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. <[link removed]>
We would be very grateful if you could make a donation of $100, $50, $25, or $10 today towards our work producing these Friday Fives and fighting for your values on the public square! <[link removed]>
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1. NC VALUES: 2021 Crossover update on pro-values bills
This has been a major week in the NC General Assembly. Yesterday,Thursday, May 13 was the day that any bills without fiscal components had to cross from one chamber to the other on their pathway towards becoming law. We are proud to report that 9 of the 13 bills that we have been following and supporting have made it through crossover. Tami and Julie havebeen very active and hard at work since the very beginning of the session supporting our legislators with items such as drafting legislation, answering questions, securing witnesses for committee hearings, and research assistance.
To see a summary of these 13 pro-values bills, or to see which ones reached crossover, check out our 2021 Pro-Values Bills Update here <[link removed]>.
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2. COURIER-TRIBUNE: 'Born-alive' abortion measure clears North Carolina Senate
"North Carolina's Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would require doctors to provide the same duty of care for a child who is born alive after an attempted abortion that they would for any other newborn."
"'Everyone should be able to agree that the circumstance surrounding a child at birth should not determine their right to life,' Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the conservative North Carolina Values Coalition, said in a release. 'The vote this afternoon by the North Carolina Senate guarantees compassion and perinatal medical services to any infant born alive as a result of an abortion.'"
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3. PODCAST: Abortion Isn’t Essential Health Care. This OB-GYN Explains Why.
"Pro-life advocates worry that an abortion-friendly political agenda has worked itself into the medical specialty of obstetrics and gynecology.
Now, OB-GYN medical professionals who are pro-life are taking a stand for women and babies as they seek to uphold the sanctity of all human life and push back on the narrative that abortion is essential health care."
"Francis joins the “Problematic Women” podcast to discuss her group’s mission and how the abortion agenda infiltrated the group AAPLOG sprang from: the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or ACOG. "
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4. DAILY SIGNAL: Biden Administration’s New Gender Identity Policy Could Force Health Professionals to Violate Conscience
"President Joe Biden’s new policy redefining sex puts doctors at risk, American Principles Project President Terry Schilling told The Daily Caller News Foundation Monday.
The Biden administration announced Monday that it would reinterpret 'sex' in the context of health care anti-discrimination laws to include 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity,' reversing a Trump administration policy that defined 'sex' as gender assigned at birth."
A bill the NC Values Coalition has been pushing in the Senate this year—SB 515 Healthcare Heroes Conscience Protection Act—would give physicians a right to exercise their conscience when certain procedures violate their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs. This would counter the Biden Administration’s executive actions.
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5. ELON NEWS NETWORK: Town of Elon moving on Non-Discrimination Ordinance
"Until January 2021, local governments in North Carolina were prohibited from defining what discrimination is in private employment or public accommodations due to the adoption of House Bill 2 <[link removed]> in 2016 and House Bill 142 <[link removed]> in 2017. HB2, also known as the “bathroom bill,” did not extend protection from discrimination to members of LGBTQIA communities and restricted the use of restrooms and multi-occupant changing facilities in public schools, government buildings and public college campuses, designating the facilities for use by people based on their biological sex, or sex assigned at birth.
The controversial bill was repealed in 2017 and replaced by HB142, but it did not allow local governments to pass their own ordinances until this year. Anti-discrimination ordinances have been adopted by eight towns and municipalities across the state, according to Equality NC, an organization that advocates for LGBTQIA individuals in North Carolina.
Alderman Quinn Ray <[link removed]> brought the anti-discrimination ordinance to the Board’s agenda in April. Ray said an ordinance would add more protection for Elon residents, especially LGBTQIA residents who have limited protection from discrimination under local or state laws."
As Elon NC officials continue moving forward with voting on an anti-religious liberty SOGI expansion to the town's nondiscrimination policy, if you are a resident or would be impacted would you take a minute and use our click-to-contact tool to tell Elon officials to OPPOSE any anti-religious liberty SOGI policies and ordinances? <[link removed]>
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WEEKLY PRAYER: LIBERTY
LORD, you have blessed us with a spiritual liberty that is so wonderful and beyond description, that it can only be understood through experiencing a life-giving relationship with Christ. However, we also recognize that in your grace, you have blessed our country with a political liberty that enables us to openly proclaim the experience of a life lived in the freedom of the Gospel.
LORD, as individuals and as a nation, may we never take the inalienable right of religious freedom for granted. Right now our country has faced a rapid increase in the number of attacks made against this cherished right. We have seen groups across our public arena increase in boldness and frequency their smears against religious liberty. They claim it is bigotry, when we know it is the security of the greatest of all possible loves.
Be with your people and our country as it continues to protect the constitutional right protected by our nation's Founders. Be with legislators and the Supreme Court, as they determine through their actions the protection of this particular and fundamental freedom.
“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)
"For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)
"Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God." (1 Peter 2:16)
Amen
Will you chip in $100, $50, $25, or even $10 to help the NC Values Coalition continue to fight for your rights? You can donate by clicking here. <[link removed]>
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Sincerely,
North Carolina Values Coalition
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NC Values Coalition - 9650 Strickland Rd, Suite 103-226, Raleigh, NC 27615-1902, United States
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