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Friend,
Welcome to the Friday Five! Every Friday we share our top five
articles, stories, and quotes for you to read and share with your
friends and church families.
1. TAKE ACTION: Ask your elected officials to Save Women's Sports in NCNext week is crucial for the Save
Women's Sports Act, and members of the NC General Assembly need to
hear from you right away. The bill will be heard in The
NC House Judiciary I Committee this coming Wednesday, April 14th. The
future of the bill—and women’s sports in North Carolina—is at
stake. 
 2. WATCH: Special Human Life Non-Discrimination Act edition of the NC Values VoiceEarlier this week during a special episode of the NC Values Voice, Julie Scott Emmons discussed The Human Life Non-Discrimination Act (HB453) which prohibits abortions based on race and/or the prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. All babies−born and unborn− have intrinsic dignity and worth and should be protected from the practice of eugenic abortion. During the episode, we celebrated the
life of Will and Miller and the hundreds of babies each year that are
born with Down syndrome. Because it is estimated that 70% of all
babies with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome are aborted in the
state, the North Carolina Values Coalition is working with the Primary
Bill sponsors to stop the practice of eugenic abortion in North
Carolina. No one deserves to be discriminated against because of his
or her race or disability. This is especially true of unborn children
who are being marked for death just because someone has determined
that they are the wrong race or have the potential or confirmed
diagnosis of Down syndrome.
  3. ONE NEWS NOW: House Bill: Prenatal discrimination shouldn't be a thingThe Human Life Non-Discrimination Act (House Bill 453) has been introduced in the state legislature to ban discrimination abortions, ending abortions based on race, gender, or Down syndrome diagnosis. "Positive results of non-invasive prenatal screening tests can be wrong more than 50% of the time," explains Tami Fitzgerald of the North Carolina Values Coalition. "An organization in North Carolina, the Down Syndrome Alliance found that these inaccurate testing measures are in use for 99% of our state's cases."
4. POLL: Real Clear Opinion research poll: school choice support soarsParents and families have been on a rollercoaster when it comes to K-12 education in the time of COVID-19. A new poll from Real Clear Opinion Research finds overall support for school choice is increasing as parents need more options than ever. Major findings:
5. JOHN LOCKE FOUNDATION: Cooper’s education budget: following the money tells you a lot“Remember these numbers: 11.1 and 16.3. Those numbers represent Gov. Roy Cooper’s proposed percentage spending increases for K-12 public instruction for the next two years. Cooper’s recommended budget proposes an additional $1.1 billion in spending in 2022 and $1.6 billion in spending the following year. Much of that spending, Cooper says, will be covered by the $3.6 billion in federal funding North Carolina is expected to receive under the American Rescue Plan Act. That is a lot of money and the increases are bigger than in previous years. For the 2019-21 biennium, Cooper’s recommended budget increases for K-12 spending were 6 and 9 percent, respectively. As everyone knows, this has been a tough year for public education. Government policies have closed schools, forced most students into online instruction, exposed inequities among communities, and revealed too many children are falling behind. In a year when a premium is placed on innovative thinking to get our kids back in school and learning, and when the public is calling for expanded educational options, Cooper’s budget initiatives are unimaginative and telling. The governor would throw more money at teachers and administrators, hire more staff, and increase minimum pay and benefits. Highlights include:
 WEEKLY PRAYER: FAMILYLORD, we cry out to you as Father. You are a model of the love, mercy, and authority of the perfect parent. We thank you for modeling for us what every parent should strive for, and for creating this wonderful institution called family. LORD, we thank you for creating us with a basic nature designed to not be alone. You made us to desire the intimacy of relationships, and it is here where we experience joys indescribable: the joys of marriage, the joys of having children; the joys of seeing our children have children. What a blessing and mercy you gave us in the family! In it we find our first teachers, our first guardians, and our first authorities. LORD, we recognize how deeply you love your children, and how deeply it pains you when they go astray. Alongside our adoration and thanksgiving, we pray in confession--as individuals and as members of larger communities--over any sins we may have committed that undermine your beloved institution. Forgive us when we endanger your institution through selfishness and arrogance. Forgive our communities and nation for attempting to redefine some of the most basic and deepest parts of being human--being made male and female, having lifelong marriage vows and responsibilities, and having parental rights over educating one's children. "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:12-17) Amen
Sincerely, North Carolina Values Coalition
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