Planned Parenthood Still Preparing to Open Regional Abortion Facility Within Driving Distance of Northwest Arkansas

Abortion, , , ,

Planned Parenthood is still hiring staff in anticipation of opening a regional abortion facility within driving distance of Northwest Arkansas this fall, according to job listings posted online.

On May 14, Planned Parenthood Great Plains announced it intends to place an abortion facility in Pittsburg, Kansas — near the state line with Missouri and Oklahoma. Even though the town is in Kansas, it is situated less than 90 minutes from the Arkansas border. If Planned Parenthood opens the facility this fall, it will be the closest abortion center to Northwest Arkansas.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest performer of abortions. Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision reversing Roe v. Wade, Arkansas began enforcing its pro-life laws prohibiting abortion except to save the life of the mother — prompting Planned Parenthood to stop aborting unborn children in Arkansas.

However, some 405 women from Arkansas had abortions in Kansas during 2022. Right now, abortion facilities in Kansas are primarily concentrated in the northeast and central areas of the state. Opening a facility in southeast Kansas — near the borders with Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri — will make it easier for Planned Parenthood to promote abortion to women from those states.

All of this underscores what we have said in the past: It’s important to prohibit abortion through legislation, but we need to work to eliminate the demand for abortion as well.

One way Arkansans can do that is by supporting pro-life organizations that empower women with real options besides abortion.

Arkansas is home to more than 60 organizations that assist pregnant women — including some 45 pregnancy resource centers that help women with unplanned pregnancies.

The State of Arkansas recently voted to award $2 million in grants to pregnancy-help organizations for the 2024-2025 budget cycle. That money is going to help a lot of women and children in the coming months.

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

READ MORE

John Deere Backs Away from DEI, Pro-LGBT Activity

LGBT,

The world’s largest seller of farm equipment appears to be moving away from pro-LGBT and pro-DEI activity.

In a statement published on X earlier this month, John Deere said the company would no longer participate in “social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events.” This seems to be directed at pro-LGBT Pride parades and similar performances.

The statement also said the company will keep “socially motivated” messages out of company training materials and policies, and it reaffirmed that “diversity quotas and pronoun identification” are not part of the John Deere’s policies. This seems to take aim at corporate DEI initiatives and training.

This comes as corporations around the country face pushback for their pro-LGBT activism.

As we recently wrote, Bud Light is still suffering the repercussions of its LGBT marketing disaster last year, and Target chose to quietly reduce its Pride-themed merchandise this year following backlash from its customers.

As John Stonestreet often points out, “Ideas have consequences, and bad ideas have victims.” That’s why it’s so deeply troubling when multimillion dollar corporations use their wealth and influence to promote radical, pro-LGBT ideas. Those bad ideas leave victims in their wake.

But it’s also encouraging when customers choose not to support those bad ideas — and it’s encouraging when companies like John Deere choose not to follow the examples of other major corporations.

As some of have said, all of this seems to show the “silent majority” is real when it comes to the transgender issue.

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

READ MORE

Arkansas Supreme Court Issues Briefing Schedule in Abortion Amendment Lawsuit

Abortion, , , ,

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.

READ MORE