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Life & Family Issues

  • Defending Marriage in N.C.

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jessica Anderson on August 31, 2009

    North Carolina is the only Southern state that does not have a defense of marriage amendment included in its constitution. Without such an amendment, the state is subject to legal attacks against the institution of marriage as we know it.

  • 2009 Session Legislative Recap Series: Life and Family

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jessica Anderson on August 31, 2009

    The 2009 legislative session proved, yet again, that North Carolina General Assembly lawmakers refuse to hear any conservative legislation that would protect pregnant women, defend marriage and strengthen the family. Instead, legislators chose to advance an extremely liberal agenda with passage of the Healthy Youth Act and the “Bullying Bill.”

  • Why “Sexual Orientation” is Not a Protected Nondiscrimination Class

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jessica Anderson on August 18, 2009

    The North Carolina State Bar recently struck down changes to the North Carolina Rules of Professional Conduct that would have included “sexual orientation” in the list of protected classes. The proposed amendment stated that lawyers should not discriminate against anyone on the basis of race, gender, age or other protected status or personal characteristic. Included next to the traditional protected classes was “sexual orientation.”

  • Government-Run Health Care And Taxpayer-Funded Abortions

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Marianne Suarez on July 15, 2009

    An amendment added to the Senate health care reform bill last week would effectively force health insurance companies to enter into contracts with entities such as Planned Parenthood, who perform abortions. One of the most striking elements of this amendment is the sweeping powers it would grant the federal government.

  • Undermining Abstinence

    Posted in Life & Family Issues on January 13, 2009

    Current state law (G.S. § 115C-81) mandates that all students from kindergarten to ninth grade be taught an age-appropriate “comprehensive school health education program” that includes instruction on abstinence until marriage and preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Abstinence, in other words, is the expected standard for all school age children when it comes to public schools.

  • Get The Facts… On Abstinence Education

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jameson Taylor on December 9, 2008

    North Carolina currently mandates that all students from kindergarten to 9th grade be taught a “comprehensive school health education program” that includes instruction on abstinence until marriage and preventing HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). According to state law, “abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children.”

  • Life & Family Legislation: A Coming Storm?

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jameson Taylor on September 9, 2008

    Pro-life/pro-family initiatives not only failed to make progress during the 2007-08 biennium, but came under attack in many areas. In 2007, the General Assembly passed legislation that makes it easier to euthanize elderly and other vulnerable populations.

  • Let’s Not Forget Life

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jameson Taylor on June 10, 2008

    Does being pro-life matter anymore? After all, a pro-life agenda has almost no chance of passing this session. And, if things don’t change, pro-life legislation will continue to get buried in committee year after year, bill after pro-life bill.

  • Kids and the Lottery: Say it Ain’t So

    Posted in Corruption & Ethics, Education, Life & Family Issues by Bob Luebke on February 19, 2008

    Since passage of legislation to legalize the education lottery in North Carolina in 2005, gambling has been treated like other public vices. Simply put: the public tolerates smoking, drinking and gambling, but it wants the activities regulated and kept away from children. Some recent developments make me think officials at the North Carolina Education Lottery are ignoring public sentiment and are intent on creating their own rules.

  • North Carolina Needs Fetal Homicide Law

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jameson Taylor on January 24, 2008

    Adding another bizarre twist to the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, Onslow County sheriff’s investigators are trying to determine whether Lauterbach’s deceased baby was born and then killed by murder suspect Cpl. Cesar Armando Laurean. Lauterbach was due to give birth to a baby girl some time between January 8 and February 14. The crucial question is whether the baby took a breath outside of Lauterbach’s womb. If she did, Laurean may be charged with two murders – instead of just one.

  • Stem Cell Research in North Carolina … What’s Really Going On?

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Bob Luebke on July 23, 2007

    Should North Carolina expand state funding of stem cell research? Sufferers of Parkinson’s disease, juvenile diabetes and other chronic diseases hope the state does so, just as they hope that embryonic stem cell (ESC) research will find a cure for their diseases. Spurred on by the fear that a failure to provide state funds would end research efforts, stem cell supporters have been pressing their case with legislators since last summer. These efforts have paid off. Earlier this year, HB 1837, “The Stem Cell Research Health and Wellness Act,” was intro- duced in the North Carolina General Assembly by Representative Earl Jones (D-Guilford) and three other legislators, in- cluding Republican Jim Gulley of Mecklenburg. The legislation would allocate $10 million to nonprofit organizations conducting stem cell research and includes specific provisions that regulate embryonic stem cell research in North Carolina.

  • Marriage Amendment Blocked

    Posted in Life & Family Issues by Jeff Mixon on May 24, 2007

    For four years an effort to change North Carolina’s Constitution to protect the institution of marriage has languished in legislative purgatory at the General Assembly. Blocked by legislative leaders from even being heard in a committee, the marriage amendment has not seen the light of day in Raleigh despite being sponsored in the House by a majority of members this session. On Tuesday, May 22nd, The Defense of Marriage Act (HB 493) made a brief appearance in the House Rules Committee.

  • A Decade of Parental Consent…And 750 Shining Faces!

    Posted in Life & Family Issues on March 31, 2006

    It has been a little over 10 years since the North Carolina State House of Representatives had conservative leadership. Very few of us remember anything about what happened during that first long session, but one bill has made an impact on many North Carolinians . The Parental Notification Act of 1995 (I), sponsored by 63 conservative House members, requires that at least one parent or guardian provide written consent before an abortion can be performed on an un-emancipated minor (or a court order under special circumstances). Prior to 1995, physicians performing abortions had the discretion to obtain consent or not.

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