Planned Parenthood Looking for a Lobbyist in Arkansas

Abortion, , , , ,

As the Arkansas Legislature gets underway, Planned Parenthood reportedly is looking for a lobbyist in the Natural State.

Planned Parenthood is the nation’s largest abortionist. The organization has two facilities in Arkansas — one in Little Rock and one in Rogers — but state law generally prohibits them from performing abortions except to save the life of the mother.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains is the regional Planned Parenthood affiliate for Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. The organization recently posted a job listing for an “Arkansas Contract Lobbyist,” saying,

The Arkansas Contract Lobbyist will be responsible for direct and grassroots lobbying on behalf of Planned Parenthood Great Plains (PPGP) and Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes (PPGPV). This position will be responsible for helping develop and implement plans and goals to advance PPGP/PPGPV’s legislative priorities, under the direction of the Director of Legislative Affairs. In addition, this position will be responsible for helping PPGP/PPGPV staff engage with key stakeholders, including existing and new coalition partners, constituents, supporters, and policymakers. This position will work closely and cross- departmentally with PPGP’s Public Affairs and Communications staff. A collaborative style, strong work ethic, and enthusiasm are essential.

Individuals and lobbying firms are encouraged to apply. This position is expected to require 5-10 hours per week during legislative session, with potential additional work on an as-needed basis. 

Historically, Planned Parenthood has been active on legislation in Arkansas.

Planned Parenthood has consistently opposed good, pro-life laws at the capitol. Last year, the group criticized state lawmakers for providing $2 million to pro-life charities that help women with unplanned pregnancies. With that in mind it isn’t surprising that Planned Parenthood is looking for a lobbyist in Little Rock.

The good news is that Arkansas is a deeply pro-life state, and its elected leaders generally do not support Planned Parenthood’s pro-abortion agenda. With that in mind, we believe pro-lifers will continue to stand for the right to life at the state capitol — and all across Arkansas.

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

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West Virginia vs. Canada on Protecting Vulnerable Lives: Guest Column

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , , ,

Contrary to what Canadian officials have claimed, the “safeguards” put in place for the nation’s “medical assistance in dying” (MAID) practice are not sufficient. Highlighting the province of Ontario alone, a report in the New Atlantis notes that hundreds of serious violations have occurred, but none have been reported to law enforcement. 

In Ontario, the coroner’s office is responsible for monitoring euthanasia malpractice. Although Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer has boasted that “Every case is reported. Everybody has scrutiny on all these cases. . .,” physician whistleblowers have identified over 400 “issues with compliance,” ranging from patients killed who were not capable of consent to communication breakdowns with pharmacists providing the deadly prescriptions. For example, physicians are legally required to notify pharmacists about the purpose of the euthanasia medications prior to dispensation, but only 61% of physicians complied with this regulation.  

More troubling are various reported cases of providers expediting euthanizing drugs to patients sooner than the legally required 10-day waiting period. In one case, euthanasia provider Dr. Eugenie Tjan administered the wrong drugs. When the patient did not die, the doctor had to administer different drugs to complete the assisted suicide. Huyer failed to report this, eventually admitting this was a “blatant” case of violating Canadian laws: “The family and the deceased person suffered tremendously.”  

Also, according to the report, about one quarter of all euthanasia providers in Ontario have received at least one slap on the wrist response from the coroner’s office regarding a compliance issue in 2023 alone. According to national law, all reports should be opened as criminal investigations, but Huyer failed to report even one. Instead, he determined that all issues in question required only an “informal conversation” with the practitioner. Dr. Tjan, for example, received an email of warning and remains licensed.  

Making this story worse is that medically assisted suicide is now the fifth leading cause of death in Canada. The failure to minimize and regulate euthanasia there only confirms fears long articulated by critics. In fact, anywhere some form of doctor assisted death has been legalized, predictions of “slippery slopes” have been realized. For example, 10 states including the District of Columbia, have legalized physician-assisted suicide since 1994. In at least five, restrictions and regulations around the practice continue to be loosened, leading to increased harm. 

The good news is that it has been a few years since the last U.S. state legalized some form of doctor assisted suicide. Perhaps the only positive development of Canada’s quick slide down this slippery slope is that America has seen the horrors: what at one point seemed an inevitable march of our own, has slowed. Last year, in fact, West Virginia voters narrowly passed an amendment to proactively outlaw “medical assistance in dying” in that state. Among other things, the amendment recognizes that the state fundamentally exists not to give citizens whatever they want, but to protect the gift and right to life endowed by the Creator on all people, no matter how vulnerable. In this sense, West Virginia offers a useful model that other states can emulate.

Copyright 2025 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.

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ADF to Facebook: Practice What You Preach, Allow Free Speech

Social Media, , , , ,

ADF sends letter to Meta after pro-life accounts are suspended for ‘exploitation’

The following is a press release from our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom:

Thursday, Jan 9, 2025

MENLO PARK, Calif. – On behalf of pro-life news site LifeNews.com, LifeNews CEO and editor Steven Ertelt, and potential adoptive mom Abby Covington, Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter Wednesday to Meta after it wrongly suspended Ertelt, LifeNews.com, and Covington’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. ADF attorneys explain that Meta’s content-moderation mechanisms are either deeply flawed or its standards against “human exploitation” and “child sexual exploitation” were weaponized to suspend the accounts for promoting pro-life beliefs.

As the letter explains, LifeNews, which reaches more than 750,000 individuals weekly through its website, e-mails, radio programs, and social media accounts, has an Instagram account with over 20,000 followers. Ertelt—who has nearly 5,000 friends on his personal account—used his Facebook to repost content from LifeNews. Covington, who used Facebook as a primary source for her small business to reach customers, created a Facebook and Instagram page chronicling her family’s journey toward adoption. Both Ertelt and Covington tried to log in to their Facebook accounts shortly after sharing pro-life posts and were locked out with no warning. After they tried to appeal multiple times, Meta permanently banned their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Because Ertelt operated LifeNews’s Instagram account, Meta permanently banned that account as well.

“Although Meta recently restated its commitment to upholding free speech on its platforms, it has a long way to go to prove that it will actually make good on its promises,” said ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler, director of the ADF Center for Free Speech. “Steven Ertelt, Abby Covington, and LifeNews all used their social media in family-friendly and life-affirming ways. But the social media giant silenced them for reasons that are patently absurd. Until Facebook restores these accounts, its statements on free speech ring hollow.”

“Facebook’s censorship of my account and our Instagram account is absurd,” said Ertelt. “Calling a medical video demonstrating the humanity of unborn children ‘child sexual exploitation’ is grossly inaccurate and offensive to the millions of pro-life people who use Facebook and Instagram. Instead of going after a pro-life video and disabling our accounts, it should crack down on actual child sexual exploitation.”

In May, Ertelt shared a LifeNews.com post that included a video of a cesarean section with a caption that read, “An unborn baby can’t be just a clump of cells when he or she is grabbing the doctor’s hand.” The post garnered significant traction, but when Ertelt tried to log in to his account later that day, he learned his account was suspended for “child sexual exploitation.” LifeNews also used Ertelt’s account to create its Instagram page, and as a result, that page is unavailable until Facebook restores Ertelt’s account.
Similarly, Covington created a page called “Austin & Abby Adopt—Covington Family Adoption Journey,” which was dedicated to her and her husband’s religious commitment and conviction that all human life is precious and worth protecting. In November, Covington used her page to introduce her family and reach out to pregnant mothers making an adoption plan. Shortly after her post, online trolls harassed her for her religious beliefs and commitment to pro-life ideals. She deleted the post, but Facebook later deleted her entire account, citing a violation of its “human exploitation” standards. Without her Facebook account, Covington is unable to access her adoption page as well as her small business page.

ADF’s letter explains that these account suspensions create a significant violation of Meta’s own free speech standards, as well as a loss of finances for Ertelt, LifeNews, and Covington. The letter outlines how Meta unlawfully induces users to its platforms with promises of fairness but applies its Terms of Service in faulty and inconsistent ways—ways which Meta officials have openly acknowledged.

“Mr. Ertelt, LifeNews, and Mrs. Covington reasonably expected that their accounts would be safe from suspension so long as they abided by Meta’s Terms of Service and Community Standards,” the letter states. “But unknown to them, Meta’s promise was unreliable, and they have each suffered financially as a result.”

You can read ADF’s letter to Meta here.

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