Jerry Cox – Page 2 – Family Council

Arkansas Gave $1.7M+ to Pregnancy Resource Centers in FY 2026

Jul 20, 2026Jerry CoxAbortionAbortion, Arkansas Legislature, Life, Pro-life, Sanctity of Human Life

The State of Arkansas awarded more than $1.7 million to pregnancy resource centers during the 2026 fiscal year, according to the State’s transparency website.

Since 2022, Arkansas law has generally prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother, and public health data shows that thousands of children are alive today thanks to the state’s many pro-life laws. But women with unplanned pregnancies still need help. That’s why Arkansas has appropriated millions of dollars to charities that support women and families with unplanned pregnancies.

Arkansas’ financial records show the State awarded a total of $1,735,585 in grants to more than three dozen different pregnancy help organizations before the 2026 fiscal year ended on June 30.

Last spring the Arkansas Legislature voted to increase its grant funding for pregnancy help organizations to $3.5 million for the 2027 fiscal year. That means even more grant money could go to organizations that are saving lives in Arkansas between now and next summer.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Family Council outlined a three-part plan for eliminating abortion:

Encourage the Enforcement of Existing Pro-Life Laws
Work With Members of the General Assembly to Pass Any Additional Laws Necessary to End Abortion
Expand Our Efforts to Assist Pregnancy Help Organizations

Providing publicly funded grants for pregnancy resource centers is a major part of that plan, and we deeply appreciate the Arkansas Legislature and the governor for their commitment to supporting these good organizations.

Arkansas isn’t the only one awarding grants to pro-life charities. A growing number of states provide pregnancy help organizations with public funding, because they give women real options besides abortion.

Below is a list of pregnancy help organizations and the amount of grant funding each received from the State of Arkansas during the 2026 fiscal year.

Organization	Doing Business As	Grant Funding
ARKANSAS BAPTIST CHILDRENS HOMES AND FAM	ARKANSAS BAPTIST CHILDREN & FAMILY	$111,824.85
NEW BEGINNINGS PREGNANCY CENTER		$96,014.25
OPTIONS A PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER INC	OPTIONS	$77,151.00
HOPEPLACE NEWPORT		$76,026.00
ST JOSEPHS HELPERS OF PULASKI COUNTY	ARKANSAS PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER	$75,000.00
CHANGEPOINT PREGNANCY CARE AND PARENTING		$72,343.59
CRADLE THE MATERNITY SUPPORT CENTER OF C	KATHLEEN BLOSSOM	$72,137.00
INFORMED CHOICES WOMENS CENTER OF THE OZ		$70,197.75
ARKANSAS PREGNANCY NETWORK		$67,618.02
PLUM PEACE LOVE UNDERSTANDING MERCY	PLUM FOUNDATION	$67,000.00
CABOT CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER	OPTIONS PREGNANCY CENTER	$56,638.50
CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER OF CENTRAL ARKAN	CARING HEARTS PREGNANCY CENTER	$56,500.00
OPEN ARMS PREGNANCY CENTER INC		$52,418.00
ACTS OF HOPE INC	ACTS OF HOPE, PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER	$51,610.00
MADISON COUNTY HEALTH COALITION INC		$51,587.50
HEART TO HEART PREGNANCY SUPPORT CENTER		$45,000.00
CHOICES PREGNANCY RESOURCE CLINIC INC		$39,863.38
HOPEPLACE – FORDYCE		$38,250.00
COMPASSION MINISTRIES LTD		$37,500.00
HOPE OF THE DELTA CENTER		$37,500.00
PREGNANCY HELP CENTER	PREGNANCY HELP CLINIC	$34,900.00
ST FRANCIS HOUSE NWA INC	COMMUNITY CLINIC	$34,705.50
PATHWAY RESOURCE CENTER		$34,596.00
LIFE CHOICES INC		$34,398.00
ALPHA PREGNANCY PROBLEM CENTER OF BATESV	THE ALPHA CENTER INC	$34,368.49
CRITTENDEN COUNTY CARES		$33,900.00
LIFES CHOICE PREGNANCY CARE CENTER		$33,270.00
SOUTH ARKANSAS CARING PREGNANCY CENTER	HANNAH PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER	$32,750.00
FORT SMITH CHRISTIAN FAMILY SERVICES INC	1ST CHOICE PREGNANCY MEDICAL CENTER	$27,783.50
ST BERNARDS DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION		$27,500.00
DISCERNMENT LLC		$25,000.00
NEW BEGINNINGS PREGNANCY HELP CENTER OF		$25,000.00
BAPTIST HEALTH FOUNDATION		$24,812.50
PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER FOR SOUTHWEST		$23,865.00
HOPEPLACE MONTICELLO		$17,660.00
CENTRAL BAPTIST ASSOCIATION	BREATH OF LIFE PREGNANCY RESOURCE CENTER	$15,630.00
CONWAY REGIONAL HEALTH FOUNDATION INC		$13,500.00
HOPES FIRST CHOICE PREGNANCY RESOURCE CE		$9,766.50
Total		$1,735,585.33

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

Here’s a Look at How Arkansas’ Laws Properly Safeguard Religious Liberty

Jul 20, 2026Jerry CoxReligious FreedomReligious Freedom, Religious Liberty

Last week Arkansas made headlines for being named number one in the nation on religious liberty. The free exercise of religion is a fundamental right protected by state and federal law, and Arkansas has some of the best safeguards for religious liberty in the country. That is something to celebrate.

But one of the questions that comes up about religious liberty is how to protect the free exercise of religion without letting someone use that freedom to commit crimes or harm innocent people. Arkansas has at least two laws that navigate that issue very well.

The first is Arkansas’ Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was passed in 2015 and made stronger in 2023 and 2025.

Over the past 200 years, courts have had to address situations where cult leaders wanted to commit crimes in the name of their religion, where cities and counties denied building permits to churches, and where conscientious objectors wanted to avoid military service during times of war.

In situations like these, courts traditionally asked two questions:

First, does the government have a “compelling interest” at stake in this situation—like providing for national defense or protecting people from violent crime?

And second, can the government protect that compelling interest without burdening someone’s free exercise of religion?

Under this test, cult leaders who broke the law went to prison, conscientious objectors in the military were assigned to non-combat duties, and churches that were denied a building permit typically were allowed to build anyway.

Unfortunately, over the years, state and federal courts abandoned this standard and began issuing bad rulings that made it easier for the government to run roughshod over religious freedom—even when it did not have a compelling interest at stake or did not have to burden someone’s free exercise of religion. We have all heard stories of wedding venues, bakeries, photography studios, and florist shops taken to court because their owners wanted to operate according to their deeply held convictions. That’s a problem.

That’s why Arkansas has passed laws like its Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law protects every person’s free exercise of religion except in serious situations where the government can demonstrate it has a compelling interest at stake. In those cases, the government may burden the free exercise of religion, but it must do so as little as possible.

Arkansas’ Religious Freedom Restoration Act is one of the best in the country, because it gives strong protections to religious liberty while still making it possible for our government to punish criminals and enforce other important laws.

The second law that Arkansas has passed is Act 980 of 2017. Act 980 protects religious freedom and other liberties while prohibiting courts from enforcing foreign systems of law, like Sharia Law. The government certainly has a compelling interest in preserving our basic liberties and the rule of law. Act 980 helps the State of Arkansas do that.

Arkansas has the very best religious freedom laws in the country. Family Council is committed to working with our friends in the Arkansas Legislature to keep it that way, and we plan to look into any other laws Arkansas may need to pass to properly safeguard the free exercise of religion in our state.

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

Looking at Liberty in the Lead, Gambling Gone Wrong, and Other Stories from This Week

Jul 17, 2026Jerry CoxCurrent EventsUpdate

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Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

⛪ Family Council Celebrates Arkansas Being Named Number One in America on Religious Liberty. On Tuesday, First Liberty Institute’s Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy announced Arkansas is leading the nation in its Religious Liberty in the States index. In a statement, Family Council President Jerry Cox said, “This is something Arkansans can celebrate. First Liberty is one of our country’s leading supporters of religious freedom. Their index looks at laws and protections for religious liberty in all 50 states. If they say Arkansas is leading the nation, you can believe it.” Keep Reading.

🗽 America Flirts with Democratic Socialism. Recently, in primary elections in both New York and Colorado, self-professed Communist and Democratic Socialist candidates beat even progressive-wing candidates to claim Democratic nominations for office. Keep Reading.

🪪 Texas Lawmakers Look at Prohibiting Foreign Surrogacy Contracts, Protecting Children. In commercial surrogacy contacts, corporate agencies hire women to carry children for paying customers. But recent news stories and congressional testimony have highlighted how some of these paying customers may actually be from foreign countries. Because the children are born on U.S. soil, they are American citizens, but they may be immediately taken from the U.S. to be raised in China or another country. As a result, policymakers have begun voicing serious concerns about this issue. Keep Reading.

🪙 Polymarket Used Deceptive Social Media Ads, Fake Wins to Promote Platform: WSJ. A recent investigation by The Wall Street Journal alleges that the prediction market platform Polymarket hired social media influencers to record deceptive videos appealing to young adults. Keep Reading.

📵 Most Americans Want to Keep Kids Off Social Media. Between Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, YouTube, and other platforms, most teens and young adults are on some form of social media. The U.S. Surgeon General says 95% of American teenagers use social media, and about one-third say they use it “almost constantly.” But parents, policymakers, and pundits have raised concerns about the harm that social media can cause to kids. Keep Reading.

💊 Doctors Allege Planned Parenthood May Be Committing Fraud to Cover Up Sex-Change Procedures. According to a report from the Washington Examiner, Planned Parenthood facilities in Pennsylvania have been using a billing code for “endocrine disorder, unspecified” when prescribing cross-sex hormones, rather than using the accurate billing code for gender identity disorder. Multiple physicians say this practice could amount to fraud. Keep Reading.