Protect Children & Taxpayers From Radical Gender Ideology

On May 15, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced two bills to the U.S. Senate—one that would prohibit federal funds from supporting gender transition procedures, and another that would altogether ban such procedures on minors.

These bills are so radical in light of contemporary opinion, yet so simple and straightforward in achieving their goals, that when I read their respective texts, I was awed that the U.S. Senate still contains the type of statesman who will stand for the truth in this way.

And Marshall isn’t alone; co-sponsoring one or both of these bills are U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Steve Daines (R-MT), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Mike Lee (R-UT), Markwayne Mulllin (R-OK), James Risch (R-ID), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Josh Hawley (R-MO).

On the one hand, the End Taxpayer Funding of Gender Experimentation Act of 2023 (S. 1595) would prohibit several of the current ways that federal dollars can fund gender transition procedures. Under this bill’s provisions, federal funds may not directly fund gender transition therapy or surgery. Neither may they be shuttled into health care plans that include such practices in their coverage.

Further still, no health care service that is furnished by a physician employed by the federal government or even furnished in a facility owned by the federal government may provide gender transition procedures.

The bill does clarify that non-federal health care providers would be free to provide such treatment, and that customers would still be free to seek out separate (non-federal) plans that cover such treatment should they want it. Yet, the federal government must stay out of it.

On the other hand, the Protecting Children From Experimentation Act of 2023 (S. 1597) takes it a step further when dealing with minors; it would ban gender transition procedures for minors in almost all cases—excepting rare medical situations. Under its provisions, any physical or mental healthcare professional would be fined (or face up to five years in prison) for performing or even referring a gender transition procedure.

The bill makes sure to clarify that minors may not be prosecuted for receiving such treatment; however, recipients of the treatment are allowed to bring civil action for relief against the physician who performed it.

Marshall and his colleagues’ stand for the truth deserves three whole-hearted cheers. They are daring to suggest that physicians performing supposedly “essential” gender transition care should be imprisoned! While it seems harsh, it is not any less harsh than the “care” they are purporting to provide—nothing less than a 21st-century version of the self-mutilation practiced in pagan rites for millennia, an abomination which defiles God’s created order bestowed to each one of us since our conception.

Now, it’s one thing to sit back and cheer for U.S. Senators who are willing to take stands like this, drawing clear lines between black and white in a world filled with multitudinous shades of grey. But politics is not a spectator sport. “The people” are more than just the hypothetical but fictitious “12th man” on the football team. “The people” send the players onto the field, tell them how to play, and recall them when they don’t do their jobs right.

Many of Marshall’s colleagues are assuredly shocked at his audacious proposal. But it’s audacious when viewed from a worldview that presupposes society has already settled the question—or at least the toleration—of gender transition procedures.

Thankfully, U.S. Representative Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) has introduced the same legislation in the U.S. House (H.R. 3328 and H.R. 3329), which has 40 co-sponsors, including U.S. Representatives Mike Bost and Mary Miller from southern Illinois.

If we all called or emailed our representatives right now and let them know that we—their very own constituents—agree with Marshall’s stand for the truth, the excuses to dismiss his position as audacious and radical, will start disappearing. Let them know that you sent them on to the field to represent you, and you will not tolerate government support of lies.

Take ACTION: Click HERE to send a message to U.S. Senators Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth and your local U.S. Representative to ask them to support or even co-sponsor these two bills. Impressionable children should not be making life-altering, body-mutilating decisions about their sexuality and adults should not be pushing woke sexual anarchy either.

U.S. Representative LaMalfa rightly points out in his press release,

let kids be kids and wait until adulthood to make a choice they likely wish they hadn’t as a child. Adults and the medical field shouldn’t be allowed to coerce this “woke” agenda onto them when they should be their protectors. Adults need to realize that their coercion is abuse, and should face appropriate consequences.

Biden’s border crisis is dangerous enough already, and it may soon get worse.

But his Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandra Mayorkas, paints a rosier picture, “We are preparing for the end of Title 42….We continue to enforce the laws of this country.”

Title 42 from the Trump era stipulates that until potential immigrants are tested and shown to not have the virus, they should remain in Mexico.

Title 42 was scheduled to expire 5/23/22. The Center for Immigration Studies notes, “Title 42 is the only thing standing between the current chaos at the Southwest border, and no border there at all.”

Biden has promised repeatedly to lift this provision, abandoning testing and opening the floodgates for illegal immigrants. But for now, his plan to abolish Title 42 has been blocked by a Trump-appointed judge.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) told Maria Bartiromo of Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures on 5/22/22 that the border crisis is acute. Marshall has visited the border and wants the president to do the same. The senator said:

“Maria, this is a human tragedy here…At nighttime, it looks like a war zone. There’s a sea of humanitarian crises here every evening. And every day, it’s lived out as well.”

The numbers of illegal immigrants swarming in is staggering. Writing in the Washington Examiner (5/19/22), Paul Bedard observed: “Last year’s 1.7 million border encounters is expected to reach 2.1 million, according to Princeton Policy Advisors, an economic analysis outfit that has correctly predicted recent border surges.”

The U.S. Constitution says it exists to “insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty.” Do open borders for any nation help achieve such lofty goals?

On a recent radio segment, I spoke with former Congressman, Allen West, who has seen the border crisis first hand more than ten times. He told me, “Government is supposed to protect people within [our national] borders. That’s their Number 1 duty and responsibility. If we’re not going to follow the rule of law, then what are we supposed to base the Constitutional republic on?”

He added, “America is not just a piece of land in between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and Canada and Mexico. It is a sovereign nation, and it should be regarded and treated as such.” How can a nation remain sovereign if it has no borders?

Some open borders advocates imply that it’s the “Christian thing to do” to just let everyone in—yet surely these same people lock their doors at night.

Rev. Erwin Lutzer, the author of We Will Not Be Silenced, recently told our D. James Kennedy Ministries television audience: “One of the big mistakes that Christians sometimes make is that they want to apply the ethics of the church to the state. I heard a pastor saying–I’m sure that he was compassionate and meant well–when he said, ‘Of course, we should invite people into America and basically have open borders because after all the gospel is for everyone.’ Yes, of course, the gospel is for everyone, but that’s not the role of the state. The role of the state is to keep order, to punish crime, and to keep its citizens safe. That’s the role of the state.”

Lutzer added, “It is important that the church welcomes everyone. That’s the ministry of the church, but that is not the ministry of the state.”

Meanwhile, critics of Biden’s open border crisis note that known terrorists are sneaking into the country—more than 40 on the terrorist watch list slipped into the U.S. last year alone.

Also, human trafficking is taking place, and drugs are pouring in in record numbers. In fact, Chinese-produced fentanyl and other drugs are being smuggled in through the southern border, and the results are making headlines.

Earlier this year, The New York Times reported (2/13/22), “Drug overdoses now kill more than 100,000 Americans a year—more than vehicle crash and gun deaths combined.” The open borders cause this problem, or at least greatly exacerbate it.

Kerby Anderson, the host of the syndicated radio program “Point of View,” recently told our D. James Kennedy Ministries television audience why he thinks the left pushes for open borders: “I think the hope is that these might be future Democratic voters. And so what we’ll do is we’ll just kind of incrementally allow non-citizens to vote.”

Anderson points to the recent move by New York City to allow 800,000 noncitizens to vote as an example.

Senator Marshall, who said our border is like a “war zone” right now, noted that the public safety department of Texas is trying to hold the line: “All of those people are doing their best, but they’re just simply overwhelmed. This is an unsustainable crisis.”

This article was originally published by JerryNewcombe.com.

The truth of the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is one we have all experienced firsthand. While we may chat with a friend about the stunning sunset we witnessed last night or warmly remark on the smirk our child or grandchild makes which melts our heart, we are often left feeling like we aren’t quite communicating the impact of the experience. However, when we pull up the picture of the sunset or smirk on our phone, we often find that the friend is able to respond with a heartfelt “Ah!” The picture speaks volumes.

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) understands how important pictures are when he introduced H.R. 648 in the U.S. Senate. This hopeful legislation would require abortionists to make an ultrasound picture of their preborn child available to any woman seeking an abortion. This bill, the “Ultrasound Informed Consent Act”  would provide in all 50 states what is already available to some extent in 28 states. Modeled after the National Right to Life “Right to Know and See,” the potential power of the “Ultrasound Informed Consent Act” to protect the unborn is clear.

For a newly expectant mother, the mystery of life inside the womb is easy to feel disconnected from, especially before the mother feels those first kicks of life. But provide that expectant woman with the picture of her baby’s heartbeat flickering on the ultrasound screen and that mystery feels much less shrouded. This picture, like the one of the sunset or the smirk, has the power to elicit the same, “Ah.” A picture speaks a thousand words.

And while ultrasound technology is not by any means new, having been first used in the 1950s, many do not know that since its earliest use it has its roots in the right-to life movement,

“‘Lesser known is that Ian Donald held his own faith-based opposition to abortion. Deborah Nicholson, author of a comprehensive thesis on the medical history of obstetric ultrasound, notes that he often performed ultrasound scans on women seeking terminations of pregnancy with the express intention of dissuading them from pursuing this action. In particular, the scan images would be shown to these women, while the implications of what was displayed on the image [were] carefully pointed out by the eminent professor’”

Ian Donald (Obstetrician) and Tom Brown (Engineer) are credited with being the first people who crafted the prototype [ultrasound] system. Donald, who passed away in 1987 would certainly applaud Senator Marshall’s bill.

Not applauding, however, are certain members of Congress, according to Carol Tobias, National Right to Life president,

While this reasonable legislation should attract bi-partisan support, nearly every Democrat in Congress rejects even the most common-sense protections for women and their unborn children.

These Democrats, led by U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), have thankfully failed in their attempt at sweeping legislation to overpower states’ rights regarding numerous limits on abortion just last week. Their failure, though narrow, paves the way for Marshall’s “Ultrasound Informed Consent Act” to gain traction providing women with the chance to see that awe-inspiring first glimpse of their unborn child–a glimpse that has the power to speak when words fail.

Take ACTION: Please click HERE to send a message to your federal representative to encourage him/her to support H.R. 648.  The defenders of commercialized abortion like to say their guiding principle is “choice” — yet women considering abortion are truly not in a position to make an informed choice without having sufficient, objective information. Such complete and accurate information on the reality and status of her pregnancy and of the child she is carrying in her womb is essential to her psychological and physical well-being and to her free exercise of autonomy.

Before, after and while you are taking action in support of the Ultrasound Informed Consent Act, please pray that our lawmakers hear and understand why this legislation is so important! Pray that moment in support of this legislation continues to grow, and that eyes would be open to the humanity of pre-born babies.

Read more:

If More Women Saw Ultrasounds of Their Baby, More Women Would Reject Abortion (LifeNews.com)

Conservatives have questioned the legitimacy of masking and the mask mandates since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it would appear that there are politicians in several Democratic-controlled states who agree with their conservative counterparts. Most will be ending the mandates within the next several weeks. Why they have changed their position is not entirely apparent, but we have an idea.  

States that have removed or changed their regulations – the most liberal states in the nation – include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. 

Illinois’ Governor JB Pritzker announced that the mask mandate for most public places in Illinois would end February 28th. This policy change does not include schools, health clinics, or public transportation. But school masking may also end in Illinois despite Pritzker’s objections. In a recent court decision, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene DeWitte Gricshow ruled to strike down the mask mandate in 150 school districts involved in the suit. Governor Pritzker has asked that the Attorney General to immediately appeal the decision.

Although the governor seemingly refuses to let go of the mandates over schools, he and other Democratic governors are starting to loosen their grip over other COVID regulations. 

A recent poll conducted by Monmouth University found that the support for mandated vaccines dropped from 53 percent of those polled to 43 percent, and support for mask mandates dropped from 63 percent to 52 percent. In another poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, findings showed that 70 percent of the Americans polled agreed that “it’s time we accept COVID is here to stay, and we just need to get on with our lives.” It appears that the political climate is no longer accepting the mandates and tyrannical authority that has been exercised within the blue states.  

It is also possible that the recent protests worldwide have concerned the politicians. Canada’s Trucker Freedom Convoy protest is protesting mask and vaccine mandates and is closing down bridges, blocking travel, and slowing down the supply chain. The truckers in the United States are planning a similar protest convoy starting in March.

As a result of the polls and convoy protests, politicians are concerned about the upcoming midterm elections and their ability to appeal to the masses who have become weary of COVID and the mandates. However, because “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” it is doubtful that these leftist politicians are willing to give up their power quickly, as is evident in Governor Pritzker’s unwillingness to remove the mandates from school children.

The dismissal of the mandates is also only being done at state levels. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is still unwilling to remove the recommendations, stating that hospitalizations remain high. President Joe Biden is still trying to enforce various mandates. On Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) told host Maria Bartiromo that he would introduce legislation in the U.S. Senate to end President Biden’s Declaration of Emergency and stop the Medicare Vaccine Mandate on healthcare workers. Marshall went on to say that the mandates are “about power, it’s about control.” Politicians rarely give up power and control easily. Therefore, the very fact that Democrat-controlled states are willing to let go of mandates without a fight is very telling. Perhaps they see the writing on the wall.

However, voters must remain persistent in assuring that they are not misled by politicians who want to appear as though they have a conciliatory nature. Leftists may sway less informed voters by convincing them that they are willing to modify mandates.

Take ACTION: Although we should be hopeful that more states will dismiss mask mandates, we should remain vigilant. We must ensure that leftists are not trying to influence elections through policy changes that are only meant to temporarily pacify angry voters. Please call your state and federal representatives and ask them to end the mask mandates in Illinois schools in all districts, also voice your support for ending the federal declaration of emergency and all forced mandates. Continue to stay informed as we approach the midterm elections.