Dear Friends:
In case you missed it, our core issues at Kansas Family Voice of New Mexico have been in the news locally and nationally.
Life – Planned Parenthood to lose $60 million under President Trumps “Protect Life Rule”
Following a ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Trump Administration’s “Protect Life Rule” could go into effect, Planned Parenthood announced its withdrawal from the Title X family planning program. The new rule removes a loophole in federal law that previously allowed abortion providers like Planned Parenthood to promote, perform, and refer women for abortions as a method of family planning.
Family – “Marijuana brownies, gummies, and chocolates ending up in toddlers’ hands”
Amid the local debate on whether New Mexico should become the next state to legalize recreational marijuana, troubling statistics and stories continue to pour in from other states. Recently, the Boston Globe reported that state health care officials in Massachusetts are seeing a troubling trend—“a sharp increase in calls to the state’s poison control center about toddlers getting into marijuana products — usually brownies, chocolate bars, or gummies — and ending up in the emergency room.” According to the report, in the first 7 months following the opening of recreational pot shops, phone calls to Poison Control and Prevention reporting ingestion of marijuana by children 5 and under nearly tripled from the previous year.
Religious Freedom – Christian t-shirt maker case headed to the Kentucky Supreme Court
In 2012, Blaine Adamson, a Kentucky t-shirt maker, respectfully declined to make shirts for a gay pride event based on his deeply help religious beliefs. Instead, Blaine found a competitor willing to do the job for the same price he would have charged. The local LGBT activist organization subsequently refused his offer and filed a discrimination complaint. Lower courts twice ruled in Blaine’s favor before the case was appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court. Some legal experts predict that the Court’s ruling in this case could impact anti-religious freedom ordinances nationwide.
In closing, I want to thank those of you who sent in gifts last week! As I shared, we needed roughly $12,000 to meet our fiscal-year fundraising target, and we received another $3,000 over the past week.
This means we are just $9,000 short of our goal with a little more than a month to go! If you have not yet contributed, can you help us reach this goal with a generous gift today?
Thank you for your support!
Vince Torres
President and Executive Director