Saline County Quorum Court Passes Resolution Opposing Abortion Amendment

Abortion,

On Monday the Saline County Quorum Court passed a resolution opposing the Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024.

A group currently is working to place the Arkansas Abortion Amendment on the November ballot. The measure would write abortion into the state constitution, and it would prevent the Arkansas Legislature from restricting abortion during the first five months of pregnancy — allowing thousands of elective abortions every year and paving the way for taxpayer-funded abortions in Arkansas without medical licensing or safety standards.

The Saline County resolution is titled, “A Resolution to Oppose the Proposed Arkansas Abortion Amendment to Amendment 68 of the Arkansas Constitution in Accordance with the Policy of Saline County, Arkansas as set forth in Saline County Resolution No. 2021-8“

In 2021, Saline County passed a resolution affirming that the county is Pro-Life. Monday’s resolution reaffirms the county’s Pro-Life status and opposes the 2024 Arkansas Abortion Amendment. Faulkner County recently passed a similar pro-life resolution opposing the abortion amendment.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade means state and local governments are now completely free to make their positions known on abortion. It’s good to see local elected officials taking a firm stand for life.

You can download a copy of the abortion amendment here.

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

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Group Raises More Than Half a Million Dollars to Put Marijuana Amendment on November Ballot

Marijuana,

In March the group backing a marijuana in Arkansas raised more than $565,000 to place their marijuana amendment on the November ballot, according to reports filed with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

The group has until July 5 to collect 90,704 petition signatures from registered voters to place the marijuana amendment on the ballot.

Most of the money the group raised in March appears to have come from marijuana growers and sellers.

The amendment would drastically expand Arkansas’ medical marijuana law to enable recreational marijuana statewide. Marijuana users would no longer need to show they suffer from a specific medical condition listed in state law.

The amendment lets people grow and use marijuana at home, making it easier for people to use marijuana recreationally.

The amendment also would openly legalize marijuana in Arkansas if federal laws against marijuana are repealed.

Nationwide, since 2019, the number of kids diagnosed with cannabis-induced mental disorders, including schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, has increased by 50%.

Across the board, media outlets have repeatedly reported that legalization of marijuana has fueled black market operations rather than reducing them — emboldening drug cartels that operate industrial scale marijuana cultivation sites.

Fox News and CBS News have highlighted how Chinese investment and organized crime are driving illegal marijuana production across the U.S., and CBN reported last October that Chinese investors with “suitcases full of cash” are buying U.S. farmland to grow black market marijuana.

Arkansas voters rejected marijuana legalization at the ballot box in 2022. That amendment was opposed by a broad coalition of churches, business groups, elected officials, and citizens who knew that marijuana would be bad for Arkansas. We anticipate similar opposition to the 2024 marijuana amendment.

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

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Instagram Takes Steps to Discourage Kids from Sexting on Social Media

Social Media

Social media giant Meta — owner of Instagram and Facebook — is taking steps to discourage kids from sending and receiving nude photos on Instagram.

The Wall Street Journal reports,

These images, real or fake, can cause emotional anguish, schoolwide humiliation and even financial harm. In recent months, “sextortion” scams have ensnared thousands of teenage boys across the U.S. Sending sexual images of minors is also a crime.

Instagram users who receive nude images via direct messages will see a pop-up explaining how to block the sender or report the chat, and a note encouraging the recipient not to feel pressure to respond. People who attempt to send a nude via direct messages will be advised to be cautious and receive a reminder that they can unsend a pic. . . .

Meta doesn’t have plans to roll out the warnings to its other apps, such as WhatsApp and [Facebook] Messenger.

Teen sexting is a serious problem. As our friends at Daily Citizen note,

A 2019 study of 54 million text messages and 1.5 million hours of phone usage by the parenting software Jiminy found one in three teens will ask for nude photos.

An astounding 24% of children studied had either sent or received a nude photo by the tender age of 13.

Sending such personal photos — both real and fake — exposes children to physical and emotional danger. Compromising photos can be shared and leaked among peers, causing humiliation, shame, embarrassment, blackmail, and even suicide.

Stories like this remind us why last year Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office filed a lawsuit against Meta in Polk County Circuit Court. The lawsuit alleges Facebook permits content that sexualizes children and that the platform itself is designed and structured “to exploit multiple neuropsychological traits in youth.”

The lawsuit says that, “youth mental health problems have advanced in lockstep with the growth of social media platforms that have been deliberately designed to attract and addict youth by amplifying harmful material, dosing users with dopamine hits, and thereby driving youth engagement and advertising revenue.”

The lawsuit goes on to allege that Meta violated Arkansas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act by designing and marketing “dangerous social media platforms that have injured the health, comfort, and repose of the State’s community” and fueled the current youth mental health crisis.

The A.G.’s complaint against Meta concludes by asking the court to stop Meta’s actions and award the state up to $10,000 per violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act in accordance with state law.

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

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