and move towards doing that.”
Now who is this group and leader who had such a “big role” in Strang’s evolving legal thinking and action?
Well, Aaron Baer himself is not a lawyer.
And CCV, once categorized as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is one of the most powerful right-wing political forces in Columbus, pushing the nation’s most corrupt legislature on everything from anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ laws, to universal vouchers (“Aaron Baer with the Center for Christian Virtue has pushed for universal vouchers for years.”) According to the Dispatch, “[t]he organization weighs in on legislation and policy discussions, including critical race theory, private school vouchers and LGBTQ matters.”
And CCV was perhaps the leading organization pushing for Issue 1 last August (as with “fetal personhood,” Strang came forward to testify on behalf of the unpopular issue) and against Issue 1 in November.
I wrote a newsletter last year on just how much CCV was the behind-the-scenes leader in the cynical efforts to thwart the people’s effort to enshrine reproductive freedom. (“Baer…explained that six states have had abortion on the ballot since Roe v Wade was rescinded. It is 6-0 for those who are pro-abortion. He said the pro-life vote had no chance because ‘outside groups’ were organizing votes to preserve the right to choose abortion in Ohio. The pro-choice vote would get the majority, but not a majority of 60 percent, Baer said.”)
No surprise, “Aaron Baer, the President of the conservative Center for Christian Virtue, called the hiring [of Strang by the Chase Center] ‘huge news’ on X.”
Add It Up
So add it up.
Here we are, in 2024:
at The Ohio State University…
housed at the College of Public Affairs named after one of Ohio’s greatest public servants, John Glenn…
at a center named after one of Ohio’s most storied public servants, Salmon Chase, a lifelong abolitionist who served as state representative, Governor, Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court…
the newly appointed leader of this new institution:
believes we should make it harder for Ohio voters to play a role in direct democracy…
champions an extreme constitutional theory he himself didn’t believe for almost his entire career until just a few years ago…
gives credit to one of Ohio’s most aggressive and far right groups (and its non-lawyer leader) for having helped change his thinking and prompted him to write a brief (and paid for it, too) pushing that theory at the highest court in the land… (makes you wonder what else Baer may impact Strang’s thinking on, doesn’t it?)
and the logical extension of his newly embraced theory is that regardless of what the people or elected leaders think (including what Ohio voters enacted last November with Issue 1), the Constitution outlaws either abortion care or IVF.
Now don’t get me wrong…I believe in having a diversity of views on all campuses. Professors of a wide variety of perspectives do indeed belong on a faculty of a university or a law school, and I enjoyed learning from professors with a variety of views. Generally speaking, a wide spectrum of beliefs and viewpoints makes for a better learning environment.
But here we’re not talking about one voice among many. We’re talking about the person LEADING this new institution.
And, to put it mildly, given his history of deeply polarizing views, his close connection to a group such as CCV, and his own admission that CCV and its leader drove him to advance a newly espoused legal argument all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, the Salmon Chase Center suddenly feels a lot more like the extension of Ohio’s extreme right-wing political machine than an actual independent academic institution.
In that way, it’s not all that different from the Orban approach to higher ed in Hungary.
And of course, you are paying for it all.
A fine, detailed and frightening explanation of how anti-Democratic extremism is further infecting Ohio at the expense of constituents who have clearly voted against it!
I’m in Arizona but follow Ohio closely as we are very similar. Our version of CCV is CAP: Center for Arizona Policy (AZPolicy.org). We will have our abortion ballot initiative on the ballot this Nov. The right wing lawmakers here (who are in a slim majority — for now) continually try to weaken our ballot initiative process.