Celebrating Family Council’s “Greatest Hits” From 2023

As the year draws to a close, I want to invite you to take a moment to celebrate just a few of Family Council’s greatest accomplishments from 2023 with me.

Funding Pregnancy Resource Centers: This year we secured $1 million to fund a grant program for pro-life pregnancy help organizations. We need to eliminate the demand for abortion, and these publicly-funded grants are an excellent way the State of Arkansas can do exactly that.

Defending Homeschool Freedoms: Home schooling may be the most potent weapon against the cultural decay and immorality that afflicts our society. As a division of Family Council, the Education Alliance goes to the State Capitol and fights for homeschool rights and for the passage of new laws that help homeschoolers. In addition, we work with the Arkansas Department of Education to be certain that homeschool rights are respected. This year we were able to help stop multiple legislative proposals that could have hurt homeschoolers—such as state-mandated testing requirements—and we worked with our friends in the legislature to ensure the LEARNS Act will provide valuable school choice opportunities to homeschoolers.

Eliminating Exemptions for Public Libraries in the State’s Obscenity Statute: A bill by Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Gonzalez revealed a lot about some librarians. Until this year, state law let librarians promote obscene material. When Sen. Sullivan and Rep. Gonzalez tried to make librarians subject to the same law that applies to the rest of us, the librarians alleged it was “book banning.” The bill passed, and Arkansas law now prohibits public libraries from sharing obscene material.

Carrying Out Our Three-Pronged Strategy for Making Abortion Irrelevant Now That Roe v. Wade is Reversed: When the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, Family Council unveiled a three-pronged strategy for protecting unborn children in Arkansas: Encourage the enforcement of our pro-life laws, work with our friends to pass any new pro-life laws necessary to end abortion, and expand our efforts to assist pro-life pregnancy help organizations across Arkansas. This year we were able to fulfill all three of those goals.

Defending Religious Freedom: Arkansas now has the nation’s best religious freedom law—Act 733 of 2023, the Conscience Protection Act. This good law protects religious liberty and bans government discrimination against religious people or organizations. Act 733 helps safeguard the ability of religious people and religious organizations to operate according to their deeply held convictions.
Blocking Pro-Abortion Legislation: As predicted, pro-abortion lawmakers attacked our good pro-life laws. They introduced a constitutional amendment that would have repealed our pro-life Amendment 68 and made abortion a state constitutional right. They also attempted to pass laws allowing abortions for health reasons and in cases of incest. We joined Arkansas Right to Life in opposing these bad laws, and all of them were defeated.

Empowering People to Make a Big Difference Through Our Rapid Response Network: In 2019 we formed the Family Council Rapid Response Team, a network of over 400 people in every area of Arkansas. When we ask them to call their lawmakers about legislation, they call. When we activate them on some local issue in their city or county, they step up and make their voices heard. We worked to grow our Rapid Response Network this year, and we empowered each of them to make their voices heard at the capitol during the 2023 legislative session.

Your friendship, your prayers, your kind words, and your financial support have enabled us to do so much. If you have completed your charitable giving for 2023, thank you. If you are still making donations between now and Sunday, I hope you will consider supporting the work we do at Family Council. Click here to give securely today.

Family Council’s Greatest Hits From 2020

Members of the team from Family Council stand with AUL’s 2020 Life List recognizing Arkansas as the most pro-life state in the country.

It’s been a busy year. The coronavirus outbreak forced us to make some adjustments to how we work, but our team at Family Council met those challenges head-on. Here’s a quick rundown of just a few of our “greatest hits” from 2020.

Seeing Arkansas Named the Most Pro-Life State in America. Ten years ago we set out to make Arkansas the most pro-life state in America. By working together with others, we have done that. Americans United for Life recently released its Life List 2021 naming Arkansas the most pro-life state in the nation. Becoming the most pro-life state wasn’t easy. It took a lot of work by a lot of different people. Arkansas now has the opportunity to become a true, nationwide leader in the effort to end abortion.

Distributing 65,000 Arkansas Voter’s Guides. Since 1990 Family Council has produced Arkansas’ only statewide, nonpartisan voter’s guide. We survey the candidates on abortion, guns, education, taxes, or other issues, and we publish their responses in print and online. We also survey some of the judicial candidates, and we summarize any proposals that appear on the ballot. This year we distributed approximately 65,000 printed copies of the Arkansas Voter’s Guide for the primary and general elections, and we had thousands more people view candidate surveys and information at ArkansasVotersGuide.com. Family Council’s voter’s guides helped tens of thousands of Arkansans choose the candidates that best reflect their values. That’s something to celebrate.

Lawmakers and others gather outside the surgical abortion facility in Little Rock on April 10, 2020, shortly after the facility was ordered to stop performing elective surgical abortions due to COVID-19.

Shining the Light on Abortion Facilities Daily During the Pandemic. During the COVID-19 shutdowns last spring, our team reported almost daily from outside the abortion facilities in Little Rock. You may have seen some of the videos we streamed from the sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood or Little Rock Family Planning Services. Those videos helped expose how abortionists were continuing to operate despite state health directives prohibiting elective surgical procedures—and how women were travelling to Arkansas from other states for abortions during the pandemic.

Receiving the Mary Rose Doe Award. Family Council was honored to receive the Mary Rose Doe Award on Monday, January 27, 2020, at Arkansas Right to Life’s banquet. Since 1985 Arkansas Right to Life has bestowed the award on individuals and organizations that go the extra mile in fighting for unborn children. Arkansas Right to Life President Andy Mayberry surprised Jerry and the staff by presenting Family Council with the Mary Rose Doe Award in recognition of 30 years of pro-life work in the state.

From Left: Charisse Cooksey, Luke McCoy, Jerry Cox, Doris Cox, Ken Yang, and Erin Hogan pose with the 2020 Mary Rose Doe Award.

Helping Churches Navigate COVID-19. Last spring and summer we received dozens of phone calls, emails, and questions from ministers around the state asking us for advice on navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. Our team was in regular communication with state health officials, and we were able to explain the state’s health directives and guidelines to folks all over Arkansas. We were able to help churches find ways to meet without having to worry that they might run afoul of the Arkansas Department of Health.

Hosting Monthly Prayer Meetings. Family Council has hosted monthly prayer meetings all year long. We started the year by hosting these meetings at the Arkansas Capitol Building. After COVID hit, we moved those meetings online. These prayer meetings are an opportunity for believers to lift up our state leaders in prayer. We are very grateful that there are dedicated Arkansans who did not let the outbreak stop them from praying for those in authority. If you would like to be part of these monthly prayer meetings or if you would like to receive prayer requests from our office via email from time to time, give us a call at (501) 375-7000.

Closely Monitoring Pro-Abortion Groups. Our team has kept a watchful eye on pro-abortion groups all year long. Besides reporting from Little Rock’s abortion facilities last spring, we have also monitored Planned Parenthood’s campaign reports and job openings. We have paid close attention to lawsuits Little Rock Family Planning Services and the ACLU have filed to overturn some of Arkansas’ pro-life laws. We’ve reported every time pro-abortion groups like NARAL endorsed candidates in Arkansas. We’ve also kept close tabs on new pro-abortion groups, like Reproaction. Reproaction tries to appeal to younger women and is more aggressively pro-abortion than groups like Planned Parenthood. In May Family Council staff member Erin Hogan attended a virtual seminar Reproaction held teaching women about do-it-yourself chemical abortions at home. Earlier this year we alerted key individuals around the state about ways that these pro-abortion groups seemed to be working to make inroads on Arkansas’ college campuses. We plan to continue monitoring these groups and reporting what we learn in 2021.

Helping Stop Public Drinking in Siloam Springs. In May, Family Council helped alert our friends in Northwest Arkansas about a proposed city ordinance that would have permitted public drinking throughout much of downtown Siloam Springs. City officials heard overwhelmingly from their constituents. When it was all said and done, the city opted not to legalize public drinking. Public drinking is a scourge on the community. It raises serious concerns about drunk driving and public safety. It hurts neighborhoods and families. That’s why Family Council was pleased to do our part to keep public drinking out of downtown Siloam Springs.

Equipping Arkansans to Pass Pro-Life Resolutions. Family Council drafted model ordinances that cities and counties can use to declare themselves Pro-Life. We have distributed the language for these ordinances to supporters around the state. Our goal is to see hundreds of Pro-Life Cities and Pro-Life Counties designated all over Arkansas.

Josh Mesker Takes Job With Curtis Coleman

joshmesker
On June 1, Family Council Communications Director Josh Mesker joined the Curtis Coleman for Governor campaign.

Josh was hired at Family Council in January, 2009, and served as Communications Director, writing news releases and developing Family Council’s social media presence. However, his duties at Family Council were much broader than communications. During the past three legislative sessions, Josh lobbied for the successful passage of a number of pro-life laws, including one that prohibits most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy. Last fall, Josh gained campaign experience as he played a vital role in the fight against the legalization of marijuana in Arkansas.

His faith in God and his Christian worldview guide every aspect of his life. He has an intuitive ability to understand complex social, moral, and economic issues and reach biblically-based conclusions. These qualities, coupled with a great attitude about work, made him a valuable member of our team, and we know those same qualities will continue to serve him well.

We wish Josh the very best.