Strengthening families. Advancing truth.
Strengthening families. Advancing truth.
The Biden administration is continuing its push for “universal” Pre-K, arguing that “the earlier our children begin to learn in school, the better.” President Biden’s spending bill even devotes $200 billion to expanding access to pre-schooling. While universal pre-k sounds beneficial, leading many voters to support the idea, a newly released study shows these programs actually worsen student outcomes.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University recently released a study on Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K (TN-VPK) program and its effect on children’s academic success through 6th grade. The long-term study followed 2,990 low-income children and randomly assigned some of them to attend Pre-K.
Students who participated in the TN-VPK program performed worse overall than students who did not. Specifically, from third through sixth grade, students in TN-VPK received lower scores on state assessments than those who were not part of the program. Researchers also noted that TN-VPK participants had lower attendance rates and a higher frequency of expulsions and suspensions. The authors of the study claimed that these findings “are not at odds with findings from other studies of children who experience group care in childhood.”
Ecclesiastes tells us that a cord of three strands is not easily broken, and as we celebrate National Marriage Week, that could not be truer than in the lives of Vic and Mary Anna Eaton, who celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary in December. Marriages like Vic and Mary Anna’s are a reminder of the beauty of marriage and its vital role in shaping flourishing families and communities. After four years at the same college, the two of them met during the final week of their senior year at the University of Missouri. Throughout the summer and fall their relationship grew through letter correspondence. “I must have been a really good letter-writer,” laughed Vic. “God was leading us and took care of us.”
With just 1% of marriages making it past 60 years, 66 years is an incredible milestone! What makes the Eatons’ story even more incredible is that almost 28 years ago, Mary Anna was told that she had only 6–9 months left to live after being diagnosed with metastatic melanoma that rapidly spread to her brain. At the time, the aggressive form of cancer had only a 1% survival rate. Vic quit his job to spend time with her and care for her during her treatment at the Mayo, living out the commitment they had made to one another to love, honor, and cherish one another in sickness and in health. Against all odds, Mary Anna won her cancer battle, leading her oncologist to ask the couple, “Do you have a lot of people praying for you?” She has been cancer-free ever since and years later at an annual follow-up her oncologist attributed her healing to the prayers of the people around her.
A recent study from Care Net and Lifeway Research found that nearly 4 in 10 men whose partners have had an abortion said that, of the people their partners spoke to before having an abortion, they had the most influence on her decision. This is consistent with past research from Care Net finding that the same percentage of post-abortive women said that their baby’s father was the most influential in their decision to abort. Despite the enormous influence that men play in abortion decisions, the abortion movement continues to insist that this is solely a women’s issue and that pro-life men must be silent on the matter. Men’s influence on abortion decisions also shows why it is so important for men to stand up for the lives and rights of the unborn. Pro-life men make a difference, and the abortion industry knows it.
The supposedly “male feminist” talking point from men who claim that their support for abortion is pro-woman falls apart considering the reality that 38% of post-abortive fathers and the same number of post-abortive mothers acknowledge that the baby’s father played the most significant role in the decision to abort.
A recent Gallup survey found that just 29% of Americans believe it is very important for a couple who has children together to be married, down from 49% in 2006. The survey also found that only 38% of Americans said that it is very important for a couple that plans to stay together for the rest of their lives to be married — a disparity that indicates a shift in how Americans think about marriage and family, with fewer Americans seeing the two as going hand in hand.
Several commentators have pointed out that while marriage rates have been dropping for some time, and our culture increasingly minimizes the importance of marriage in forming stable families, Gallup’s research shows a significant and alarming decline in support for marriage among groups that have traditionally been pro-marriage and family, including conservatives, Americans over the age of 55, and people who attend church weekly. While 67% of weekly church attendees said that it is very important for a couple who plans to stay together for the rest of their lives to be married, only 45% of weekly church attendees said that it is very important for a couple who has children together to be married. Even in the church, a shrinking number of people recognize how important it is for couples who have children together to be married.
Amid growing international pushback on the transgender movement’s so-called “gender affirmative” approach to gender dysphoria and the rush to give minors experimental treatments including puberty-blockers, cross-sex hormones, and irreversible surgeries, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) has released new draft guidelines recommending a less radical approach than they have held to in the past. Rather than immediately rushing adolescents into a lifetime of hormone “treatments” and surgeries, the draft guidelines recommend mental health evaluation and several years of monitoring for adolescents with gender dysphoria, although they continue to encourage harmful and irreversible procedures after that.
WPATH, an international organization headquartered in Minnesota, plays an extremely influential role in the use of so-called “treatments” such as cross-sex hormones and “gender transition” surgery. Throughout the rest of the draft guidelines, WPATH continues to recommend so-called “gender affirmative treatments” that have caused permanent harm to young people and adults, yet the proposed draft offers slightly more protection to adolescents struggling with gender dysphoria than recommendations from major medical associations in the U.S. WPATH’s shift, slight though it is, also shows that on an international level, the transgender movement is recognizing that they may be held accountable for the damage they have caused.
WPATH’s draft guidelines added a chapter on adolescents requiring a full mental health evaluation and several years of monitoring before receiving cross-sex hormones or surgery. The guidelines continue to recommend irreversible surgeries for minors, including mastectomies for girls as young as 15 and “bottom surgery” for 17-year-old girls, although they do not recommend similar surgery for boys under 18. The guidelines also removed requirements that adults receive mental health evaluation, despite the fact that many adults who have detransitioned have spoken up about how the mental health struggles that were driving their gender dysphoria were not adequately addressed when they sought help.
The Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for businesses on Thursday. The vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at federally funded facilities has been left to go into effect.
In striking down the OSHA mandate for businesses, the Supreme Court recognized that the mandate was an instance of government overreach. In a statement, Renee Carlson, General Counsel of Minnesota Family Council’s True North Legal initiative said,
The Court correctly decided that OSHA engaged in significant government overreach, with an unprecedented broad general public health regulation, to the detriment of millions of Americans. Indeed, the Court correctly opined there is a “crucial distinction” between “occupational risk” and general risk we all face in our daily lives. And it is not for OSHA to assert itself beyond its authority as it did in this mandate.
The FDA finished out the year by permanently lifting safety restrictions on the abortion pill regimen, an unsafe abortion procedure that is made more dangerous by the removal of in-person requirements. For over two decades, the abortion pill regimen was regulated under the FDA’s Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) program. In that time, thousands of women who have undergone chemical abortions have experienced adverse effects and 24 have died, and there is evidence that abortion pill complications are significantly underreported. Under the FDA’s new rules, “DIY” at-home abortions can be distributed by mail after a telehealth visit without so much as meeting the prescribing provider face-to-face.
Recent data from the CDC revealed that chemical abortions made up 44% of reported abortions in 2019. CDC data for 2020 has not yet been made available, but the influence of lockdowns and temporary lifting of REMS protocols likely contributed to an even further increase in chemical abortions, as was seen here in Minnesota.
This is the next front in the fight for life. For decades, pro-life sidewalk counselors and pregnancy resource centers have done incredible work offering hope to abortion-minded women. While the need for their work will continue, increasingly, women who feel like abortion is their only option will be making that decision without even leaving their home or dorm room. The pro-life movement needs to reach these women, as well, and help them see that abortion is not the answer.
2021 was quite the year and throughout the ups and downs, Minnesota Family Council continued to stand for life, family, and religious freedom here in Minnesota and across the U.S.! As we enter a new year and look back on the year we are leaving behind, we are revisiting our top stories from 2021 here on the Family Beacon blog. We are so grateful for each one of our supporters for making our work possible and we are excited to continue fighting for families and keeping you informed in the new year!
10 The “Equality Act” is Back in a Big, Bad Way
The so-called “Equality Act” compromises the safety and privacy of women and labels Christian beliefs about marriage, sexuality, and family “discriminatory,” empowering the federal government to punish disagreement on this important issue. Similar laws have been passed in many states and municipalities and the results have been disastrous.
9 Austin City Council Removes Human Rights Commissioner for his Conservative Views
In July, Austin, Minnesota’s city council voted to remove Dan Mueller from the city’s Human Rights Commission, citing concerns over his views and his involvement with groups whose missions, according to the Human Rights Commission, do not align with the Commission’s values. One of the groups in question is Minnesota Family Council. Although members of the City Council and the Human Rights Council insisted that this is “not about politics” and nothing against Mueller personally, their interviews and statements to the press did not offer specific critiques but instead mentioned vague concerns about his social media involvement and his views not aligning with the Human Rights Commission.
8 The “Right to Die” Erodes the Right to Life
A culture that begins by accepting assisted suicide as an answer to suffering will eventually accept assisted suicide and euthanasia on demand for any reason. We must expose the lies behind this distorted view of autonomy and hopeless response to suffering and help people see the value of life, pointing them to the One who came that we may have life and have it abundantly.
7 Twitter Suspends Minnesota Family Council for Truth-Telling on Trans Issues
Minnesota Family Council was temporarily suspended from Twitter in January for telling the truth about President Biden’s pick for Assistant Health Secretary, Dr. Rachel Levine. Levine is a man and his self-identification as a woman can never change that reality. Twitter claimed that MFC’s tweet was “hate speech.”
6 Radical Sex Education Does Not Belong in Children’s Classrooms!
As a radical sex education bill made its way through the Minnesota House in February, Minnesota Family Council pointed out the harms of “comprehensive sex education” and the inappropriate and agenda-filled content in CSE curricula.
5 Justice, Compassion, and Hope
As the Chauvin trial came to a close, Pastor Jeff Evans of Minnesota Family Council’s Church Ambassador Network encouraged readers to pursue justice, compassion, and hope.
4 Biden is Already Advancing the Trans Agenda
In one of his first acts in office, shortly after calling for national unity and healing, President Biden compromised the safety and privacy of women and threatened the conscience rights of faith-based organizations by signing an executive order advancing the transgender agenda.
3 Are Evangelicals to Blame for the Equality Act?
This spring Christianity Today featured an article arguing that evangelicals bear responsibility for the rise of militant LGBT activism. Minnesota Family Council’s Communications Director Moses Bratrud debunks this argument, reminding readers, “Our movement to show the amazing and life-affirming truth of God’s design for our bodies is done no favors by the unrelenting insistence that Christians must, in some form, be to blame for the shape the LGBT rights movement took, and its subsequent successes and failures. We need better and broader history, which acknowledges that Christians have fought for millennia for the dignity of the traditional family, and that this fight continues today.”
2 Why We Oppose Vaccine Mandates
It is not the role of the government to mandate that a person must put something into their body. Religious-based objections to vaccines have been around almost as long as vaccines have, and employers and the state alike must follow laws that require them to honor the religious freedom of those who have sincerely held beliefs that inform them of their conviction not to get vaccinated. Part of honoring and loving fellow members of the body of Christ is learning to love one another when our consciences differ. This means choosing not to pass judgement on those who decide differently from us, as well as fighting for the freedom of conscience of all Americans to make their own healthcare decisions without coercion.
1 Minnesota School District Agrees to Adopt Transgender Policies After Lawsuit
Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose School District agreed to adopt transgender policies in a settlement with a former student who claimed she was discriminated against when the school did not allow her to use the boys’ locker room. The school district had made accommodations for her, allowing her to use a single-occupancy bathroom and changing room, but she later argued that these accommodations were not sufficient because they did not affirm her as a member of the opposite sex.
Dear friends,
Has it been a tough year? For many, it has. But Christmas reveals the depth of God’s grace to us: His love is sweetest when the world around us appears darkest; His humble birth in a manger, and the salvation of the world that was heralded in Bethlehem, is all the more significant when we consider the disease and discord that have troubled us this year, as they did in 2020.
We will never realize that Jesus can truly save us until we realize that we need saving. We need salvation from our own sin, from disease and death, from the power of the Devil, from a fractured nation. This is what the Lord Jesus offers to us through the mighty work He began in Bethlehem, and completed at Calvary. When we accept that, then Christ's work is truly for us. Nothing can take it away from us! We can do all things if Christ is the one who gives us strength!
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has proposed draft legislation for a bill to protect fairness and opportunity in women’s and girls’ sports. If passed, the bill would prohibit biological males from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams. Noem has indicated that she would like to get the bill through the legislature within the first two weeks of the 2022 session, which begins on January 11.
Supporters were disappointed earlier this year when Governor Noem vetoed the a similar Women’s Sports bill passed by the legislature, just weeks after she had expressed her eagerness to sign it. Along with other pro-family organizations, Minnesota Family Council sent a letter urging Governor Noem to withdraw her veto. At the time, Noem cited concerns about potential litigation, although many questioned if this was really her reason. South Dakota currently has an executive order intended to protect girls sports, but the South Dakota High School Activities Association allows male students to participate in girls’ sports on the basis of “gender identity.” An executive order applying to colleges and universities recommends banning biological males from women’s sports teams but provides no enforcement.
This draft legislation is a hopeful sign. Women and girls in South Dakota need better protection of their athletic opportunities than current executive orders provide. This bill offers much stronger protection than those orders and would preserve fairness and opportunity for women and girls in sports. Representative Rhonda Milstead and Senator Maggie Sutton, the sponsors of last session’s bill said in a press release,
We are pleased that the Governor confirms that collegiate athletes need to be protected as well as k-12. It is also encouraging that the Senate President Pro Temp understands the danger it is to female athletes success when any biological male participates in girls competitive sports. Getting a bill across the finish line is critical to the future of women’s sports.
