Budget Proposal Includes $2M Investment in Maternal Wellness and Helping Women in Arkansas

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A state budget proposal for Arkansas’ Department of Finance and Administration includes $2 million for pro-life charities that help women with unplanned pregnancies.

H.B. 1202 by the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee allocates funds for various state programs, grants, and administrative needs in Arkansas’ upcoming 2025-2026 budget cycle.

The measure includes $2 million in funding for grants to pregnancy help organization.

Under H.B. 1202, grant money could go to pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other charitable organizations that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

The State of Arkansas also could award funding to charities that promote infant and maternal wellness and reduce infant and maternal mortality by:

  • Providing nutritional information and/or nutritional counseling;
  • Providing prenatal vitamins;
  • Providing a list of prenatal medical care options;
  • Providing social, emotional, and/or material support; or
  • Providing referrals for WIC and community-based nutritional services, including but not limited to food banks, food pantries, and food distribution centers.

The measure makes it clear that grant money could not go to abortionists or their affiliates.

Since 2022 Family Council has worked with the Arkansas Legislature and the governor to secure funding every year for pregnancy resource centers. These state-funded grants have helped support dozens of charities that assist women and children in Arkansas.

The grants are optional. Pregnancy resource centers are not required to accept public tax dollars if they do not want to. But for those who do receive grant money, the funding may make a tremendous difference.

Pro-lifers in Arkansas have worked hard to generally prohibit abortion. We need to work to make abortion irrelevant and unthinkable as well. Supporting pregnancy resource centers is one way we can do that.

Pregnancy resource centers provide women with real options besides abortion — making it less likely they will travel out of state or abortion or order illegal abortion drugs online.

H.B. 1202 will provide real support to women and families in Arkansas. You can read the budget measure here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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ERA or Error? President Biden Calls Equal Rights Amendment ‘Law of the Land’

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On Friday outgoing President Joe Biden made a surprising announcement declaring the Equal Rights Amendment “the law of the land.”

Congress referred the federal Equal Rights Amendment to the state legislatures for ratification in 1972. If approved by enough states, the measure would amend the U.S. Constitution to say, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

However, the amendment’s legal status has been in limbo for nearly 50 years, and federal courts have even ruled against adding it to the U.S. Constitution.

The Equal Rights Amendment is intended to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, but its wording would likely cause a number of unintended consequences.

The ERA would arguably erase all distinctions between men and women in federal law.

That could affect everything from college fraternities and sororities at public universities to how men and women are housed in federal prisons to labor laws that protect women in the workplace to girls’ and boys’ athletics at public schools.

We’ve already seen how the transgender movement is threatening to destroy women’s sports in America. The Equal Rights Amendment would likely fuel that agenda.

States that have enacted measures similar to the ERA have even been forced to pay for abortions with taxpayer funds. In 2019, the ACLU told Congress, “the Equal Rights Amendment could provide an additional layer of protection against restrictions on abortion.”

Men and women should have equal rights under the law, but the ERA would likely fail to guarantee those rights.

That’s why major groups like National Right to Life, Concerned Women for America, and Eagle Forum oppose the federal Equal Rights Amendment.

That’s also why Family Council has opposed efforts to ratify the ERA in Arkansas as well.

President Biden cannot unilaterally decide that the Equal Rights Amendment is part of the U.S. Constitution. As he leaves office, it seems unlikely that the ERA will actually become “the law of the land.” Nevertheless, it’s important for Americans to understand how the amendment would likely hurt women, unborn children, and our country as a whole.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Resolution Filed Recognizing “National Marriage Week” in Arkansas

Legislation,

A resolution filed Wednesday would recognize February 7 – 14 as “National Marriage Week” in Arkansas.

H.R. 1006 by Rep. David Ray notes how marriage is the foundation of strong families and strong societies.

The measure also points out that healthy marriages improve people’s emotional, physical, and financial well-being.

We have written before about how marriage is the “unsung hero” against poverty.

Married couples report more satisfaction across the board than unmarried couples, and marriage is broadly connected with better health and wellbeing. 

With that in mind, it’s good for the State of Arkansas to recognize and celebrate marriage.

You Can Read the Resolution Here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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