Family Council Joins Brief Urging Supreme Court to Address School Gender Transition Case

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Last Friday, Family Council joined an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Lee v. Poudre School District R-1 — a case challenging a Colorado school’s efforts to socially “gender transition” two middle school girls without their parents’ knowledge or consent. The amicus brief was led by Advancing American Freedom, and 42 pro-family organizations took part in it. This case is one of several that could protect children and parents from dangerous transgender ideologies.

Over the past five years, it has become clear that the “consensus” regarding social and medical gender transitions for children has been largely manufactured by pro-LGBT activists. Fortunately, Arkansas’ legislators have pushed back.

In 2021, lawmakers passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act generally prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. That law was recently upheld in federal court.

In 2023, Arkansas passed Act 542 protecting teachers or faculty members who decline to use someone’s preferred pronouns at school.

That same year, legislators passed Act 317 to protect privacy in public school locker rooms, showers, restrooms, changing areas, and similar facilities by requiring public schools to designate these facilities for “male” or “female” use.

The Arkansas Legislature also passed the LEARNS Act overhauling public education in Arkansas, prohibiting critical race theory in public schools, and protecting young elementary school children from inappropriate pro-LGBT material in the classroom.

Taken together, these good laws — and others like them — protect children from social and physical gender transition.

Public school students should not be taught to question their sexual-orientation or their gender, and schools should not lie to parents about what their children are learning at school.

Family Council is pleased to stand up for parents and children. We hope the U.S. Supreme Court will take up this case.

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

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Pro-Life Victory: VA to Stop Abortions in Veterans’ Hospitals

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On August 1, the Trump Administration quietly announced a rule change end abortions at hospitals run by the Department of Veterans Affairs and stop paying for abortions and abortion counseling for veterans and their dependents.

Up until September of 2022, VA hospitals generally did not perform or fund abortions except to save the life of the mother. Under the Biden Administration, the VA added broad “health” exceptions for abortion as part of an effort to expand abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Health exceptions for abortion are notoriously vague and can lead to abortion on demand in many cases. That’s why states like Arkansas limit abortion to situations where the mother’s life is at risk instead of using a broader “health” exception.

The Biden Administration’s 2022 rules authorized VA hospitals to perform these abortions regardless of state pro-life laws. That meant a hospital in a state like Arkansas might perform abortions that would otherwise be illegal under state law.

Needless to say, the Biden Administration’s 2022 abortion rules were deeply flawed.

The VA’s new proposal says,

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing to reinstate the full exclusion on abortions and abortion counseling from the medical benefits package, which was removed in 2022. Before that time, this exclusion had been firmly in place since the medical benefits package was first established in 1999. VA is also proposing to reinstate the exclusions on abortion and abortion counseling for Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA) that were removed in 2022. We take this action to ensure that VA provides only needed medical services to our nation’s heroes and their families.

This rule change would help protect women and unborn babies from abortion under the Department of Veterans Affairs. That is a major, pro-life victory.

The federal government has no business trying to overrule state pro-life laws or turn VA hospitals into abortion facilities. Family Council appreciates all of the pro-life leaders who have stood against these bad federal policies, and we appreciate the Trump administration’s decision to rescind President Biden’s flawed rules from 2022.

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

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