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Groups File Briefs Against Arkansas Ten Commandments Monument Before 8th Circuit

Oct 12, 2026Jerry CoxTen Commandments MonumentTen Commandments

*Above: Former Sen. Jason Rapert and then-Rep. Kim Hammer unveil Arkansas’ monument commemorating the Ten Commandments in this file photo from 2018.*

Last week, attorneys representing individuals and atheist organizations opposed to Arkansas’ Ten Commandments monument filed legal briefs with the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2015, the Arkansas General Assembly passed a law authorizing a privately funded monument of the Ten Commandments at the Capitol Building in Little Rock, and the monument was finally unveiled three years later. But almost immediately, atheist groups filed a lawsuit to remove the monument from the Capitol grounds. The case languished in federal court until a judge ruled against the monument earlier this year.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has appealed to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to keep the Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol grounds. Last week, attorneys for the Satanic Temple, the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the American Humanist Association, the ACLU, and others filed legal briefs arguing the monument is unconstitutional and should be removed.

But as Family Council pointed out in an amicus brief filed over the summer, the district court in Little Rock went against U.S. Supreme Court precedent when it ruled against the monument earlier this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court reviews monuments like Arkansas’ in light of their longstanding history and tradition. Historians have long recognized the Ten Commandments as one of the earliest examples of the rule of law in human history, and they have helped shape philosophy and laws in countries around the world.

That’s why the Ten Commandments have traditionally appeared in artwork at public buildings across America.

Arkansas’ monument commemorates that same historical and cultural legacy. It’s also identical to a monument the U.S. Supreme Court ruled constitutional at the Texas Capitol Building in 2005. With all of that in mind, we believe our federal courts will ultimately let Arkansas’ Ten Commandments monument remain on the State Capitol grounds.

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

CDC Data Shows Younger Teens Much Less Likely to Identify as Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual

Oct 12, 2026Jerry CoxLGBTLGBT, Transgender

Our friends at the Daily Citizen report that new data from the Centers for Disease Control shows the number of teenagers who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual has dropped dramatically.

Social psychologist Jean Twenge of San Diego State University analyzed the CDC’s 2025 Youth Risk Behavior Survey and found the decline is striking — especially among younger girls.

The numbers matter because they tell us something important about what has been driving the spike in LGBT identification among young people in the first place.

For years, researchers have said that the sudden spike in the number of teens who identified as transgender seemed like a social contagion. The same thing appears to have been at work with LGB sexual orientations as well.

In other words, a significant number of young people — particularly girls — may have identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual because the culture around them made it popular. Now that the cultural winds are shifting, those numbers are shifting too.

We have written before about how support for same-sex marriage and other pro-LGBT issues is falling along with support for sex-change procedures.

Corporate support for LGBT “Pride” has fizzled in recent years. Fortune 500 companies have abandoned the pro-LGBT Equality Index, and many workplaces no longer use pro-LGBT diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.

Today we know pro-LGBT activists and medical organizations spent years citing each other’s work in a circular pattern to manufacture a fake consensus about performing sex-change procedures on kids. Whistleblowers have come forward testifying about how they were rushed through gender transitions as children without understanding the risks, consequences, or alternatives.

Arkansas has been at the forefront of protecting children from gender ideology. In 2021, Arkansas’ lawmakers 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. Arkansas was the first state in America to enact a law like the SAFE Act, and since then lawmakers in more than half the country have passed similar legislation. Arkansas has also been a leader when it comes to enacting good laws that protect public school students from pro-LGBT indoctrination in the classroom.

This new CDC data fits into the bigger picture of how attitudes may be changing when it comes to sexual orientation, gender identity, and similar issues. It’s something conservatives can be cautiously optimistic about as we go forward.

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

Misleading Claims About Abortion Laws

Oct 12, 2026John StonestreetAbortionAbortion, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

Every few months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its 2022 Dobbs decision, another article claims that prolife laws are keeping women from essential medical care, and higher rates of maternal mortality are inevitable. The most recent example is an article in Propublica magazine, which asserted in its title: “Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.”

Though the authors were careful to acknowledge other factors were involved, the clear insinuation of the article was that medical professionals in prolife states are either too afraid to offer proper care or are banned from giving it. According to the article:

ProPublica analyzed the data collected from every state by the CDC to look for patterns. The analysis shows a growing divide for women in states with strict abortion bans compared with those without. While the uptick in ectopic deaths occurred nationwide, the climb has been much steeper in states that banned abortion after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

Of course, the article ignores the first and central fact of any abortion, which is that every single one kills. The article also ignored other studies that found no correlation between legalized abortion and better health outcomes for women. As LiveAction summarized of one study that looked at the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) around the world:

Countries that have legalized abortion such as South Africa, India, Nepal, Cambodia, and Guyana have not seen the predicted maternal health benefits. By contrast, several countries that disallow abortion, such as Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Egypt, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Indonesia, Mexico, and Uganda have seen significant reductions in maternal mortality.

For abortion advocates, abortion is healthcare. Thus, unlimited rights to an abortion is essential for any society that cares about women. Any regulation on abortion will inevitably lead to suffering for women. The conclusion must be that Dobbs is killing women.

However, the data cited by Propublica simply does not support blaming the increased rates of maternal mortality on new prolife laws. In fact, it points to a different cause altogether. As Ryan T. Anderson summarized in a post on X, “The big jump in ectopic-related deaths occurs a year before Dobbs . . . and occurs in both pro-life and pro-abortion states.” Jamie Bryan Hall also addressed the numbers in an aritcle for National Review Online:

In the 21 years from 1999 to 2021, the United States averaged 4.2 ectopic-pregnancy-related deaths per million live births. Suddenly, in 2021, this figure surged to a peak of 9.8. It has averaged 7.8 over the past five years, which are five of the seven worst years for ectopic-pregnancy-related deaths since 1999.

In other words, how can post-Dobbs laws be blamed for what happened before Dobbs was decided? It can’t. In fact, another culprit better fits the timing. A far more likely explanation is that the sudden rise in chemical abortions in the last few years—which the same pro-abortion advocates claim is “as safe as Tylenol”-–is what is killing women.

Even more suspicious is how the spike in maternal deaths corresponds to the FDA loosening regulations on the abortion pill regiment. Today, as Michael J. New explained for National Review Online, prescriptions no longer require an in-person visit, a follow-up visit, an ultrasound, or a visit to a local pharmacist. Prescriptions for the abortion pill regimen are often given via telehealth “visits” and delivered through the mail.

Even if the FDA’s loosening of regulations is not the sole cause of this spike in maternal deaths, the first pill in the abortion regimen, mifepristone, is far more dangerous than advertised, with complications that include bleeding, and even death. When these side effects are tied to the already dangerous crisis of ectopic pregnancy, the outcome is darkly unsurprising.