Jerry Cox – Page 606 – Family Council

Arkansas’ Abortion Rate Cut In Half Since 2001: CDC Report

Dec 1, 2021Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

A new report from the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) shows Arkansas’ abortion rate has been cut by more than half since the year 2001.

The abortion rate is calculated as the number of abortions performed in a state for every 1,000 women ages 15 – 44. It’s a way to measure how prevalent abortion is in a state by comparing the total number of abortions to the state’s female population.

In Arkansas’ case, the abortion rate was 11 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 – 44 in 2001.

However, the CDC’s new report shows Arkansas’ abortion rate has fallen to 5.1 as of 2019.

Overall, Arkansas’ abortion rate has been in decline since the 1990s.

The CDC hasn’t released 2020 abortion data yet, but based on statistics the Arkansas Department of Health published last summer, Family Council estimates that Arkansas’ abortion rate may have increased slightly last year — from 5.1 in 2019 to 5.4 in 2020.

Even though Arkansas’ abortion rate may have risen slightly last year, it’s drastically lower than it was in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Slowly but surely Arkansans are winning the fight against abortion.

#GivingTuesday Is Here!

Nov 30, 2021Jerry Cox#GivingTuesday#GivingTuesday

Giving Tuesday is today. This is a day that millions of people and organizations set aside for charity.

Some generous friends have pledged a total of $15,000 to Family Council as a matching challenge for Giving Tuesday 2021.

If you are able, I hope you will help us raise $15,000 today to match this generous pledge.

You can give securely here or use the donation form below.

White House Lists Its Fight Against Arkansas’ SAFE Act Among Its Pro-LGBT Work

Nov 24, 2021Jerry CoxLGBTLGBT, SAFE Act, Transgender

Over the weekend the Biden-Harris Administration released a report “Memorializing Transgender Day of Remembrance” and touting the White House’s pro-LGBT activism.

Among other things, the report highlight’s the administration work to undermine Arkansas’ Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act in federal court, calling the SAFE Act “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”

The SAFE Act is a 2021 law that protects children in Arkansas from sex-reassignment procedures, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.

The law passed with overwhelming support in the Arkansas Legislature. However, the ACLU filed a lawsuit to have the SAFE Act struck down, and the law currently is tied up in federal court.

In June President Biden’s U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest opposing Arkansas’ SAFE Act in federal court.

The DOJ’s statement of interest calls sex-reassignment procedures “life-saving care” and argues that the SAFE Act violates the U.S. Constitution.

It also claims that Arkansas’ reasons for supporting the SAFE Act are “mere pretext for animus against transgender minors” — in other words, that Arkansas’ lawmakers passed the SAFE Act because they secretly hate transgender children.

The fact of the matter is researchers do not know the long term effects that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones have on kids. Doctors are giving these hormones to children off-label, in a manner the FDA never intended.

That is why many experts agree that giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children is experimental, at best.

That’s also why a major hospital in Sweden announced last spring that it would no longer administer puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children.

It is deeply disappointing that the federal government would continue using taxpayer resources to oppose a state law that protects children from experimentation. Fortunately, Arkansas is fighting back, and we believe the federal courts ultimately will uphold this good law.