A Parson of Influence on Life
It helps Republicans. No, it helps Democrats. When it comes to the surge of pro-life bills in the states, the media can’t seem to decide which party has the momentum.
It helps Republicans. No, it helps Democrats. When it comes to the surge of pro-life bills in the states, the media can’t seem to decide which party has the momentum. But in places like Missouri, the political benefits are the last thing on anyone’s minds. If you ask leaders like Governor Mike Parson (R-Mo.), there’s only one group of people they care about helping with their legislation: moms and their unborn.
“By signing House Bill 126,” Parson said on Friday, “we are sending a strong signal to the nation that, in Missouri, we stand for life, protect women’s health, and advocate for the unborn. All life has value and is worth protecting.” For anyone keeping track, it was the third early abortion ban signed into law in as many weeks. Georgia kicked off the month with a heartbeat bill, followed by Alabama’s outright ban, and now, Missouri made sure to head into Memorial Day weekend resolved not to lose another innocent life in vain.
And while the state was at it, leaders decided to shore up some other things — like parental notification for abortion, expand the tax credits for contributions to pregnancy care centers, and refuse to let race, sex, or a diagnosis like Down syndrome be an excuse to destroy any baby’s life. In language that’s sure to drive the other side absolutely crazy, the law also recognizes that “God is the author of life” and declares Missouri a “sanctuary of life.” The goal, pointed out state Rep. Nicolas Schroer (R), isn’t to pick a fight in the courts. But if it does, he vows, they’ll be ready.
“This legislation has one goal,” Schroer told the press, “and that is to save lives… to withstand judicial challenges and not cause them.” Judging by the latest string of cases, Schroer won’t have to wait long to test that theory. As the first eight-week ban of the bunch, groups like the ACLU probably had their finger over the “send” button of their first challenge by Friday morning. And, like Alabama and Georgia, there are no exceptions after two months but one: if the mother’s life is in jeopardy.
Even on that, Governor Parson navigated the potential landmines like a pro. “Is it a terrible thing that happens in those situations [of rape and incest]?” he asked. “Yes, it is. … But the reality of it is bad things do happen sometimes. But you have two months to decide what you’re going to do with that issue, and I believe in two months you can make a decision,” he said. So do Missouri Democrats. Before the abortion crowd starts howling that these positions are “too controversial,” Rep. Joe Runions (D) would beg to differ. He bucked his party and voted for one of the strongest pro-life laws in the country, despite his fellow Democrats’ fear-mongering.
Runions, like more than 120 state Democrats across the country, saw right through the Left’s hysterics — which, in this case, included one state representative insisting that women would start using “laundry, bleach, knitting needles, bicycle spokes, and ballpoint pens” to kill their unborn children if HB 126 passed. Her outburst must not have been all that persuasive, since the bill sailed out the House with a 66-vote cushion (110-44).
Overwhelmed by the speed these states are passing pro-life bills, Planned Parenthood’s Leana Wen sounded the alarm. “This is not a drill. This is not a warning. This is a real public health crisis.” For who, no one is quite sure. After all, Missouri’s law protects children, spares moms, and even warns parents. When all is said and done, the only crisis is for businesses like Planned Parenthood, who’ve never been interested in real women’s care in the first place.
Things were already bleak for the country’s richest abortion network, whose “deficient practices” could cost the industry their only clinic in the state. According to Wen’s organization, Missouri’s health department is “refusing to renew” its annual license after an investigation uncovered some less-than-flattering details about their operation. If nothing changes by May 31, Missouri could be the first state without an abortion center since 1973. Although the location could still offer other services, abortion is Planned Parenthood money-maker so expect the doors to close.
If the St. Louis location has to stop performing abortions, Wen predicted, “Today it’s Missouri. Tomorrow it could be all of America.” From her mouth to God’s ears!
For more on the pro-life wave in the states, don’t miss my interview on Saturday morning’s “Fox & Friends.”
Originally published here.
Attack on Airport Chick-fil-A May Be Terminal
The plan to kick Chick-fil-A out of two U.S. airports may be grounded, if the Trump administration has anything to do with it. According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), any religious intolerance — by New York or Texas liberals — won’t fly. Not under this president.
Thanks to the president’s executive order on religious liberty, agencies like the Department of Transportation are always on the watch for faith-based discrimination. And what’s happened to the popular chicken franchise in Buffalo and San Antonio certainly seems to qualify. The boycotts from city councilmembers caught the attention of agency officials, who warn that you can’t punish business owners because of their Christian beliefs — especially not in federally-funded airports.
“The FAA notes that federal requirements prohibit airport operators from excluding persons on the basis of religious creed from participating in airport activities that receive or benefit from FAA grant funding,” a spokesperson told Fox News. Just because Chick-fil-A donates to Christian organizations doesn’t mean they should be exiled from the marketplace. Nor does it mean that they’re somehow participating in “anti-LGBTQ behavior.”
When the San Antonio City Council banned the Cathy family chain from the local airport, First Liberty Institute flagged the situation for Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. “American business owners should not have to suffer because they want to operate their businesses in accordance with their religious beliefs,” its attorneys argued. “Few things are more un-American than government hostility against religion.”
The city’s policy was so unpopular that the Texas legislature decided to take it up during this year’s session, even passing a “Save Chick-fil-a” bill to push back against San Antonio. This is “about the First Amendment and freedom of speech, freedom of religion — those uniquely American rights,” state Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) said. The message from leaders was simple: Don’t mess with Texas — or our chicken.
In the meantime, we’re grateful for President Trump’s team and how seriously they take these threats to religious freedom. If liberals choose not to eat Chick-fil-A, that’s their right. Just like it’s our right not to shop at Target until they stop putting women and children in danger with their bathroom policies. What isn’t our decision — or theirs — is to exclude these businesses from the market altogether.
Originally published here.
Gillette’s Close Shave with Transgenderism
If you don’t think manhood is under attack in America, just turn on the TV. These days, you can’t even buy a razor without seeing how the Left is trying to emasculate our culture! Gillette is the latest company to alienate customers with a new transgender ad that only applies to about .06 percent of the population — and offends a great deal more than that!
The ad shows a dad at the sink with his “son,” a biological female who’s trying to shave for the first time. “Growing up I was always trying to figure out what man I wanted to become and I’m still trying to find out what kind of man I want to become,” says Samson Brown, who identifies as a male. “Now, don’t be scared, don’t be scared. Shaving is about being confident,” Brown’s father advises.
“I’m at the point in my manhood where I’m actually happy. It’s not just myself transitioning, it’s everybody around me transitioning,” Brown says at the end of the ad. Late last week, he shared the commercial on social media, where it exploded with shares — and criticism. After all, the company’s tagline was always, “The Best a Man Can Be.” Now it can’t even decide what a man is.
Parents are trying to raise their boys into men worthy of respect, and this is just part of the onslaught they’re facing in our upside-down world where science, biology, and history no longer count. It’s a challenge we discussed on Thursday morning at FRC’s “Watchmen on the Wall” conference with our own Lt. General Jerry Boykin, scholar Dr. Pat Fagan, and Duck Dynasty’s Al Robertson on a special panel called, “What’s America’s Condition? Manhood, the Family, and the Church.”
As I said to the pastors in the room, I believe in this hour we need men to be strong because without them, we’re not going to have strong families. And when we have weak men, our children are not protected. In the times we’re living, there is an all-out assault on masculinity. It started years ago, as Dr. Fagan explained in depth (video below) with the cultural revolution. “The man is the target. The father in the family is the target. Take him out and the family collapses, society collapses. We can see that happening. This is by design…”
“What we need now,” he said, “are fathers who will take over the sexual education and formation of their sons, and they’ll have to take it over themselves in the home, because everything else out there is toxic, in the schools and all the rest. So they’ve got to step up to the plate. Their wives will follow them with the daughters, but the man has to go out front. We need warriors.”
The “beardless bro,” Al Robertson, had an interesting perspective coming from a more traditional family. “I grew up in a home that [doesn’t get] any more patriarchal… When he spoke at CPAC, a guy leaned over and said, ‘Your dad looks like he just walked off the pages of the Old Testament.’ And he did… But you know, I was mentored and so were my four brothers mentored in every other way by our dad. Biblically, morally, he taught us. And guess what? We’re all married to the same woman, and now we’re all having our own grandchildren… [Now] we’re teaching our children and our grandchildren and mentoring them about the way it should be… That’s what I live for.”
He and the rest of our panelists are hoping more fathers grasp on to that same vision, the weight of that same responsibility. The most important thing any dad can do is get involved. To find out how, take the time to watch this panel. It will change how you look at your marriage, your family, even your approach to other young men in your life. And if there’s anything we need right now, it’s more men reevaluating this toxic environment and what they can do to help men, and soon to be men, on the path to biblical manhood.
Originally published here.
This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.
