ACLJ Files Brief in Support of Arkansas’ Pro-Life Law

Abortion

Earlier this month the American Center for Law and Justice filed an amicus brief in support of Arkansas’ law that prohibits abortions performed solely because the baby may have Down Syndrome — Act 619 of 2019.

At the time that Act 619 passed, Family Council estimated that the law could save upwards of 100 unborn children in Arkansas every single year.

The law has been tangled up in court ever since, and the State of Arkansas currently is blocked from enforcing it.

In April Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the nation’s highest court to take up the case.

So far 22 state attorneys general as well as sitting congressmen and U.S. senators have filed briefs in support of the law. Now the American Center for Law and Justice has come out in defense of the law as well.

The ACLJ brief notes:

[T]here are countless instances in which parents were told a child would be born with severe or fatal disabilities, when in fact the child turned out to be either perfectly healthy or had manageable, or even only minor, conditions. This has specifically happened regarding a false diagnosis of Down syndrome or related maladies.

This could turn out to be a landmark abortion case, because it has the potential to reshape how federal judges treat pro-life laws like Act 619 of 2019.

It could give the U.S. Supreme Court an opportunity to overturn past rulings like Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

That would be a huge victory for pro-lifers in Arkansas — and everywhere else in America.

Read the ACLJ’s brief here.

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The Population Bomb Bombs

Culture, Current Events, , ,
John Stonestreet, Radio Host and Director of the Colson Center

Recently, the New York Times reported that U.S. population growth is now at its second lowest rate in history. Lower birth rates devastate a country’s ability to ward off labor shortages, compete economically, and take care of its elderly.

The question is, why is this happening now?

One overlooked factor is the power of bad ideas: particularly the treatment of sex as a commodity, commitment as optional, and children as a burden. Children are often seen today as obstacles, not blessings, getting in the way of making money and satisfying our desires.

But this view misses the awesome responsibility and source of immense joy children are. Every person bears the image of God, so whenever families produce children, they mirror God to the world. Sure kids are sometimes irritating, but they’re often hilarious, and they always remind us that life isn’t about ourselves.

That’s a message a culture on the brink of a demographic crisis desperately needs to hear.

Copyright 2021 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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Rule Change Could Make it Easier for Counties to Tax Property at Churches

Religious Freedom, ,

A proposed rule-change at the Arkansas Assessment Coordination Division could make it easier for county assessors to collect taxes on property that churches, charities, and other nonprofits own.

Currently, the Arkansas Constitution makes it clear that churches and charities are tax-exempt, and churches and charities generally don’t pay taxes on property they own unless they make some sort of profit from it.

The proposed rules would require churches and charities to file forms and paperwork with the county assessor that prove their property is exempt from taxation “beyond a reasonable doubt under Arkansas law.”

That’s a very high standard — and it gives county assessors tremendous leeway.

The forms also require churches and charities to give the county information that many people would consider private — like information about their staff’s salaries, bonuses, and other compensation. It isn’t clear why the county would need to know that kind of information.

If a county assessor decided to reject the nonprofit’s application for a tax exemption, the county could force the organization to pay taxes on anything it owns — land, buildings, vehicles, electronic equipment, machinery, and other property — as if it were a business.

The new rule could hurt many different nonprofits in Arkansas, including:

  • Churches
  • Charities like the Salvation Army or Union Rescue Mission
  • Christian summer camps
  • Private schools and private colleges and universities
  • Food ministries
  • Nonprofit hospitals and medical clinics
  • Homeless shelters

Charities and churches contribute millions of dollars to the economy each year by serving their communities. That’s part of the reason the Arkansas Legislature voted to designate religious organizations and charities as essential earlier this year. Making it easier for counties to tax property at churches and charities hurts everybody.

Please contact the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration today, and ask them to opposed Rule 6.01 – 6.04, the Property Tax Exemption rule that affects nonprofits, charities, and churches.

Email your comments against the rules to kayleigh.gilliam@dfa.arkansas.gov. All comments are due by Monday, May 31.

You can read the proposed rules here. You can read some of the paperwork churches and charities would have to file here.

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