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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. NC VALUES: 2021 Crossover update on pro-values billsThis 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 have been 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.
 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."
 
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." 
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.
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 in 2016 and House Bill 142 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 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."
 WEEKLY PRAYER: LIBERTYLORD, 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)
Sincerely, North Carolina Values Coalition
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