Teachers Saving Children® Inc. of Ohio
	Press Release May 5, 1999	Home TSC Ohio Press Releases

May 5, 1999, Columbus, Ohio.  Ohio Education Association (OEA) delegates spoke out on some political and social issues, dodged others, and said too little about students and teaching itself, according to teachers participating at the April 30-May 1, 1999 Spring OEA Representative Assembly at the Veterans Memorial building in Columbus. During the debate, one delegate expressed his disappointment that more focus was put on peripheral matters at the assembly than on teaching and the students themselves. In fact, only one of the thirteen New Business Items presented directly related to students. Delegates instead debated and opposed the controversial military training center, School of the Americas; took no stand on the Mumia Abu-Mamal (anti-death penalty) resolution brought before the assembly; and again denied members a definition for the words "reproductive freedom" in OEA Resolution I-3 paragraph 2.

Delegates have sought the meaning of the term "reproductive freedom" since 1993 by working through the OEA Resolutions Commission and through other means of parliamentary procedure. Last summer at the 1998 National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly, Judy Bruns, a delegate from Coldwater, Ohio, asked for a confirmation of the interpretation of the phrase "reproductive freedom". It was interpreted as including abortion up to the time of delivery. That interpretation has many teachers upset! During the current OEA Representative Assembly, a New Business Item requesting a glossary of terms for inclusion in the OEA Resolutions Report was objected to consideration by the delegates. During debate on the definition of "reproductive freedom" one woman, a year from retirement, took the microphone and said she would drop her membership in the teachers' union if the OEA's support of "reproductive freedom" includes abortion from conception until birth.

Although a definition has been sought, OEA leadership and delegates have kept the term ambiguous. Some believe a definition or even an interpretation would result in a loss of membership in the teachers' union. "That the OEA is unwilling to define the term 'reproductive freedom', thus admitting their strong pro-abortion position as they did in 1993, is a good indicator that they are losing ground," said Miss Connie Bancroft, Teachers Saving Children^® Executive Director. "However, as delegates speak to delegates one-on-one, they are finding that more and more teachers are concerned and are interested in bringing the debate to a clearer indication of the true position of the OEA."

Teachers Saving Children^® Inc. of Ohio is an organization of pro-life teachers of Ohio and other concerned citizens committed to establishing among professional educators' organizations a respect for all human life from conception to natural death.

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