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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. WEBMD: Judge rules NC
health plan must cover transgender treatments
“The state health plan provides medical coverage for nearly
750,000 teachers, state employees, retirees, and their dependents, the
AP reported. Lambda Legal and the Transgender Legal Defense &
Education Fund filed the lawsuit, Kadel v. Folwell, in 2019 on behalf
of several current and former state employees and their dependents.
State Treasurer Dale Folwell, whose office oversees the state health plan, took office in early 2017 and canceled the coverage. The lawsuit sued Folwell, along with the health plan, its top executive, and other government entities. Folwell’s office is still reviewing the ruling, the AP reported, and Folwell said the board of trustees has had the ability to set benefits for decades. He also told the AP that he had hoped the judge would ‘trust the people of North Carolina to have a jury trial on whether taxpayers should be paying for sexual transition operations.’” The State Treasurer has defended the public purse by taking a principled stand against requiring the State Health Plan to pay for transgender transitions like hormone therapy and life-altering surgeries, and NC Values Coalition commends him for his actions and thanks him for defending our state from such attacks.
  2. NC VALUES: Ask your NC Representative to support the Parents’ Bill of Rights.If you have a minute, could you use
our easy click-to-contact tool to send an email to your NC House
member in support of parental rights? Just because a parent sends
their child to public school doesn’t mean they lose their fundamental
right to know and have a say in what their child is being taught.
 3. NC VALUES: 📈 Abortion Rates Rise Nationwide Ahead of Historic Supreme Court Decision on Roe vs. WadeAccording
to new statistics released Wednesday by the Guttmacher Institute,
abortions rose 8% nationwide, the first significant increase since
1990. In 2020, there were 930,160 abortions compared to 2017 when
there were 862,320 abortions in the United States. One in five
pregnancies resulted in an abortion in 2020, a 12% increase from 2017.
This is an alarming development as abortion rates had been decreasing
consistently since 1990.
4. CAROLINA JOURNAL: Parents’ Bill of Rights may be shelved with no clear-cut route to override a likely veto“The Parents’ Bill of Rights bill already passed by the North Carolina Senate may not come to the North Carolina House floor for a vote before the end of the short session House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said after Wednesday’s House session. While nothing is set in stone, Moore said there likely aren’t enough votes to make H.B.755 into law, with at least three votes needed from House Democrats to override a likely veto from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.”
5. NEWS & OBSERVER: Wake’s school board will be up for grabs this year. Majority won’t seek re-election.“The Wake County school board will see major turnover this
year, as a majority of its members don’t plan to seek re-election to
lead North Carolina’s largest school system. Four of the nine school
board members say they won’t run for another term and a fifth member
says it’s unlikely she’ll seek re-election. This fall’s election could
decide whether Wake continues to have a left-leaning school board
majority or shifts to a more conservative direction.”
 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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