Six Goals for 2026

Family Council

As the year draws to a close, I want you to know Family Council and the Education Alliance have big plans for 2026 in Arkansas.

Here are six of our goals for the coming year:

Help Elect Qualified Candidates. Since 1990, our Arkansas Voter’s Guide has been Arkansas’ leading source of non-partisan information on candidates. We survey the candidates, and we share their answers in print and online. How candidates answer critical questions on abortion, education, guns, and religious freedom helps voters decide which candidates reflect their values. We plan to distribute thousands of voter’s guides between now and March.

Stand Up for 32,000 Arkansas Homeschoolers. Since 1998, our Education Alliance division has been the statewide hub for homeschooling and defending parents’ right to teach their children at home. At the Capitol, we have stopped harmful bills and fought to ensure homeschoolers are included in funding under the LEARNS Act. When all is said and done, good parents teaching their children at home may prove to be the most powerful weapon against the moral and cultural decay plaguing our state and nation.

Stop Abortion by Supporting Pregnancy Help Organizations. Now that abortion is generally prohibited, we need to focus on reducing the demand for abortion. More than 60 pregnancy help organizations across Arkansas are ready to help women and girls facing unplanned pregnancies. Since 2022, we have worked with the governor and lawmakers each year to secure millions of dollars in funding for state grants. We plan to continue that work in 2026.

Bring a Godly Influence into the Public Arena. We are helping Arkansas’ pastors and churches get involved. The Arkansas Church Ambassador Network, a new division of Family Council, is implementing a comprehensive plan involving online information, social media, email, printed reports, and other resources to equip pastors when it comes to social and moral issues. This will enable them to confidently educate their members and involve their church. We are helping pastors and lawmakers establish relationships that will be good for all Arkansans. We plan to bring at least 500 pastors to the State Capitol in 2026 to meet with lawmakers and bring a godly influence into the halls of government. Ultimately, we are creating opportunities for ministers to pray with elected officials, share God’s word, and help Arkansans grow in their faith.

Organize 50 Conservative Arkansas Attorneys to Get into the Fight. We are excited about mobilizing a statewide network of volunteer attorneys who can help draft laws, analyze ballot measures, testify at the Capitol, and work with legal experts. The Arkansas Justice Institute, a new initiative by Family Council, will orchestrate this effort.

Bringing Faith Back to Public Schools and Public Buildings. Family Council is also working with other groups to expand religious freedom in schools, place copies of the Ten Commandments in public buildings, and promote academic study of the Bible and released time for religious instruction during school hours. Family Council’s Faith at School Toolkit equips Arkansans to do this and more.

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

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Canada Killed a Record 16,499 People Through Assisted Suicide Last Year

Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, , , , , ,

Canada killed a record 16,499 people through physician-assisted suicide in 2024, according to new data from the government.

The Canadian government released its Sixth Annual Report on Medical Assistance in Dying in November. The report shows euthanasia and assisted suicide are on the rise in Canada and now account for roughly one in twenty deaths in the country.

All told, more than 76,000 people have died through Canada’s euthanasia program since the country legalized assisted suicide in 2016.

The numbers reveal a troubling trend that should serve as a warning to Arkansas and other states.

Canada operates two different “tracks” for assisted suicide. Track 1 lets doctors kill patients whose natural death is “reasonably foreseeable” — meaning they are terminally ill. But Track 2 allows euthanasia for people who are not dying at all.

Track 2 deaths increased by 17% in 2024, with 732 people killed even though they were not terminally ill. These victims tended to be younger, more likely to be women, and far more likely to be living with a disability.

The reasons people gave for choosing death are deeply concerning. The report shows that loneliness and isolation were factors in nearly 22% of Track 1 deaths and 45% of Track 2 deaths. That means at least 3,800 people were killed in Canada last year partly because they felt lonely.

Many of these patients needed counseling and support — not a prescription for deadly drugs.

Canada’s definition of who qualifies for assisted suicide is dangerously broad. Patients can be approved for euthanasia based on cancer, organ failure, or neurological conditions. But they can also be killed for diabetes, chronic pain, hearing problems, or even “feelings of loneliness.”

The situation is about to get worse. In 2027, Canada plans to expand assisted suicide to include people suffering solely from mental health conditions like anxiety or depression. One advocacy group is even pushing to make children under 18 eligible for euthanasia.

This is exactly the slippery slope that pro-life advocates have warned about for years.

We have seen similar problems in Oregon, which legalized physician-assisted suicide in 1998. Official state reports show that less than 1% of Oregon patients who received lethal prescriptions last year were referred for psychiatric evaluation. Most patients cited loss of autonomy and dignity as their primary reasons for asking about assisted suicide.

In parts of the U.S. where assisted suicide is legal, insurance companies have refused to pay for patients’ medical care but offered to cover the cost of suicide drugs instead. This robs patients of compassionate care and pushes them toward death.

And we have heard stories about patients in Europe and Canada being denied care or actively euthanized thanks to bad government policies.

Just like abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are murder, and they violate the sanctity of human life.

Being pro-life means believing innocent human life is sacred from conception until natural death. That’s why Family Council has spent years opposing assisted suicide and euthanasia in Arkansas.

The tragedy unfolding in Canada shows us where this path leads. When society accepts the premise that some lives are not worth living, vulnerable people suffer the consequences. Instead of offering death as a solution, we should focus on providing better palliative care, mental health support, and compassionate assistance to those who are struggling.

Arkansas families, churches, and voters must continue to stand for the sanctity of human life and oppose any efforts to legalize assisted suicide in our state.

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

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The Power of “One Solitary Life”

Christmas, ,

In 1926, Dr. James Allan Francis wrote a short essay titled, “One Solitary Life.”  As we prepare for Christmas, I hope you will join me in pondering this original version of those simple words about the Savior of the World.

One Solitary Life
A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life.
 
He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
 
He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One denies him; another betrays him.
 
He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. Those are the facts of his human life.
 
He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, what kind of trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune [worthless] in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life.

From all of us at Family Council and the Education Alliance, as we enjoy this wonderful time of year, may we take time to reflect on the true reason we celebrate Christmas: The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

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