Along with other pro-family organizations, Minnesota Family Council has released a letter urging South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem (R) to withdraw her veto on South Dakota’s crucial legislation protecting women’s sports from biologically male athletes. Read the letter and see all signatories below:
Dear Governor Noem,
March 29, 2021
You recently announced your intent to form a “coalition to defend Title IX” in conjunction with your surprising decision to use a “style-and-form veto” on HB 1217, a bill that would ensure South Dakotan K- 12 and collegiate female athletes have a level playing field in their sports and that they have recourse against unfair policies that force them to compete against biological males.
We are already part of a large coalition defending female athletes across the country, and we are inviting you to join with us by supporting legislation that protects all women—kindergarten to college— and provides them with a legal remedy when their rights are violated, as HB 1217 does.
Abortionists and their allies are attacking a recent pro-life law in Ohio that requires the dignified treatment of the remains of babies who have been killed by abortion. Abortionists object to these laws because they draw attention to the reality of abortion by affirming the humanity of unborn children. Because all humans are created in the image of God, the human body ought to be treated with dignity and respect, even after death, regardless of how that person died. This means that aborted babies should never be thrown away, but should be given a proper burial or cremation.
When considering the staggering human cost of abortion, one question that is sometimes overlooked is what happens to those babies after they are aborted. As one pro-lifer asked, “What do you do with 65 million bodies?” In some cases, abortionists like Kermit Gosnell and Ulrich Klopfer have hoarded the bodies of their victims as trophies, or, as the 2015 undercover investigation of Planned Parenthood revealed, body parts are illegally sold for profit. In many cases, though, the bodies of babies who have been killed in abortion are thrown away as “medical waste.” Several stateshave moved to change that, passing laws requiring that abortion victims’ remains be either buried or cremated.
The so-called Equality Act is continuing to make its way through Congress — after passing the House last month, it was heard this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has used Senate Rule 14, which allows the Act to be brought to the Senate floor without committee hearings. The Equality Act is a serious threat to the safety and privacy of women and children, the lives of unborn babies, the health and welfare of children and adultswith gender dysphoria, and the First Amendment rights of Americans everywhere.
Defenders of the Equality Act have consistently dismissed religious freedom concerns as alarmist. But the Equality Act, by specifically excluding itself from the religious freedom safeguards in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, would force faith-based foster care and adoption agenciestoeither stop practicing in accordance with their religious beliefs or close their doors altogether, would attempt to bully private religious schools into touting the LGBT agenda, and would threaten conscience protections for healthcare providers and religious hospitals. This Act would be disastrous for religious freedom.
On Tuesday the Minnesota Senate Health and Human Services Committee advanced a pro-life bill subjecting abortion facilities to licensure and inspection requirements.This bill would require any facility that commits 10 or more abortions per month to be licensed by the health commissioner in order to operate. To be licensed, the abortion facility would be required to pass an inspection at least once every two years. The bill would also allow the attorney general, a county attorney, or a woman upon whom an abortion has been performedat an unlicensed facility to seek an injunction against that facility.
There is no good reason that abortion facilities should not be subject to these licensure requirements and routine inspections. Until abortion facilities can be completely shut down, they should be subject to rigorous licensure requirements and routine inspections. Perhaps these inspections would prevent the sort of situation that caused an Alabama woman to die from a botched abortion this week. The abortion industry has consistently demonstrated their disregard for women’s health and safety. This bill would hold them to account by requiring them to comply with licensing standards
A year ago this week was when the pandemic really hit home for many Americans, spurred by rising cases and a flurry of Stay at Home orders. But March 2021 is looking a lot different, and nothing makes that more evident than an (almost) complete lifting of COVID restrictions on churches, announced today by Governor Tim Walz and taking effect on Monday, March 15.
All capacity restrictions on church services have been lifted, so churches can meet without any restrictions except for (1) mandatory use of masks, (2) capacity for social distancing, and (3) a COVID-19 preparedness plan in place. Singing is permitted, although food or drink (other than Communion) are still prohibited. Get more details here.
Throughout the pandemic, churches, denominations, and Minnesota Family Council have all placed firm but respectful pressure on Governor Walz to respect religious freedom and trust churches to gather safely. This has paid off: for the last few months, religious services have been less restricted than other similar events, because churches have First Amendment protections. In fact, churches and other places of worship are the only venues to have capacity restrictions lifted entirely at this time. Religious freedom is winning!
Dr. Thomas Steensma is a Dutch doctor who has long advocated for “treating” children with gender dysphoria by putting them on puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones. Now, roughly a decade after his much-cited study advocating for the “Dutch Protocol” was released,Dr. Steensma is concerned. “The rest of the world is blindly adopting our research,” he told a Dutch media outlet recently.
Medical experimentation on children ought to be universally rejected, but shockingly, it is quickly becoming unquestionable. Partially to blame for this development is the “Dutch Protocol” which encourages doctors to give minors with gender dysphoria puberty-blockers followed by cross-sex hormones. Steensma’s study, arguing that this was in the best interest of children, played a significant role in popularizing this approach. Recently, Steensma has begun urging caution, saying that more research is needed.
On Thursday, President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion COVID-relief bill known as the “American Rescue Pan.” The bill has rightly been criticized as a “blue state bailout” and leaves out key pro-life provisions. It allocates $390 million simply to carry out the administrative costs of the legislation, while less than 9 percent of the $1.9 trillion will be going toward directly addressing COVID-19 through public health spending. One bright spot in an otherwise terrible bill is the expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC), a change that will benefit millions of families by helping them to prioritize their children.
This temporary change will expand the CTC from $2,000 annually to $3,000 per child between the ages of 6 and 17 and $3,600 per child under the age of six during the 2021 tax year. This will be a fully refundable tax credit, meaning that if the credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, families will receive a refund.
As the Supreme Court prepares to decide the fate of religious foster care and adoption agencies in Fulton v. Philadelphia, Bethany Christian Services, the nation’s largest foster care and adoption agency, has announced that they will begin placing children with LGBT couples. This follows Bethany’s decision to avoid the legal fight for religious freedom by quietly choosing to place children with LGBT couples in states thatrefuse to work with religious agencies that hold to biblical sexual ethics. Now they have decided to make it their policy nationwide to place children with LGBT couples.
For many years, Bethany stated that they believed that “God’s design for the family is a covenant and lifelong marriage of one man and one woman.” This statement reflecting God’s design for the family was removed from their website in January. Speaking to the New York Times, Bethany’s senior vice president for public and government affairs, Nathan Bult, emphasized that Bethany’s board, which saw the departure of more than one of their more conservative members since 2018, now consists of members who have “diverse personal views on sexuality.”
Last month Planned Parenthood released their 2019-20 report.The abortion giant’s report says a lot about their priorities and those priorities are not good for anyone except the abortion industry. Between October 1, 2018 and September 30, 2019, Planned Parenthood committed 354,871 abortions, over 9,000 more than they committed the previous year. As we recently noted,Planned Parenthood has also expanded into the area of “gender medicine” with 200 locations providing cross-sex hormones.
The 2019-20 fiscal year was profitable for Planned Parenthood, with their report revealing over $2 billion in net assets, up from $1.9 billion the previous year. Meanwhile, their super PAC spent $45 million in the 2020 elections. As they thrive financially and spend money supporting radical pro-abortion candidates, real services provided to women continue to decrease. They provided 23,000 fewer breast screenings and pap tests than they did the previous year, and 4,700 fewer well-woman exams.
