Being a mother is never easy, but being a mother in today’s world comes with its own unique challenges. The value of women is being challenged by radical gender ideology, schools are telling our kids dangerous messages, and modern culture is silencing Christian values.
To celebrate Mother’s Day this year, Autumn Leva and Amanda Banks, colleagues here at Family Policy Alliance, discuss their experiences as mothers, how they’re raising their daughters, and what encourages them when they encounter difficulties. Don’t miss this encouraging, hope-filled, and helpful conversation!
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See you in the comments section! 
Emma Rarden
Communications Specialist – Producer
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A very blessed and joyous Mother’s Day to your family from the Family Policy Alliance team!
What an incredible week to see a Supreme Court leaked draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, ending an invented constitutional “right” to abortion, on the same week that we celebrate Mothers!
Our own Senior Vice President of Strategy, Autumn Leva, who recently gave birth to her second daughter, wrote in The Daily Signal what the end of Roe‘s deadly 49-year reign would mean and what the best Mother’s Day gift would be for 2022.
There is a universal truth felt deeply by every mom, found somewhere at the convergence of joy, pride, and heartbreak. The truth is our babies are not really our own. They are ours to raise, guide, care for and cherish—and above all, to love always—but they are unique persons, bearing the image of God, called to their own special purposes, and, though reflecting their parents in appearance and traits, created entirely different from anyone else.
As moms, we feel this truth profoundly from the moment we see their first tiny ultrasound picture, to when we feel their first fluttering kicks while they are nestled safely inside, to when we finally hold them in our arms the very first time, to that first act of defiance as a toddler, to when we wave goodbye at the kindergarten classroom, and to when we finally send them off to fulfill whatever calling God has on their lives.
…
But this truth is never more obvious to me than when I am holding them both close, feeling the weight of this moment in history where Roe v. Wade may be overturned. They may actually grow up in a country without the shadow of Roe.
Read Autumn’s full piece, The Best Mother’s Day Gift: Overturning Roe, at the Daily Signal.
Happy Mother’s Day!
The Family Policy Alliance Team
The push to erase sex in our nation continues to escalate, and what happened in Congress late last week takes the cake.
We’ve shared with you about the threats of the so-called Equality Act in Congress, the uphill battle to preserve girls’ sports in state legislatures, as well as the widespread push to make cross-sex hormones and gender-altering surgeries available to children.
But over the weekend, attempts to erase sex and demean the essence and uniqueness of womanhood was taken to a whole new level.
On the eve of Mother’s Day, the Democrat-led House of Representatives held a hearing entitled “Birthing While Black: Examining America’s Black Maternal Health Crisis.” During the May 6 hearing, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform set out to “examine the maternal mortality and morbidity crisis experienced by Black birthing people.”
If you’re like me, this was the first time I had heard the term “birthing people.” I assumed, and soon received confirmation, that the Committee used this odd term in place of “mothers.”
This terminology begs the question: Why would anyone reduce the matchless privilege and responsibility of mothers to “birthing people”?
The term implies that 1) any person – man or woman – can be a mother, and 2) mothers’ sole function is to birth. I don’t believe I need to explain that this is offensive and degrading to mothers, grandmothers, and all women. Mothering is the most special, powerful blessing of womanhood that is reserved by God for women. And the most courageous, selfless mothers among us – adoptive mothers – know better than anyone that birthing is not required.
But it appears that the radical Left is blind to this, because they continued to use this “new terminology” throughout Mother’s Day weekend.
Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) testified at the hearing and later tweeted with the phrase: “Every day, Black birthing people and our babies die because our doctors don’t believe our pain.”
NARAL (the abortion advocacy group) retweeted her, apparently in an effort to explain this new terminology while ratcheting up the rhetoric even more: “When we talk about birthing people, we’re being inclusive. It’s that simple. We use gender-neutral language when talking about pregnancy, because it’s not just cis-gender women that can get pregnant and give birth. Reproductive freedom is for *every*body.”
This seems really basic, but I think NARAL needs to be reminded that only women can birth babies! In other words, there is no reason to “use gender-neutral language” when talking about mothers. And why can you not simply call mothers mothers?
Unfortunately, this bizarre redefinition of the most fundamental title in human history is evidence that liberal elites are intent on erasing sex – and especially womanhood – to achieve their pro-abortion, anti-family policy goals and to permanently alter society.
While the threats to erase sex are many, the biggest is found in the Equality Act, which has already been passed by the House and could be voted on by the Senate at any time.
The Equality Act also includes a ban on “pregnancy discrimination” and a new requirement for pregnancy “treatment”, which of course is code for abortion. As our friends at the Charlotte Lozier Institute point out, “The ‘abortion as health care’ campaign advanced by the Equality Act effectively defines the unborn child out of existence. It treats the child as merely a “physical condition” of the mother that health professionals are called on to address through corrective treatment.”
We are all too familiar with the negative effects of devaluing fatherhood over the last several decades. I shudder to think about the negative impact on families, children and all of society if we now debase mothers to “birthing people” and obliterate womanhood as some on the Left are clearly intending to do.
Take Action: Click here to send a message to your U.S. Senators. Tell them that mothers aren’t “birthing people” – and urge them to reject the Equality Act and all other measures that seek to erase sex.
Sincerely,
Amanda Banks
Family Policy Alliance
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. (Proverbs 31:24-28)
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the moms who are reading this today. We hope that your day is filled with homemade gifts, flowers, and chocolate — but more than that, we hope you are encouraged and know that your hard work has not gone unnoticed.
At Family Policy Alliance, we understand that the hard work of motherhood is never done – of course, that’s not telling you anything that you don’t already know. This past year in particular has been hard for moms, with the fallout of COVID dramatically increasing the work and daily list of things moms already do..
Whether it was juggling remote work while kids also did school from home, trying to keep up with the latest state mandates, being unable to see grown children or grandchildren in person, or facing illness or financial hardship from COVID, moms were busy this year.
As we begin to emerge from the past year, we hope you’ll take a moment to appreciate the extra work you put in. See in the faces of your children the fruits of your labor. See in your household the million things you did to simply hold it all together. See in your relationships how you have sacrificed, often times without recognition or reciprocation.
Know that through it all, you have done amazing things – and your daily work has eternal value.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.
Sincerely,
Robert Noland
Communications Manager
P.S. If you have a mom, make sure to reach out to her today and let her know how much you appreciate all she has done and is doing for you! And, if you are grieving the loss of your mom, loss of a child, or infertility, know that our hearts and prayers are with you. The Lord sees!
Dear Friends,
On Sunday, I will celebrate my first Mother’s Day with my daughter outside the womb. As I reflect on the joy, exhaustion and blessing from the first few months of my daughter’s life, I have been given a new and deeper perspective on how critical the work of Family Policy Alliance® is in striving toward the kind of nation I desire my daughter to grow up in: a nation where God is honored, religious freedom flourishes, families thrive, and life is cherished.
I know many of you share that same vision, so I thought I would share with you the prayers I wrote for my daughter on this day.
I pray you will grow up in a nation where taking the life of a preborn baby is unthinkable.
America is more prolife now in your first year of life than it has been since Roe v. Wade in 1973, so I am filled with hope. Your life is precious, and our desire is that every child is given the same chance at the miracle of life.
Every child is a gift from God, and that is why we work every day to advance laws that both support mothers and protect the lives of their babies. Even if (when!) the law from Roe changes, there is still much work to be done in making abortion unthinkable. That is why our work is so important as we help states pass laws that reveal the humanity of every baby and build a support system around every mother.
A nation where life is truly cherished is one of the most important gifts we could give you, setting right decades of wrong done to mothers and their babies.
I pray we can guide you in your calling by giving you the best education suited for you.
To give you a future full of opportunity, I want to give you a present full of choices. I pray that you will grow up in a state and nation where every parent is free to choose the education that works best for their child.
God has a calling on your life, and it is your daddy’s and my responsibility to steward that in you. Having educational options enables us to do our job well.
I pray that your school and government will never force harmful curriculum or lessons on you.
I’ve watched in horror as parents have sent Family Policy Alliance examples of the types of curriculum their children are being exposed to in schools. In the name of “equality,” many schools are attempting to teach even kindergartners that “little girls can become boys” or that a girl can really be a boy in a girl’s body. These are lies. You, my daughter, are born exactly right the way God designed you—you do not have to change to “become who you are.”
Some lessons teach third graders how to “consent” to sexual acts—as if children can really consent. And some lessons can be described as nothing less than pornographic.
No child should ever have to be exposed to this kind of “teaching,” and that is why I work every day to equip parents and lawmakers to stand against this harmful propaganda and for children. Now that I have you, I understand even more the undeniable drive parents have to protect their children—and that parents, not schools or government, are indeed best at parenting.
I pray you will one day be able to compete fairly in a sport of your choice.
Whether you choose to run track and cross country (like your mama) or to play volleyball (a sport your daddy would far prefer to watch), I pray you will take joy in competing on a level playing field.
Right now, many activists, including the ACLU who once championed equal opportunities for women, are attempting to undo decades of work by advocating for biological men to compete in women’s sports. There’s no question this is unfair.
It is my prayer—and our work every day—that girls’ athletic opportunities will be saved for girls.
I pray you will be free to “shine your light” and share your faith at school, at work—and everywhere you go.
And, perhaps most importantly, I pray you will always shine your light—without being told by any government leader that you cannot. We named you Aurora, meaning light, as we pray and trust that your life will reflect the True Light of Christ.
You were born in a country with the greatest protections for our God-given religious freedom in the world. I pray this nation will continue to respect its founding and nurture that right. We work to keep America open for the Gospel, knowing that a country where you are free to live out your faith is the greatest gift we can give you—because your faith is the greatest thing you can share with others.
I know many of you share the same prayers for your children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. So today, I thank you for your partnership with Family Policy Alliance, for your prayers, and for your work in making this the kind of nation we can be proud to leave to the next generation.
I pray you and your family have very blessed Mother’s Day!
Sincerely,
Autumn Leva
Vice President of Strategy
P.S. Follow Autumn & the Family Policy Alliance team on social media. Share your prayers for your own children, grandchildren, and nieces or nephews!
Nancy Pelosi is not your child’s mom, but she’s certainly trying to be.
With Mother’s Day right around the corner, it is important to honor mothers and grandmothers—and the irreplaceable, God-given roles they have in children’s lives.
Mother’s Day is also a powerful reminder that children are given to their mothers by God to be intimately known and lovingly protected. That’s why Family Policy Alliance® believes that parental rights are also God-given, intrinsically known, and should be protected—not taken away—by our government.
Yet, Nancy Pelosi has made a bill that is one of the worst violations of parental rights we’ve seen one of her top-five priorities this year. By advancing H.R. 5, the so-called Equality Act that promotes a radical LGBT agenda, Pelosi is choosing to please powerful special interest groups over honoring mothers and fathers.
We’ve shared with you about how Pelosi’s Equality Act would impact schools, businesses, churches and ministries, and healthcare.
We’ve shared with you how Pelosi’s Equality Act will work its way into your child’s curriculum—with no option to opt-out your child.
And, we’ve shared with you about how Pelosi’s Equality Act will harm your parental rights—including even the risk of losing custody if you don’t sign off on your child’s “gender transition.”
Yet, Pelosi is pushing her Equality Act forward for a final vote in the full U.S. House next week. That’s why we need your help.
This Mother’s Day, we honor, celebrate, and thank God for all mothers. But, we’re also asking every mom and grandma to join with us in opposing Nancy Pelosi’s Equality Act because it is a direct attack on God-given parental rights.
Here are 3 ways you can help RIGHT NOW:
- If you haven’t yet, send an automatic letter to your member of Congress asking him/her to vote NO on Nancy Pelosi’s Equality Act. It only takes 1 minute through our action center, and it doesn’t matter who your member of Congress is. EVERY member needs to know that moms are not behind this bill!
- Join us in using the power of social media to show Nancy Pelosi and the U.S. House that moms do NOT support the Equality Act! Share your short letter to Nancy Pelosi and use the hashtags: #MomsKnowBest and #EqualityAct.Here’s a great example from a mom we know, our very own attorney and policy manager, Stephanie Curry!
If you also tag Family Policy Alliance on your Facebook or Twitter post, we’ll share some of the best mom pics! - Share this article with other moms and grandmas you know and invite them to take action too!
Because YOU, not Nancy Pelosi, know best how to raise your kids,
Autumn Leva,
Vice President of Strategy
A special greeting from Family Policy Alliance President & CEO Paul Weber.