“I used to not want a woman president but since Sarah came along, I do. Because of her moral convictions,” said Elizabeth Branson of Grove City.

Governor Palin spoke last night at a dinner held by OHIO RIGHT to LIFE.  Here are excerpts from two Ohio newspapers about her visit.  These comments come from newspaper reports published in the SPRINGFIELD NEWS-SUN and COLUMBUS DISPATCH:

Officially, the Ohio Right to Life rally on Friday, March 5, was billed as a nonpartisan event, but that didn’t stop many of Sarah Palin’s 4,000 fans in attendance from wearing Palin 2012 buttons and McCain-Palin T-shirts. Kimberly Mohr Christman, sporting a Palin 2012 button and a personally designed Palin T-shirt, called the former Alaska governor an inspirational leader for women. “If Sarah Palin comes to Perry County, I’ll be right there to help her,” Mohr Christman said.

Palin couldn’t have found a more welcoming crowd. “I used to not want a woman president but since Sarah came along, I do. Because of her moral convictions,” said Elizabeth Branson of Grove City. Just before the rally, Palin attended a private $1,000 per ticket reception with donors, including Republicans such as Ohio GOP Chairman Kevin DeWine, state Sen. Jon Husted and former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine.

Ohio Right to Life declined to disclose Palin’s speaking fee — reported to be in the neighborhood of $100,000 — but at the end of her 45-minute speech Palin promised to donate it back to the nonprofit. Palin urged the crowd to action on abortion issues in Congress and the Statehouse, and trashed the media for criticizing her for putting notes on her hands.

The mother of five recalled how at 43 she found herself pregnant with a child with Down syndrome and then a short while later learned her teenage daughter was pregnant. Palin said those two experiences gave her more empathy for women with unplanned pregnancies who face difficult decisions. But she added, “There is no accident. Every child has purpose.“The truest measure of a society,” she said, “is how we treat those who are unable to defend or speak for themselves.”

Sarah Palin said, "...what seems like life's greatest challenges in the moment are the greatest blessings in the end."

 About 12 weeks into her pregnancy for her fifth child, then Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin learned that she would have a second son.She also learned that he would be born with Down syndrome.A few months later, Palin learned that her teenage daughter, Bristol, was pregnant out of wedlock.Those pregnancies, Palin told a Columbus audience last night, gave her empathy for the decision “women pregnant in less than ideal circumstances” must face and tested her own anti-abortion commitment. “God, are you going to ask me to walk the walk and not just talk the talk of being a pro-life advocate,” Palin said she asked in prayer. After both babies were born, Palin said, she and her family learned, “that what seems like life’s greatest challenges in the moment are the greatest blessings in the end.” 

 Viewed as a leading contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, Palin only briefly delved into politics, criticizing President Barack Obama for proposing a new version of health-care reform that would fund community groups without restricting whether they use money for abortions. Referring to it as “Obamacare,” Palin said, “For me, it was the last straw.” 

Palin was introduced by Chris Spielman, the former Ohio State and NFL football player, who movingly discussed the decisions he and his late wife faced while she was pregnant with their fourth child and undergoing cancer treatments. Stefanie Spielman lost her battle with breast cancer Nov. 19 at age 42.

Palin called Ohio “near and dear to me,” thanking Buckeye supporters “for the adventure my family’s going through.” Palin, 46, has drawn big crowds of late in Columbus, including Nov. 20 when thousands stood in line outside the Borders bookstore on Sawmill Road for her autograph on Going Rogue, her best-selling autobiography.

Democrats used Palin’s visit to tie Kasich and Portman to a political figure they believe does not wear well with a majority of voters. “Sarah Palin is welcome to come back to Ohio anytime to campaign for Congressman Kasich, Congressman Portman or other Republicans who support failed Washington-Wall Street policies that got us in this global recession,” said Seth Bringman, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party. “Whenever she does, she’ll do more to help our candidates than she will to help theirs.”

Today, Palin was to headline a lunch at the home of Cleveland-area insurance executive Umberto Fedeli to raise money for the Ohio and Cleveland chapters of Right to Life.