1. WUNC: NC governor signs executive order protecting abortion access

“Standing with several state legislative candidates, Cooper warned the midterm elections will be crucial in preserving abortion access, as his veto power could be nullified by a Republican supermajority. Republicans are currently three seats shy of a supermajority in the House and two seats shy in the Senate.

‘People throughout the Southeast rely on North Carolina as an access point,’ Johnson said. ‘Without Gov. Cooper's help, without his veto, access for people in North Carolina and South Carolina, Tennessee and the entire region would be devastated.’

North Carolina Values Coalition Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald, who opposes abortion, called the executive order an ‘election year stunt, contrived to scare women.’ She pointed out that state abortion laws have not changed since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade on June 24.”

You can read our press release here.

2. FOX NEWS: Woke liberals push to replace ‘mother’ with ‘birthing parent’ to appease transgender community

“The Biden administration, congressional Democrats and liberal groups across the country have repeatedly ditched the word "mother" from their vocabulary in order to appease the transgender community, which reportedly accounts for 1.6% of U.S. adults.

The National Education Association, the country’s largest labor union, recently proposed a resolution that would change the word "mother" in contracts to "birthing parent" for the purpose of being inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community.”

“The Biden administration replaced the word ‘mothers’ to ‘birthing people’ in the 2022 fiscal year budget but curiously kept the word ‘maternal,’ which is defined as relating to a mother.

Last month, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer referred to ‘menstruating people’ instead of women while talking about the state’s efforts to protect abortion rights ahead of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.”

Governor Cooper seems to have read the memos. In his executive order earlier this week, Cooper used the term where he referenced "the health of the pregnant person is in danger."

3. THE PULSE: More lawsuits over state abortion laws are coming, a Duke law professor says

"As court fights over abortion intensify in the states, a Duke law professor predicts more legal battles challenging vague laws. Abortion is legal in North Carolina. House Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement last week that the Republican-led legislature will not take up new abortion laws this session.

Republicans hold majorities in the state House and Senate, but don’t have enough votes on their own to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes. State limits are still on the horizon."

 

4. CAROLINA JOURNAL: More than 40,000 N.C. voters have changed their political party this year

"Data from the N.C. State Board of Elections show that 41,795 N.C. voters have changed their party affiliation since the beginning of 2022. More than half of those, 23,374, are now unaffiliated voters, instead of a Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian.

Republicans are the only N.C. party to gain more voters than they’ve lost so far this year, with nearly 5,000 Democrats becoming Republicans.

Of political parties, Democrats have lost the most voters since January 2022 with nearly 20,000 registered Democrats leaving the party and only 6,253 joining. The data show that of those who left, one quarter (4,999) became Republicans, 14,447 became unaffiliated, and 207 switched to the Libertarian Party.

About 9,830 voters have left Republican affiliation, and 11,341 switched to it. Of the Republican voters who changed their affiliation, most (8,348) became unaffiliated, 1,211 became Democrats, and 271 switched to Libertarian." 

 

5. NEWS & OBSERVER: NC passes 2022 budget, for Gov. Cooper to sign or veto. Here are the highlights.

“It’s now up to Gov. Roy Cooper to decide whether North Carolina’s proposed state budget, whose billions of dollars in spending include some but not all of what Cooper had wanted, should become law.

The budget gained bipartisan support in votes both Thursday and Friday in the N.C. state House of Representatives and Senate. All Republicans at the GOP-led legislature voted for it, as did about half the Democrats. The session then adjourned, although there is a chance the legislature might come back later in the year, particularly after the November elections.”

LORD, 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)