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Arkansas Supreme Court Issues Briefing Schedule in Abortion Amendment Lawsuit

Jul 29, 2024Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Abortion Amendment, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Friday afternoon the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an order setting deadlines for briefings in the lawsuit over a proposed abortion amendment.

The order directs the Secretary of State’s office to respond to the original lawsuit by 9:00 AM today, and it sets additional briefing deadlines for this Friday and the next.

Earlier this month Arkansans for Limited Government submitted petition signatures to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the ballot. Bringing the amendment up for a vote would require at least 90,704 valid signatures from registered voters.

However, Secretary of State John Thurston disqualified every petition signature, because the sponsors failed to provide affidavits that state law requires concerning paid petition canvassers.

By law, ballot initiative sponsors must file a statement confirming that each paid canvassers was given a copy of the state’s initiative and referenda handbook as well as an explanation of relevant state laws before he or she solicited petition signatures. The sponsors backing the abortion measure failed to file this specific documentation when they submitted the petitions for the abortion amendment. That prompted the Secretary of State to reject all of the petitions.

Arkansans for Limited Government filed a lawsuit, claiming Secretary of State Thurston unlawfully rejected its petitions.

The Arkansas Supreme Court subsequently ordered the Secretary of State to count the Arkansas Abortion Amendment petition signatures collected by volunteers.

On Thursday the Secretary of State informed the Arkansas Supreme Court that its office counted 87,675 abortion amendment signatures collected by volunteers — 3,029 fewer signatures than state law requires for a measure to qualify for the ballot.

That — coupled with the Secretary of State’s determination that Arkansans for Limited Government failed to comply with state law in filing its paid canvasser affidavits — should mean the abortion measure will not appear on the ballot this November.

However, the Arkansas Supreme Court has asked for both the Secretary of State and Arkansans for Limited Government to file additional briefs with the court this week and next week — meaning this case is likely to continue until at least mid-August.

Legal experts have pointed out the abortion amendment would prevent the State of Arkansas from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — which is more extreme than Roe v. Wade — and would allow thousands of elective abortions on healthy women and unborn children every year.

The amendment does not contain any medical licensing or health and safety standards for abortion, and it does not require abortions to be performed by a physician or in a licensed medical facility.

It automatically nullifies all state laws that conflict with the amendment, jeopardizing basic abortion regulations — like parental-consent and informed-consent requirements that both sides of the aisle have supported in the past.

The measure also contains various exceptions that would permit abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy in many cases.

Family Council will continue to monitor and report on the lawsuit over the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024.

You can download a copy of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment here.

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

Arkansas A.G. Asks Biden Administration Not to Reclassify Marijuana

Jul 29, 2024Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

Last week Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin joined 10 other state attorneys general in asking the Biden Administration not to reclassify marijuana.

In May the Biden Administration’s Justice Department announced plans to reschedule marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule III drug — putting it in the same category as anabolic steroids or Tylenol with Codeine.

The rule change would not legalize marijuana outright, but it could create more confusion about marijuana’s legal status and make it much easier for people to grow and use marijuana.

This proposed rule change comes despite growing evidence of marijuana’s serious — and permanent — impact on physical and mental health.

A body of scientific research reveals that marijuana is harmful — especially for teens and young adults.

Nationwide, since 2019, the number of kids diagnosed with cannabis-induced mental disorders, including schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, has increased by 50%.

And research has shown time and again that marijuana has a significant potential for dependence and abuse.

On July 22, state attorneys general from Arkansas, Nebraska, Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, and South Dakota joined a statement urging the Biden Administration not to reschedule marijuana.

Among other things, the A.G.’s comments note that “rescheduling marijuana would violate the United States’ international treaty obligations” regarding illicit drugs, and that rescheduling marijuana would “compound the harms” that marijuana already causes.

As Family Council told the federal government in our public comments earlier this month, reclassifying marijuana would signal that marijuana has an accepted medical use when it actually does not. It would ignore the potential for abuse and dependence among users. And it would risk contributing to psychotic disorders and mental illnesses in America.

Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

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

Eric Liddell’s Legacy: 100 Years Later

Jul 29, 2024John StonestreetChristianityChristianity

This summer’s Olympic games will mark the 100th anniversary of the incredible performance and shocking faith of Scottish Gold Medalist Eric Liddell, whose story was immortalized in the 1981 movie Chariots of Fire.

A devout Christian and son of Scottish Presbyterian missionaries to China, Liddell was an athlete of tremendous promise from his youth. In addition to running, Liddell was selected to play for Scotland’s international rugby team seven times. Alongside his rigorous athletic training was his rigorous faith. In particular, Liddell had a practice of resting on the Sabbath, which meant never racing on Sundays.

Liddell’s athletic prowess eventually took him to the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. That year, when the schedule of events was released, Liddell’s best race—the 100-meter dash—was scheduled for a Sunday. But because the race was scheduled on the Sabbath, Liddell dropped out.

As one of his peers recalled, Liddell’s decision “caused tremendous furore amongst many people, particularly with the newspapers and journalists,” with some even calling him “a traitor to his country.”

Nevertheless, the Scottish runner refused to race on Sunday, and instead ran in the 200-meter and 400-meter events, races not scheduled on a Sunday and for which he had not trained. Incredibly, he took bronze in the 200-meter and gold in the 400-meter, finishing five meters ahead of the pack.

Liddell saw his performance as an act of his faith in Christ. In his own words: “When the gun goes, I go as fast as I can, and I trust to God that I’ll have the strength to do the second half.” Liddell’s performance showed that excellence in one’s craft can be a witness for Christ, and his decision to change races bore witness to the fact that neither international fame nor Olympic gold were worth denying the Lord. In fact, his choice pointed to a treasure more precious than Olympic gold, the immeasurable riches of eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Liddell’s witness and renown did not end at the 1924 Olympics. As Liddell once said, God had not only “made [him] fast;” He “made [him] for China.” Following athletic success, Liddell returned to China as a missionary. There he bore witness to Christ by preaching the Gospel and teaching at a college. When Japan invaded China in 1937, Liddell decided to remain in the country while his pregnant wife and two children evacuated. In time, the Japanese placed him in an internment camp, where he faithfully served Christ and others before dying of a brain tumor in 1945.  

A century later, Liddell’s witness and legacy finds new traction with today’s Olympians.

Other devout athletes describe faith as strengthening their performance rather than undermining it. In 2020, Beatie Deutsch, an Orthodox Jewish runner, opted not to compete in the women’s marathon at Tokyo Olympics because it was scheduled on Saturday. As she described it: “Most people would see sports and religion as very separate, but I see a big overlap. Everything we have is a gift from God—He’s the one who’s given me this strength.”

American gold medalist in women’s 400-meter hurdles Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone found direct inspiration from Liddell’s historic decision to glorify God. In a space where it would be so easy to cave to the pressures of performance, McLaughlin-Levrone’s faith liberates her from doubt and fear:

For a long time, my identity was in track and field. But I realized that first and foremost, I’m a child of God. It set me free to run the race God has set out for me to run.

Liddell’s courage to honor the Lord has left a lasting impact. May his life and legacy continue to inspire new generations of Christians to courageously live out their faith even when it’s costly.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Jared Hayden. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.