Page 549 – Family Council

CNN Singles Out Pro-Life Democrats in Arkansas, Elsewhere

Sep 7, 2022Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

On Tuesday CNN published a column singling out pro-life Democrats in state legislatures around the country.

The piece — titled, “Republicans have unlikely allies in their fight to restrict abortion at the state level: Democrats” — notes that “More than 140 Democrats from eight of the roughly dozen states with the most restrictive abortion laws voted in favor of the bans, and the vast majority of these state lawmakers were men.”

The piece goes on to single out various Democratic legislators around the country who voted pro-life — including former Arkansas lawmaker Bruce Maloch of Magnolia who voted for Act 180 of 2019 that generally prohibits abortion now that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed Roe v. Wade.

The article notes,

In Arkansas, four of the state’s 29 Democrats voted in 2019 to pass the trigger ban that criminalized abortion under nearly all circumstances. They were all men. That same year, 14 male and five female Democrats in Kentucky voted for a similar state ban, representing nearly 40% of all Democrats in the state legislature at the time. And in Mississippi, nine male Democratic lawmakers voted in 2018 to pass the 15-week abortion ban that ultimately led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The laws received almost unanimous support from Republicans, except for a single no vote in Arkansas.

Anyone who is surprised that a Democratic legislator would vote pro-life clearly hasn’t been paying attention.

Abortion used to be a bipartisan issue. Up until recent years plenty of pro-lifers could be found in both parties — especially in Arkansas.

For example, in 2011 the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 1176 requiring any facility performing 10 or more abortions per month to be licensed and inspected by the Arkansas Department of Health. The measure closed loopholes in Arkansas’ abortion laws, and it made it easier for the state to stop a facility from performing abortions. The bill had strong, bipartisan support in the Arkansas House and Arkansas Senate.

In 2013 lawmakers passed six pro-life measures — including Act 171 of 2013 that generally prohibits abortions after the 20^th week of pregnancy and Act 301 prohibiting most abortions after the 12^th week of pregnancy if a baby’s heartbeat is detected.

These bills had enough bipartisan support that lawmakers successfully voted to override vetoes from Gov. Mike Beebe and pass them into law.

CNN tries to distinguish how men vote on abortion laws from how women vote, but women from both parties have sponsored, co-sponsored, or voted for pro-life legislation in Arkansas over the years.

The vast majority of likely voters in Arkansas believe that abortion should be either completely illegal or legal only under certain circumstances. The same is true for Americans in general.

Protecting women and unborn children from abortion should not be a partisan issue.

Life is a human right. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has reversed Roe v. Wade, Arkansas is protecting the right to life and supporting women with unplanned pregnancies.

Family Council looks forward to continuing to work with Arkansans to protect the lives of women and children in the future.

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

Central Arkansas Library System Continues Hosting Pro-LGBT Events Geared Toward Youth

Sep 7, 2022Jerry CoxLGBT, LibraryLGBT, Library, Transgender

The calendar for the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS) shows multiple pro-LGBT activities scheduled at libraries in the coming weeks. Most of these events are designed for children and youth.

Here are a few of the events scheduled:

Teens 4 InQlusion — a Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) for teens and young adults — is hosting a screen printing workshop for youth ages 12 – 19 at the Main Library in downtown Little Rock.
Teens 4 InQlusion also is slated to hold monthly Gender and Sexualities Alliance meetings for ages 12 – 18 on the first Saturday of every month.
A “pronoun pins” activity is scheduled at the McMath Library in Little Rock on September 12. A similar activity previously took place at the Terry Library in Little Rock.
The Main Library will host an “InQlusive Reading Lounge” for teens ages 12-19 on September 15, featuring pro-LGBT books Boys Run Riot and Lakelore. The library also has an event scheduled where teens will be given copies of Lakelore.
The Main Library will host a pro-transgender “self-portraiture” workshop on September 22.
On September 22 CALS will host an event with Alex Gino, the author of Melissa — formerly published as George — and with Dr. Luann Racher, “an area champion of trans health, from UAMS.”
CALS will screen the transgender documentary Transhood in September.
The Nixon Library in Jacksonville will host Gender and Sexualities Alliance activities during September.
In October the Sanders Library in Sherwood will screen a twelve-minute LGBT documentary and host a discussion time afterward.

In August the Central Arkansas Library System defended its decision to host pro-LGBT programs geared toward youth, noting that the programs are funded in part by the Arkansas LGBTQ+ Advancement Fund at the Arkansas Community Foundation, the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Olivia and Tom Walton through the Walton Family Foundation, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

In March Family Council reported that the Arkansas Community Foundation awarded a grant to the Central Arkansas Library System to set up a Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) for teens and young adults. The money is part of a $1 million fund that the Walton Family Foundation created to support pro-LGBT groups in Arkansas.

The programs at the Central Arkansas Library System may not be overtly “sexual,” but they still promote LGBT ideology to children and teens.

Libraries don’t have to form Gender and Sexualities Alliances or organize pro-LGBT movie screenings to be successful. They can house books and promote reading and education without these types of events.

These activities are an unnecessary distraction for our public libraries.

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

Fentanyl Seizure Skyrockets in Colorado Despite Marijuana Legalization

Sep 7, 2022Jerry CoxMarijuanaMarijuana

Evidence continues to show that marijuana legalization does not reduce drug problems and drug-related crime.

Earlier this summer the U.S. Department of Justice announced that law enforcement in Colorado had seized more illegal fentanyl in the first five months of 2022 than in all of 2021.

Keith Weis, Executive Director from the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Program, told the press, “When we analyze data that indicates increases in drug seizures and dramatic rises in fatal overdoses, it becomes alarmingly apparent that the user market for illicit fentanyl in the state [Colorado] is expanding.”

There is a myth that legalizing marijuana reduces crime and alleviates the demand for opioids and other drugs, but that simply does not seem to be the case.

Colorado was the first state to sell so-called “recreational marijuana.” In spite of that, illicit drug use has skyrocketed there.

In 2020 law enforcement seized more than five and a half tons of illicit marijuana in Colorado intended for the black market.

A report from the Oregon-Idaho High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area this year shows the amount of methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, illicit marijuana, fentanyl, prescription drugs, and other illicit drugs intercepted by law enforcement increased dramatically from 2018 to 2021 despite marijuana being legal in Oregon.

Legalizing marijuana does not decrease drug-related crime, and it does not alleviate drug problems. If anything, it seems to make those problems worse.