When your state legislature is flooded with bills, how do you discern which are worthy of your support?

Eric Teetsel, president of Family Policy Alliance of Kansas, shares from personal experience how he makes that sometimes difficult decision. His insights are true for every state in the country.

Learn more about Family Policy Alliance of Kansas.

 

Lawmakers in Delaware are considering a bill that would roll back many of the state’s pro-life laws. SB5 maintains the U.S. Constitution provides for abortion of preborn babies prior to viability and the life laws in question are in violation.

“The bill is headed to the House for final vote,” said Nicole Theis, executive director of Delaware Family Policy Council, one of Family Policy Alliance’s 40 state-based allies. “If it passes, Delaware will potentially become a magnet for late-term abortions and profiteering abortionists. There is no accountability or enforcement in the bill.”

The law is being debated even as an abortion seller is coming under scrutiny for a botched abortion.

A woman was taken from Planned Parenthood Delaware in a private car to the hospital even though she was in extreme pain. No ambulance was called.

Larry Roy Glazerman, the abortionist at the facility, recently testified before the Legislature. He said that abortionists, such as himself, should have the final say about whether a preborn baby is “viable.”

“SB 5 gives abortionists the authority to decide if a baby is viable or not. Even those who say they are pro-choice have a problem with abortion without restrictions, specifically, late term abortions,” Theis said. “This takes Delaware back to the dark ages of Roe v. Wade, ignoring over 40 years of legal rulings to better protect women. Polls consistently show that Americans believe abortion should come with restrictions. We’ve never seen this much bipartisan opposition to an issue. Ever.”

Your support is critical in making your voice—and the voices of families across the country—heard at the U.S. Capitol and your state capitol this legislative season.

At the federal level, Family Policy Alliance and our alliance of 40 state-based family policy groups sent a letter to President Trump and Vice President Pence asking them to sign a Religious Freedom Executive Order that would prevent the federal government from discriminating against or punishing people of faith. Family Policy Alliance also called on Congress to pass strong religious freedom protections into law, and to ensure that your tax dollars stop going to Planned Parenthood or to fund abortion in any way.

Every state, including yours, faces real threats to the family, or opportunities to strengthen the family, every legislative session. Did you know that your support helps track over 700 bills impacting life, religious freedom and family in legislatures across the nation right now?

You helped soundly defeat a bill that would have harmed religious freedom and forced girls in North Dakota to share their locker rooms, showers and bathrooms with men. In Kansas, you are protecting life by advancing bills that 1) strengthen the laws for what information a woman must be given in order to give informed consent for an abortion, 2) stand against assisted suicide and 3) enhance access to
quality care at the end of life.

Your support is helping our South Dakota ally advance a bill to ensure faith-based adoption agencies won’t be discriminated against by the government because of their beliefs. Our allies in many states—like Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and Washington—are working to protect the privacy and safety of women and children in places like locker rooms, restrooms and showers.

One of the greatest threats to the family—assisted suicide—is still raging across the country, especially in Hawaii, Maryland, New Mexico, Washington, D.C., and New Hampshire. Assisted-suicide bills are sold as a “medical, compassionate choice at the end of life” when someone is facing a terminal illness. In reality, assisted suicide sends the message that some lives are worth more than others—and those with serious illnesses or disabilities draw the short straw. Your prayers and support are needed to fight these attempts to rob those with terminal illnesses of quality medical care at the end of life. We need to work together to make sure our lawmakers know that every life is worth fighting for.

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard abandons a common sense approach to the issue at hand.

Colorado Springs, CO, March 2, 2016–South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed a bill that would have protected children from predators and provided accommodations for students who are not comfortable using the bathroom or locker room facilities that correspond with their biological sex. HB 1008 was passed by both the House and Senate and said that students should be required to use the bathroom and changing rooms that correspond to their sex at birth, a common sense approach to the issue at hand.

“We sincerely believe that the Governor missed an opportunity,” said Dale Bartscher, president of Family Heritage Alliance, “to get out in front of this issue and help accommodate both sides in a peaceful and respectful manner.”

CitizenLink and its alliance with nearly 40 state-based policy groups, including Family Heritage Alliance, worked to activate South Dakotans to contact the Governor and encourage him to sign the bill into law. Despite the disappointing outcome, we will continue to stand for families across the nation.

“No child should be forced to share a bathroom or locker room with someone of the opposite sex while at school,” said CitizenLink President and CEO Paul Weber. “We will continue to work, along with our state-based policy groups, to promote laws that protect the institution of the family and provide safety for our children.”

CitizenLink is a public policy partner of Focus on the Family. Our mission is to see a nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive and life is cherished.