The Tragic Case They Tried To Erase
A Failed Attempt To Conceal the Consequences of Extremism
DAVID PEPPER
JUL 6, 2023
It’s a horrifying story that sums up so much of today’s politics of extremism. Which means it’s one we should not only never forget—but one that should spur us to action.
In fact, it already has!
https://davidpepper.substack.com/p/the-tragic-case-they-tried-to-erase
A year ago last week, within an hour of the Dobbs decision, Ohio’s Attorney General (Dave Yost) rushed to federal court to remove the injunction on Ohio’s six week abortion ban, which has no exceptions for rape or incest. The ban had previously been struck down as an obvious violation of Roe, but per Yost’s motion following Dobbs, the federal court felt compelled to reverse course. And the ban immediately became the law in the state of Ohio.
Within weeks of Yost’s frenzied activity, which he gloated about on social media (here)…
Just blocks from the submission of those petitions, within hours of those signatures being filed, the rapist whose very existence Ohio’s Attorney General proactively tried to convince a national audience didn’t exist, pled guilty to the rape of that young Ohioan.
And he will be in prison for the rest of his life. And the national news carried the story.
Yost may never apologize for trying to make that tragic case go away…but we will never forget what he tried (and failed) to do.
And we will end this entire nightmare when we defeat Issue 1 in August, then Vote Yes for Reproductive Rights in November.