Family Research Council

Dear Friends,

In 2009, Barack Obama appointed then-Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. This was a troubling pick for conservatives, given her support for abortion-on-demand and support from abortion giant Planned Parenthood. Since her appointment, Sec. Sebelius has justified these concerns, as she has advocated for federal funding of abortion, abortifacient drugs and stem cell research using human embryos.

Yet there is a significant bright side to Sec. Sebelius’ departure from Topeka: Former Senator Sam Brownback, a champion for life, is now Governor of Kansas. And what a difference that has made.

Yesterday, Gov. Brownback signed legislation that “strictly limits abortions after 22 weeks based on the fact that fetuses can feel pain beginning after the 21st week of pregnancy” and another measure, “the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights Act,” which “requires minors who seek abortions to obtain consent from both parents and places certain prohibitions on late-term and partial birth abortions.”

Kathleen Sebelius would have fought these bills from their introduction. Sam Brownback not only signed but celebrated them.

To those who say that Christians should withdraw from political engagement and concentrate on private acts of charity or work solely with church or ministry groups, consider Sam Brownback and his allies in the Kansas Legislature.

These bills are part of a larger legislative mosaic that is building, gradually but steadily, a culture where the personhood of the unborn child is being recognized in law and in the American conscience.

Does political engagement bring complete resolution of every problem? No. But political action can make a decisive, if incremental, difference in a host of areas — most importantly those involving the sanctity of life from conception until natural death, the dignity of marriage, and the centrality of religious liberty to American public life.

Elections matter. Just ask Sam Brownback — and, in years to come, the children whose lives are saved through the bills he just signed into law.

Sincerely,

Rob Schwarzwalder

Senior Vice-President

Family Research Council

P.S. Be sure to read FRC President Tony Perkins’ Daily Caller op-ed on the budget crisis, Planned Parenthood, and the effects of abortion. To learn more about Planned Parenthood’s assault on the American family, read, “Planned Parenthood—What Every Parent, Teacher, Woman, Community Leader and Elected Official Needs to Know,” by FRC’s Director of the Center for Human Dignity, Jeanne Monahan.

Educational Freedom and Reform

Homeschooling

• “HSLDA Arrives; Superintendent Does 180,” Home School Legal Defense Association
• “The Heroism of Motherhood,” Gretel Deem, Crosswalk

Legislation and Policy Proposals

• “Pell Grants: Another Fiscal Disaster Unfolding,” Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
• “U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Tuition Tax Credits for Arizona Religious Schools,” Liberty Counsel
• “Preserving Their Wonder,” Rachel Motte, The Examined Life
• “Medieval Wisdom for Modern Universities,” Matthew J. Milliner, The Public Discourse
• “Return of the One-Room Schoolhouse, ” RiShawn Biddle, The American Spectator
• “Report: Many Catholic Colleges Have Ties to Planned Parenthood,” Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com
• “The Campus Chapel as an Interfaith Laboratory,” Mark Edington, The Chronicle of Higher Education
• “Embracing a classical education,” Julia Duin, The Washington Post

Government Reform

Regulation

• “No More Dancing around Spending Cuts: Here Comes Debt Limit,” Bridget Johnson, The Enterprise
• “No one left to tax?,” Richard Adams, The Ashbrook Center

Waste/Fraud/Abuse

• “Pros and Cons of the purported 2011 budget deal,” Tom McClusky, The Cloakroom
• “Boehner: Next fight to be about trillions, not billions,” John Boehner, USA Today
• “Municipal Debt Crises: Some Historical Perspective,” Alex J. Pollock, The American

Bureaucracy

• “Deficit Deception: Don’t Bank on Social Security: A Primer in the Manifest Phoniness of the Social Security System,” Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• “Shut it, but only to save it,” Alex Tokarev, WORLD Magazine
• “Concessions and Tension, Then a Deal,” David M. Herszenhorn and Helene Cooper, New York Times

Health Care

Abstinence

• “Abstinence can work,” Editorial, Deseret News
• “Abstinence on the rise among teens, young adults,” Brittany Stevens, Kansas State Collegian
• “Benefits of abstinence blossom,” Bill Bumpas, OneNewsNow

Conscience Protection

• “New Conscience Regulations from the Department of Health & Human Services: Do They Strike the Right Balance Between Conscience and the Medical Profession?,” The Federalist Society

Health care reform: Political and Legislative efforts

• “Fox News Poll: Voters Say High Court Should Invalidate Health Care Law,” Dana Blanton, Fox News
• “Medicare for a New Century,” Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
• “A Sugar Coating for the Bitter Pill of ObamaCare,” Donald P. Condit, The Acton Institute
• “Just How Is Medicare Spending Our Money?,” Joseph Antos, The American
• “Truth-in-pricing Medicare will bring down health care costs,” Conn Carroll, The Washington Examiner
• “Mitt’s Mistake: ObamaCare Is Not ‘Waivable’,” Grace-Marie Turner, Investor’s Business Daily

Homosexuality

• “DoMA Case Put on Hold until Further Notice by First Circuit,” Chris Gacek, Family Research Council
• “Beliefs & Business: Chick-Fil-A’s Current Conundrum,” Megan Basham, Crosswalk
• “Md. Senate derails transgender anti-discrimination bill,” John Wagner, The Washington Post
• “Your assignment from the transgender lobby,” Stella Morabito, The Washington Examiner
• “Pro-homosexuality foundation pours millions into Catholic and mainline Protestant dissident groups,” Methodist Thinker, MethodistThinker.com

Human Life and Bioethics

Abortion

• “Portrait of an Abortion Zealot: Glimpse of Obama in the NYT ,” Cathy Ruse, Family Research Council
• “Planned Parenthood lies again,” Darin Miller, Family Research Council
• “State of Abortion Clinic Regulations in the States,” Brianna Walden, Family Research Council
• “Punished With Babies?,” Kevin Staley-Joyce, First Things
• “Sanger’s Victory,” Allan Carlson, Touchstone Magazine
• “Democrats will yield on everything but abortion,” Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner
• “The Pro-Abortion Party,” James Taranto, The Wall Street Journal
• “Who’s the Extremist Now?,” William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal
• “Fifteen States Considering Banning Abortion After 20 Weeks of Pregnancy,” Joe Carter, First Things
• “Breaking: Never before released audiotapes reveal hundreds of nationwide Planned Parenthoods offering to cover up child rape,” Jill Stanek, JillStanek.com

Bioethics and Biotechnology

• “Bobby Schindler Connects Dots on Quasi Judicial Bioethics Committee Threat,” Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• ““Illinois Court Protects Pharmacists’ Conscience Opposition to Contraception Under First Amendment,” Wesley Smith, Secondhand Smoke

Cloning

• “Opponents of Cloning Ban Need a Course in Stem Cells 101,” Dave Andrusko, National Right to Life

Euthanasia and End of Life Issues

• “Organ Transplant Community Should Publicly Refuse Organs from Suicides,” Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke
• “Man Sentenced For Murdering Man Who Wanted to Die: Where’s the Crime?,” Wesley J. Smith, Secondhand Smoke

Stem Cell Research

• “First Patient Injected with Embryonic Stem Cell Derivatives is Identified,” Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• “Growing Human Hearts in the Lab?,” Dr. David Prentice, Family Research Council
• “First patient to get stem cell therapy comes forward,” Rob Stein, The Washington Post
• “Stem cells 101,” Jean Swenson, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
• “Stem Cells: The Scientists Knew They Were Lying?” Sherif Girgis, The Public Discourse
• “The Stem-Cell War,” David Klinghoffer, National Review Online

Women’s Health

• “Let’s Get the Facts Straight: What Planned Parenthood Actually Does,” Jeanne Monahan, The Cloakroom
• “Census spotlights India’s ‘missing girls’,” Rupam Jain Nair, Physorg.com
• “Things Planned Parenthood’s ‘Truth Team’ Forgot to Mention,” Susan Wills, American Thinker
• “Planned Parenthood: So Accustomed to Lies,” Mona Charen, Townhall

Marriage and Family

Adoption

• “Foster Care: Safety Net or Trap Door?,” Thomas Atwood, The Heritage Foundation
• “Adoption increasingly crosses racial, ethnic lines,” Sharon Jayson, USA Today
• “Ark. court strikes down law barring gay adoptions,” Jeannie Nuss, Associated Press
• “Proposed Adoption Rule Change Riles Social Conservatives,” Jonathan Wilson, WAMU

Family Economics

• “Money Can’t Buy You Economic Prosperity,” Shawn Ritenour, The Center for Vision & Values
• “Love, Sex & Mammon,” Russell D. Moore, Touchstone Magazine
• “Is It Immoral To Cut the Budget?,” Roger Pilon, The Wall Street Journal
• “Debt and the Birth Dearth,” Jordan Ballor, The Acton Institute
• “Entitlements Are Free!,” Hunter Baker, The Acton Institute
• “Dooming the dollar,” George F. Will, New York Post

Family Structure

• “Defining Conservatism, Defining Marriage,” David Mills, First Things
• “Polygamy: More Common Than You Think,” Rose McDermott, The Wall Street Journal

Parental Rights

• “FRC Praises U.S. Supreme Court for Upholding Parents’ Rights, Religious Liberty in Education,” Press Office, Family Research Council
• “Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home,” Monica Eng and Joel Hood, Chicago Tribune

Media

Pornography

• “GAO: DOJ behind on implementing anti-child-porn act,” Gautham Nagesh, The War on Illegal Pornography
• “Why more and more women are using pornography,” Tanith Carey, The Guardian

Internet

• “Net Neutrality Override,” Opinion, The Wall Street Journal
• “Gov. Sandoval seeks federal, not state, approval of online poker,” Chris Sieroty and Steve Tetreault, Las Vegas Review-Journal
• “State Politicians and Social Networking,” Robinson O’Brien-Bours, The Ashbrook Center

Religion and Public Policy

Religious Liberty

• “What the Founders Really Did on Religious Liberty,” Rob Schwarzwalder, Family Research Council
• “Room for worship: Zoning disputes involve more than mosques,” Religion Link
• “An Improbable Alliance,” Chuck Colson and Timothy George, Christianity Today
• “Mummies, Miracles and Dry, Dry Bones,” Max Lindenman, Patheos
• “Will the Obama Administration Re-Interpret Federal Law Re: Religious Discrimination When Awarding Federal Grants?,” Derek L. Gaubatz, The Federalist Society

Religion in America

• “Why Does the Illinois Government Oppose the Religious Liberty of Pharmacists?,” David Addington, The Heritage Foundation
• “Laughing at Impiety,” John Mark Reynolds, Evangel
• “Suzan Johnson Cook’s Second Chance,” Doug Bandow, The American Spectator
• “Why Doesn’t the Media “Get” Religion?,” Trevin Wax, Crosswalk
• “Christ’s Kingdom and the Federal Government,” Jordan Ballor, The Acton Institute

Secularism

• “Movie explores faith in Cristero War against forced secularism,” Kevin J. Jones, Catholic News Agency
• “Secularism and religious fanaticism make dangerous bedfellows,” The Rev. Thomas V. Berg, The Journal News
• “Politics and the Devil,” Charles J. Chaput, The Public Discourse

International

Israel

• “Richard Goldstone and Palestinian Statehood,” Carolyn Glick, Jerusalem Post
• “The Syrian Spring,” Carolyn Glick, Jerusalem Post

International Economy and Family

• “Prominent During Revolution, Egyptian Women Vanish in New Order,” Anna Louie Sussman, The Atlantic

Religious Persecution

• “Christian Worshipers Arrested in China,” Joe Carter, First Things
• “Chinese Christian journalist gets 10-year sentence for articles government doesn’t like,” Charlie Butts, OneNewsNow
• “Vietnam — all doubt of persecution removed,” Russ Jones, OneNewsNow

Sharia law — U.S., foreign

• “Of Gods and Men,” James Bowman, The American Spectator
• “A busy day on multicultural front in Oklahoma,” Editorial, The Oklahoman
• “Introducing the ‘Anti-Sharia Oath’,” Chad Groening, OneNewsNow
• “Hadith and Apostasy,” Abdullah Saeed, The Public Discourse

The Courts

Constitutional Issues

• “What would the Founding Fathers do?,” Richard Brookhiser, The Washington Times
• “It’s Not a Living Constitution; It’s a Living Argument,” Julie Ponzi, The Ashbrook Center
• “North Dakota the First to Pass New Tactic Against Federal Debt,” Fergus Hodgson, The Pelican Post

Judicial Activism

• “Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race heats up as enviro-ideologue candidate accuses conservative of judicial activism,” Matthew Boyle, The Daily Caller

Other News of Note

• “Second Thoughts on the Goldstone Report,” Ken Blackwell and Robert Morrison, The Huffington Post
• “The Miracle at Appomattox: April 9, 1865,” Robert Morrison, Family Research Council
• ““Hold as with a Chain of Steel” Fort Sumter: April 12, 1861,” Robert Morrison, Family Research Council
• “The English Language is ‘Literally’ Falling Apart,” Troy Senik, Ricochet
• “Children Astray in the American Regime,” Hadley Arkes, The Catholic Thing

Book reviews

• “Casualties of China’s One Child Policy,” Lesley Downer, New York Times
• “An Indefensible Faith: Another Review of Love Wins,” Sarah J. Flashing, Evangel
• “Not Lost in Translation,” Christina Hoff Sommers, Claremont Review of Books
• “Hamilton’s Monument,” Ryan L. Cole, City Journal
• “All Sail, No Anchor,” Jeff Shesol, Claremont Review of Books
• “Truth Over Ideology,” Bruce S. Thornton, City Journal