Federal Judge Blocks Safeguards Designed to Prevent Petition Fraud in Arkansas

Elections,

Last week U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks in Fayetteville blocked a slate of anti-fraud safeguards the Arkansas Legislature enacted regarding the ballot initiative process.

The order specifically affects the following laws:

  • Act 602 of 2025 by Rep. Ryan Rose (R — Van Buren) and Sen. Mark Johnson (R — Little Rock) requiring ballot initiative titles to be written at or below an eighth-grade reading level. A ballot title is supposed to accurately summarize a measure so voters can decide if they support or oppose it.
  • Act 241 of 2025 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Kendon Underwood (R — Cave Springs) requiring petition canvassers to file an affidavit with the Secretary of State verifying the canvasser complied with the Arkansas Constitution and all laws concerning canvassing, perjury, forgery, and fraud.
  • Act 453 of 2025 by Rep. DeAnn Vaught (R — Horatio) and Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) requiring petition canvassers for ballot measures to be Arkansas residents who actually live in the state.
  • Act 218 of 2025 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Kendon Underwood (R — Cave Springs) requiring canvassers to inform people that petition fraud is a crime before obtaining their signatures on a petition. 
  • Act 240 of 2025 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Kendon Underwood (R — Cave Springs) requiring canvassers to verify a person’s identity via photo ID before obtaining the person’s signature on a petition to help prevent people from fraudulently signing someone else’s name.
  • Act 274 of 2025 by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) and Rep. Kendon Underwood (R — Cave Springs) requiring people to read the ballot title – which is a summary of the measure – before signing a petition.

Judge Brooks’ decision effectively gives wealthy special interests a clear path to circulate petitions for deceptive ballot measures in Arkansas.

We have written repeatedly about how Arkansas’ ballot initiative process has become the opposite of what it was intended to be.

The Arkansas Constitution lets canvassers circulate petitions to place measures on a general election ballot. Its original intent was to give citizens a way to function as a “legislative body.” But instead of giving everyday people a way to enact their own laws, special interests have hired people to circulate petitions to place misleading, deceptive, and poorly written measures on the ballot in Arkansas.

Last spring Arkansans testified in legislative committees about petition canvassers allegedly trying to provoke altercations and encouraging people to sign petitions multiple times.

Canvassers for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment allegedly were promised $500 bonuses for “altercations” with pro-lifers.

In response, Arkansas’ legislators passed good measures this year to tighten the ballot initiative process. Now those laws are being blocked in court.

Judge Brooks’ decision is not the final word in the matter. We believe our federal courts ultimately will uphold these good laws as Judge Brooks’ decision is appealed.

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

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HHS Report Confirms Sex-Change Procedures Harm Children

LGBT,

On November 19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a peer-reviewed report confirming what most Americans already knew: Sex-change procedures are dangerous for children.

The report reviewed evidence and best practices for treating children and adolescents with gender dysphoria.

The HHS report found that performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving children puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones carries risk of “significant harms including infertility/sterility, sexual dysfunction, impaired bone density accrual, adverse cognitive impacts, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders, psychiatric disorders, surgical complications, and regret.”

The report also noted that pro-LGBT groups actually manufactured much of the so-called “medical consensus” in favor of these sex-change procedures, writing:

U.S. medical associations played a key role in creating a perception that there is professional consensus in support of pediatric medical transition. This apparent consensus, however, is driven primarily by a small number of specialized committees, influenced by WPATH. It is not clear that the official views of these associations are shared by the wider medical community, or even by most of their members. There is evidence that some medical and mental health associations have suppressed dissent and stifled debate about this issue among their members.

This latest report adds to a growing body of evidence that shows sex-change procedures hurt children.

Public health experts and policymakers in the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and other nations have found that science simply does not support giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to kids.

Whistleblowers have come forward to testify about how they were rushed through gender transitions as children without understanding the procedures’ risks, consequences, or alternatives. It is absolutely vital that Americans understand just how harmful these procedures are.

In January, President Trump issued an executive order prohibiting federal funding from being used for sex-change procedures on kids, and the federal government is soon expected to propose new rules that could help protect children from sex-change procedures nationwide.

Earlier this summer, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a public inquiry into whether U.S. doctors and clinics may have deceived parents and children about the risks of these procedures. The U.S. Department of Justice also subpoenaed doctors and medical facilities involved in performing sex-change procedures on minors.

In September, the U.S. Department of Justice sent Congress the federal Victims of Chemical or Surgical Mutilation Act. The proposed federal law would generally prevent doctors, hospitals, and clinics from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones.

In 2021, lawmakers in Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act. This good law generally prohibits doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The SAFE Act has been upheld in federal court and is protecting children in Arkansas right now.

This latest report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services further shows that lawmakers did the right thing by passing the SAFE Act nearly five years ago.

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

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Pregnancy Centers Provided Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in Goods and Services Last Year

Abortion, , , ,

A new report from our friends at the Charlotte Lozier Institute shows pro-life pregnancy resource centers provided hundreds of millions of dollars in goods and services to families last year.

Pregnancy resource centers provide material support to women facing unplanned pregnancies.

Many offer everything from pregnancy tests and ultrasounds to adoption referrals and parenting classes to maternity clothes, diapers, and formula — all typically free of charge. 

The Charlotte Lozier Institute report looked at the work of 2,775 pregnancy centers nationwide. The report found these centers provided over $452 million in medical care, education services, material goods, and other types of support in 2024.

The report also found pregnancy resource centers served one million new clients last year. All of that is great news.

Since the 2022 Dobbs decision reversing Roe v. Wade, state legislatures around the country have begun appropriating funding for pregnancy help organizations, because they are so effective when it comes to helping women and families.

Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Ohio, and many other states provide millions of dollars in state funding for pregnancy resource centers.

Lawmakers in Arkansas have also voted to provide grant funding for pregnancy resource centers.

In April, Governor Sanders signed Act 1006 of 2025, by the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, providing $2 million for grants to pregnancy help organizations — including pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and other charities that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies.

The State of Arkansas has funded this grant program every year since 2022 to help promote alternatives to abortion.

In July, DFA received 39 applications for grant funding under the program. However, the department has not taken any action on the applications and reportedly does not have a timeline for awarding grants to the pregnancy help organizations.

Now that abortion is generally prohibited in Arkansas except to save the life of the mother, the state needs to make abortion unthinkable and unnecessary. As the Charlotte Lozier Institute’s report shows, supporting the work of pregnancy help organizations is one way we can do that.

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

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