It seems the hits just keep on coming for America’s abortion titan, Planned Parenthood. In the past few days, more devastating facts have surfaced about the organization that profits from the more than 300,000 abortions it performs every year: Planned “Parenthood” is not really for parents.

The overwhelming data already supports the fact that Planned Parenthood is not a “women’s health” organization. Its clinics provide far fewer services than other federally qualified health centers (Planned Parenthood offers no mammograms, immunizations or radiological services, for example). And even the liberal Washington Post has lampooned its ridiculous lie about abortion constituting only three percent of its services.

Its attempt to pivot and claim it provides “prenatal care” is also being debunked as just more false advertising. Undercover videos have surfaced from Planned Parenthood clinics all around the country. Of its 97 affiliates contacted by undercover investigators at Live Action Network, only five facilities provided prenatal care of any sort. Even more shocking? More than once, workers openly admitted the name “Planned Parenthood” is deceptive!

In a second set of videos, Planned Parenthood employees are caught on tape saying the only reason they offer ultrasounds is for abortion — not for prenatal care of any sort. In fact, staffers turn away the monitors during the ultrasounds they perform so that patients can’t see the images. It seems they would have to. As Lila Rose, president of the Live Action Network, remarked, “[S]howing a woman an ultrasound image would reveal the beating heart as well as moving arms and kicking legs, destroying the ‘clump of cells’ myth Planned Parenthood perpetuates to try to make abortion easier to accept.”

House Republicans are incensed. In a press conference [Thursday] on Capitol Hill, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) said: “The dark deception of Planned Parenthood continues to make tragic victims of unborn babies and their mothers.” Rep. Diane Black (R-TN joined him, stressing, “Planned Parenthood should consider today’s press conference as notice: the days of their organization receiving a free ride from taxpayers and a blind eye from Washington are coming to an end.”

This latest revelation is yet another reason Congress should move quickly with a budget reconciliation bill that will gut Obamacare and stop the flow of about 80 percent of the taxpayer money that goes to the abortion giant. The money will be redirected to full-service health clinics that do not do abortions.

Originally published here.

Baylor University Study Shines Light on Christian Charities

On Thursday, an independent Baylor University study revealed that faith-based organizations in the United States shoulder the majority of the work in combating homelessness nationwide. It stands as an encouraging missive to the church and its affiliates to “not grow weary in well doing” (Galatians 6:9).

The study was performed by Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion and was released Wednesday at the National Press Club. It examined homelessness in 11 sample cities and revealed that faith-based organizations not only provide the majority of emergency shelter beds in the country (at 58 percent) but are at the forefront of developing long-term solutions to the problem through intervention, recovery, job training and addiction recovery services.

According to Dr. Byron Johnson, distinguished professor of Social Sciences and director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University and one of the co-authors of the study, “The data in this study sheds light on the largely overlooked, significant role of the multi-faith sector in addressing the homelessness challenge in urban and rural communities and doing so in innovative ways… This research is helpful because it reveals the mainly untold story of the socio-economic impact of faith-based organizations on the common good health and flourishing of whole communities.”

The impact generated by this assistance was estimated at a $9.42 in taxpayer savings for every $1 invested by the government. In the 11 cities studied during 2016, an estimated $119 million in tax savings was recognized after implementation of faith-based Residential Recovery and Job Readiness programs for homeless individuals.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Dr. Byron answered the question of why there seems to be a particular misunderstanding of and hostility toward the work of religious organizations in today’s age. “There’s plenty of people in the community who think their freedoms are under attack today and so there’s a sense in which people are even afraid to make a pro-family statement for fear that they might be called a bigot,” Byron remarked. “And I think there are these misconceptions about the faith community that they don’t play well with other groups. And I think our preliminary study shows that’s a myth. They are ready, but they are not going to give up their faith.”

This body of work illuminates how collaboration among faith-based groups, private industry and government creates the best solutions to not only homeless but so many societal ills. We know the socio-economic impact of faith-based organizations cannot be ignored. Baylor’s study further proves that religious liberty and free exercise protections must be restored from their previously hobbled state under President Obama. This study once again underscores that it is not just the religious adherent that benefits from the free exercise of religion, it is the entire community.

Originally published here.

Protection for all People

The Left’s cabal is in an uproar over word of new religious liberty protections potentially coming from the White House. What it consistently refuses to recognize, however, is just how much of this fundamental first freedom we need to restore in the wake of the Obama regime.

The hysteria stems from word of a draft executive order that was leaked to The Nation, which claims that the order would create “wholesale exemptions for individuals and organizations who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity.” Like most of the Left’s fake news, this is more about advancing its anti-Christian agenda than it is reporting real news.

What would the executive order on religious liberty do and why is it needed?

It would create a general directive for all federal agencies to adhere “to the extent permitted by law” to religious freedom laws and principles in agency actions, regulations or policies. It properly recognizes that religion should not be confined to a home or house of worship alone but to “all activities of life,” such as those that involve social services, education, health care, employment, obtaining “grants or contracts,” or otherwise participating in the “public square.” Religious expression has every right to exist in the public square as do other forms of expression. The order also directs federal agencies to implement the protections of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, along with the Title VII religious protections for federal employees, religious organizations,and schools.

While liberals are crying that the order legalizes discrimination, it’s entirely lawful and narrowly tailored. As Ryan T. Anderson points out at The Daily Signal: “It ensures that the government will not discriminate against beliefs that are under assault, and protects religious organizations’ right to maintain their mission and identity in their staffing decisions and programming, while not losing the ability to partner with the government and provide vital services to sometimes vulnerable and needy populations. The executive order also provides specific protections to undo some of the worst of liberal overreach. It finally and fully protects Americans from having to violate their consciences under the Obamacare abortifacient and contraception mandate. It protects the ability of all Americans to buy health care that doesn’t cover or subsidize abortion. And it protects all Americans who believe that marriage is the union of husband and wife from federal government penalties or coercion.”

That means people like the Little Sisters of the Poor would be protected from the HHS abortion mandate, non-profits and churches like Catholic Answers, All Saints Church, and the NAACP would be able to speak on political issues, universities like Gordon College and BYU Law School would not lose their tax exempt status because of their biblical view of human sexuality, and federal employees like Chaplain Wes Modder and Sergeant Phillip Monk would not have been disciplined for their Christian beliefs. Douglas Laycock, a distinguished professor of law at the University of Virginia, confirms this: “Mostly, it implements existing religious liberty legislation and resolves some of the ambiguities at the margins in favor of protection… I don’t think it is unconstitutional on its face.”

As I said yesterday, President Trump has been very clear on the importance of religious liberty. The free exercise of religion has suffered greatly under the policies and orders of President Obama. I am confident that the Trump administration will protect this first and most fundamental freedom.

Originally published here.

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This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.