Strengthening families. Advancing truth.
After months of posturing, we have now seen Russia invade its neighbor Ukraine.
This violent invasion is already affecting Ukrainian families who have been displaced or lost loved ones just in the hours since the attacks began. And it will continue to harm families in both Ukraine and Russia, as they bear the far-reaching consequences of Putin’s decision to invade.
This week Minnesota Family Council’s Assistant Director of Public Policy submitted the following testimony to the House Education Policy Committee urging them to oppose HF 3434, a bill that would bring critical race theory into Minnesota’s classrooms.
Minnesota Family Council represents tens of thousands of families across the state, and we urge you to oppose HF 3434.
The history of ethnic minorities within the state of Minnesota and the United States at large should be taught, including the lived experiences of racism and discrimination. However, this lived history is not “ethnic studies” as defined by HF 3434. As defined in the bill, ethnic studies “means the critical and interdisciplinary study of race, ethnicity, and indigeneity with a focus on the experiences and perspectives of people of color within and beyond the United States.”1 In other words, the study of history would be through the lens of critical theory, also referred to as critical race theory.
Critical race theory (CRT) is a subject area derived from critical theory which claims that the United States was founded upon racism, white supremacy, and patriarchy. The theory states that racism was a foundational ideal of the nation and still directs every relationship of civil society. According to CRT advocates, the solution to this society supposedly founded upon racism and discrimination can be found in various pursuits of so-called racial equity.
Sarah Stoesz, CEO of Planned Parenthood in Minnesota for the past twenty years, will be stepping down later this year. Stoesz has led Planned Parenthood in creating more clinics, expanding its reach to other states, and impacting local politics. A replacement will be selected this fall. Her roots in Minnesota go deep, especially with the Democratic party.
Liberal leaders from across the state have been quick to commend her. Senator Tina Smith, a former Planned Parenthood executive who worked with Stoesz, praised her for influencing how health care professionals treat abortion. Sadly, instead of putting effort towards building Minnesota up, Stoesz and her team attempt to carefully pull apart what holds our state together — the family.
While Stoesz may be leaving Planned Parenthood permanently, her impact on the abortion landscape in our state will remain. Under Stoesz, Planned Parenthood has been preparing for the overturn of Roe v. Wade and the eventual abolition of abortion in neighboring states. She says when Roe v. Wade is overturned “we will be welcoming people from other states to Minnesota.” The ugly truth is that Minnesota will become a haven for so-called “health care access” that only leads to the death of the unborn.
We are so excited to announce that Ryan Bomberger of the Radiance Foundation will be speaking at LEAD 2022! Ryan is an Emmy Award-winning creative professional, international public speaker, columnist, and author of Not Equal: Civil Rights Gone Wrong. He is also the co-founder of RadianceFoundation.org, a life-affirming organization that illuminates that every human life has purpose. As one of ten children who were adopted and loved in a family of 15 and a father of four, he enjoys illuminating the intrinsic worth we all possess.
Ryan has done incredible work in the pro-life movement, from Congressional briefings on Capitol Hill to speaking at the March for Life in Washington D.C. to billboard and multimedia campaigns, including TooManyAborted.com, an ad campaign addressing the hugely disproportionate impact of abortion in the black community.
Parents’ rights to direct the education of their children does not end when their child goes to school. But are Minnesota schools allowing parents to exercise that right? History is telling. Over the last decade local state agencies, educational organizations, lobbyists, school boards, and administrators have created policies that undermine parental rights. Consider these few examples:
· Minnesota State High School League’s (MSHSL) decision to allow males to play on female sports teams despite significant parent testimony opposing the board’s changes;
· The Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) implementation of the Transgender Toolkit over the objections and concerns of many parents;
· The Public Educator Licensing Standards Board’s (PELSB) lack of transparency with regard to changing teacher licensing standards and cultural competency as statutorily defined.
Practically, these changes opened the door to school policies that: Circumvent parental notice in matters relating to students’ physical and emotional health, discipline students for acting consistent with various religious and moral upbringings, teach students about sexuality and how to obtain contraceptives without parental knowledge, and allow teachers to use curriculum that would be considered pornographic in almost any other context outside of diverse literary content.
Nearly 100 years ago the U.S. Supreme Court recognized the constitutional right and responsibility of parents over their minor children, especially in matters relating to their child’s education and upbringing, holding “a child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations…” After all, as the Court later affirmed, “parents possess what a child lacks in maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment.”
The Biden administration is continuing its push for “universal” Pre-K, arguing that “the earlier our children begin to learn in school, the better.” President Biden’s spending bill even devotes $200 billion to expanding access to pre-schooling. While universal pre-k sounds beneficial, leading many voters to support the idea, a newly released study shows these programs actually worsen student outcomes.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University recently released a study on Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K (TN-VPK) program and its effect on children’s academic success through 6th grade. The long-term study followed 2,990 low-income children and randomly assigned some of them to attend Pre-K.
Students who participated in the TN-VPK program performed worse overall than students who did not. Specifically, from third through sixth grade, students in TN-VPK received lower scores on state assessments than those who were not part of the program. Researchers also noted that TN-VPK participants had lower attendance rates and a higher frequency of expulsions and suspensions. The authors of the study claimed that these findings “are not at odds with findings from other studies of children who experience group care in childhood.”
Ecclesiastes tells us that a cord of three strands is not easily broken, and as we celebrate National Marriage Week, that could not be truer than in the lives of Vic and Mary Anna Eaton, who celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary in December. Marriages like Vic and Mary Anna’s are a reminder of the beauty of marriage and its vital role in shaping flourishing families and communities. After four years at the same college, the two of them met during the final week of their senior year at the University of Missouri. Throughout the summer and fall their relationship grew through letter correspondence. “I must have been a really good letter-writer,” laughed Vic. “God was leading us and took care of us.”
With just 1% of marriages making it past 60 years, 66 years is an incredible milestone! What makes the Eatons’ story even more incredible is that almost 28 years ago, Mary Anna was told that she had only 6–9 months left to live after being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma that rapidly spread to her brain. At the time, the aggressive form of cancer had only a 1% survival rate. Vic quit his job to spend time with her and care for her during her treatment at the Mayo, living out the commitment they had made to one another to love, honor, and cherish one another in sickness and in health. Against all odds, Mary Anna won her cancer battle, leading her oncologist to ask the couple, “Do you have a lot of people praying for you?” She has been cancer-free ever since and years later at an annual follow-up her oncologist attributed her healing to the prayers of the people around her.
A recent study from Care Net and Lifeway Research found that nearly 4 in 10 men whose partners have had an abortion said that, of the people their partners spoke to before having an abortion, they had the most influence on her decision. This is consistent with past research from Care Net finding that the same percentage of post-abortive women said that their baby’s father was the most influential in their decision to abort. Despite the enormous influence that men play in abortion decisions, the abortion movement continues to insist that this is solely a women’s issue and that pro-life men must be silent on the matter. Men’s influence on abortion decisions also shows why it is so important for men to stand up for the lives and rights of the unborn. Pro-life men make a difference, and the abortion industry knows it.
The supposedly “male feminist” talking point from men who claim that their support for abortion is pro-woman falls apart considering the reality that 38% of post-abortive fathers and the same number of post-abortive mothers acknowledge that the baby’s father played the most significant role in the decision to abort.
