The so-called “Abortion Care Network” (ACN) recently reported that independent abortion facilities are closing at an “alarming rate.” In the past five years, 113 independent abortion facilities have closed, including 34 since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past decade, the number of independent abortion facilities has declined by 30%. The rate at which these clinics are closing is not what is alarming. What is alarming is that they ever opened in the first place and that, far too often, we are numb to the daily massacre committed by the abortion industry.
It’s well past time for these clinics to close. Abortion is a grave injustice that has plagued the United States for too long, and the sooner these clinics close the doors, the better. Although Planned Parenthood continues to commit over a third of abortions in the United States, ACN reports that independent abortion facilities commit 58% of all abortions.
President Biden recently took to Twitter to complain that women are “locked out of the workforce because they have to care for a child or an elderly relative at home” and tout his “Build Back Better” plan so that women can “get back to work.” This sentiment is deeply anti-family and belittles women who choose to stay at home as mothers and caregivers.
What if our priority was not ensuring that as many parents as possible are away from their children for at least half of their waking hours, and if we instead focused on supporting families? Devaluing families and belittlingthose who stay at homeas caregiversis not “building back better.” It is profoundly disrespectful and shows a complete disregard for young and old alike.
A recent study released by George Barna found that 39% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 identify as LGBTQ and that 30% of adults under the age of 37 do. The study’s findings also point to a significant shift that is taking place in the worldview of younger Americans, especially when it comes to how they think about identity — the study reported that 75% of young adults are searching for a purpose and that, while over half describe themselves as religious, 74% believe that all faiths are equal.
While Barna’s numbers are significantly higher than those reported by Gallup earlier this year, both studies show that the number of young Americans who identify as LGBT has increased dramatically in recent years. Writers like Abigail Shrierhave pointed out that social contagion plays a significant role in the number of young people suddenly identifying as LGBT, and especially in the rise of transgenderism. As school curricula, the entertainment industry, woke corporations, and other champions of the LGBT movement insist on reducing male and female to rigid and cartoonish stereotypes, young people are encouraged “to look constantly for landmark feelings or impulses, anything that might point toward ‘genderfluid,’ ‘genderqueer,’ ‘asexual,’ or ‘non-binary.’”
Last week Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined 18 other attorneys in asking a federal court to remove religious freedom protections for colleges and universities. In an amicus brief filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, the attorneys general urge the court to rule against Christian colleges and universities in the case Hunter v. U.S. Department of Education. The lawsuitis seeking to stripreligious colleges and universities of fundingfor holding to Biblical beliefs on marriage and sexuality.As Al Mohler, President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, put it, this lawsuit “is a deliberate effort by a major means of coercion to bring an end to institutions of Christian conviction, that operate as colleges and universities and seminaries.”
Although the case focuses Christian colleges and universities,initially, the only defendant in the case was the Department of Education. By suing the Department of Education, the lawsuit would have been able to target religious institutions without giving them an opportunity to speak in their own defense. This was especially concerning given the federal government’s reluctance to come to the defense of religious freedom.
Earlier this week voters here in Minnesota and across the U.S. headed to the polls to vote in local elections. The results were encouraging and showed voters rejecting radical ideology and embracing pro-family candidates, instead! Leading up to the election, it became clear that many of these races, including Virginia’s gubernatorial race, were a referendum on radical education policies that have been gaining momentum around the country. The results are in and voters have made it clear — parents matter!
During his campaign, former Governor Terry McAuliffe insisted, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what to teach.” Virginian voters made it clear that they believe parents’ voices are important when they elected pro-life and pro-family candidate Glenn Youngkin instead. Joseph Backholm of Family Research Council commented,
Parents are an interest group now. It’s hard to overstate how good this news is. Candidates will now have to be prepared to answer questions about who should be in charge of curriculum, parents or bureaucrats…Ten years from now education could look very different than it does today. If that happens, we’ll look back to tonight as the moment it all started and we’ll all be better for it.
