The people of Ohio have spoken: citizens approved Issue 1, a ballot measure enshrining a state constitutional right to abortion, with close to 60% of the vote, clearly demonstrating that the people believe women should have the unrestricted right to murder their babies in the womb.

The lingering question for pro-lifers is what to do next. This is a democracy, after all, so does that not mean we have to give the people what they want?

The answer to this question is an unequivocal no. And the fact that the answer to this question is an unequivocal no dictates how we need to fight this battle moving forward.

First: no, this nation is not a democracy, and the situation in Ohio is one of the very reasons our founding fathers were opposed to the idea of direct democracy.

Democracy means the will of the majority wins the day. Our founders believed this kind of system was evil and would result in great tyranny, since the people reigning without constraint could be just as dangerous as a monarch or nobility reigning without constraint.

Instead of a democracy, our founders established a constitutional republic. Our nation is built on the premise that human beings have certain rights, that these rights come directly from the hand of God, and that one of the chief aims of civil government is to protect these rights.

Democracy means the will of the majority wins the day. Our founders believed this kind of system was evil and would result in great tyranny.

Chief among these rights, protected both by the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, and by the Ohio State Constitution, is the right to life. Both the United States Constitution and the Ohio State Constitution recognize that life is a right granted by God and cannot be arbitrarily removed.

Because we live in a constitutional republic and not a democracy, the people do not always receive what they want. The people of Ohio do not have the right to use the democratic process to take away the right to life for preborn babies in their state. When the people of Ohio chose to take this action, the people of Ohio were behaving lawlessly and tyrannically.

That last statement may strike you as odd, because usually discussions of tyranny center on some lawless action on the part of civil government. But make no mistake about it: elected officials are not the only ones that can behave tyrannically.

One of the hallmarks of our Western system of government is that all individuals, institutions, and entities are equally bound to obey the law. The people, either through the democratic process or their elected officials, do not have the right to establish laws that run contrary to the God-ordained rights and liberties of individuals.

With these realities in mind, what should we do in Ohio?

We should take the same course of action that we should have with the tyrannical Supreme Court when they handed down their lawless Roe v. Wade decree. We should call upon the state legislators in Ohio to defy the vote of the people and establish equal protection under the law on behalf of preborn children.

The people of Ohio do not have the right to use the democratic process to take away the right to life for preborn babies in their state. When the people of Ohio chose to take this action, the people of Ohio were behaving lawlessly and tyrannically.

You may be thinking that this will be a hard sell to the politicians in Ohio. You would be correct. But remember that we have moved from the tyranny of the courts to the tyranny of the people. We will not win this fight unless the pro-life movement makes a legitimate stand against tyranny.

The people of Ohio simply lack the right to democratically legalize the murder of innocent people. In the face of this democratic tyranny, the civil magistrate must inform the people of this truth and uphold justice in the public square, no matter the consequences.

The principle here is crystal clear. When the courts become tyrannical, we defy tyrants. When the governors become tyrannical, we defy tyrants. When the legislators become tyrannical, we defy tyrants. And when the people become tyrannical, we still defy tyrants.

Now is the time, more than ever, to push for equal protection on behalf of all preborn children in the state of Ohio.