The Rundown: Louisiana Makes Abortion Pills Controlled Substances
Center for Christian Virtue's The Rundown is the most important political and cultural news for Christians in Ohio. Thanks for reading this biweekly newsletter!
What's Happening
Ohio
Anti-Child, Anti-Woman: The Ohio Supreme Court has denied a request from Attorney General Dave Yost to overturn Franklin County Judge Holbrook’s illegal decision issuing a statewide block of the CCV-backed House Bill 68 (the SAFE Act and Save Women's Sports Act). The law, when enacted, will prohibit transgender medical procedures on kids and protects girls from being forced to compete against boys.
Ballot... Fixed? With the Democratic National Convention scheduled to convene after Ohio's deadline to certify a presidential candidate, Secretary of State Frank LaRose notified officials earlier this year that he wouldn't be able to include President Biden on the ballot this fall without a third-party fix. After Speaker Stephens indicated the House wouldn't take up the effort, Governor DeWine issued a call for a special session to vote on legislation that would allow President Biden to appear on Ohio's ballot and protect our elections from foreign financial interests. Though the session began yesterday, the Democratic National Committee finally proposed their own solution to help get President Biden on the ballot.
This Could Backfire: Though Ohioans voted in November to legalize recreational marijuana, employers may still choose to utilize drug tests and zero-tolerance policies, including penalizing employees for using, possessing, or distributing marijuana. The City of Cleveland, however, announced that it would eliminate pre-employment drug tests for some city jobs because "marijuana testing has hindered past hiring efforts," though employees must be free from drugs while working. Contrary to the claims of The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, marijuana use comes with a host of negative consequences that Center for Christian Virtue has covered extensively in previous editions of The Rundown.
US
It's About Time: Louisiana has passed a first-of-its-kind law classifying two chemical-abortion pills as controlled and dangerous substances. While abortion proponents tout the so-called safety of chemical abortion, dangerous side effects are common for both mifepristone and misoprostol.
Man and Woman: A recent study published in the medical science journal Cureus found that individuals who received “gender-affirming surgery” had a 12-fold higher suicide attempt risk than those who did not. One of the study’s authors told The Christian Post that they “looked at associations with outcomes rather than causation in a large propensity matched retrospective study,” assessing more than 90 million adults aged 18 to 60. UnHerd reports another recent study found that 94 percent of the women studied developed pelvic floor dysfunction after starting testosterone for the purpose of "gender transition;" 87 percent struggled with bladder control; 74 percent reported issues with bowel movements, such as constipation or fecal incontinence; and 53 percent reported sexual dysfunction, such as pain during intercourse.
The DEI Disease: Whistleblowers at UCLA, one of the top medical schools in the nation, are naming illegal affirmative action policies–versus admitting based on academic merit–as the reason why up to 50 percent of their students are failing basic medical competency tests.
World
Thailand Walks Back Marijuana: Just two years after the country decriminalized the drug, Thailand's prime minister is looking to re-criminalize marijuana by the end of the year. This follows the promise every major political party made in their 2023 election cycle to roll back marijuana legalization in their 2023 election.
Germany is Troubled: Ralph G. Schoellhammerm, a political commentator and assistant professor of International Relations at Webster Vienna Private University, breaks down some of the disturbing political trends coming out of Germany, including allowing self-determined gender on official registrars, decriminalizing possession of child sexual abuse material, and a new law that may allow the government to punish anyone who disagrees with their policies.
Listen Up
Why We Need Societal Taboos with John Daniel Davidson: John breaks down why a moral society must continue to stigmatize behaviors like pedophilia and child pornography, and how we can prepare to live in and witness to a culture whose Christian foundations are rapidly eroding.
The Deception of DEI with Jonathan Butcher and Rep. Brian Stewart: Jonathan Butcher of The Heritage Foundation and Representative Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) discuss the insidious rise of Critical Race Theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), especially in higher education institutions. Listen in to learn how DEI disguises an underlying greed for power as a worthy social justice cause.
Worldview Development
As a Christian, knowing how to engage in social-political conversations can be hard. Here are our top recommendations this week for developing your worldview to be equipped to tackle today's top issues:
Decarbonization requires depopulation by Jerry Bowyer
According to Paul Fitzpatrick of the think tank 1792 Exchange, the constellation of businesses associated with United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) admits that in order to get to their Net Zero carbon emissions goals, beef consumption must fall by 50 percent and the church in Africa needs to be reeducated on reproductive issues for the purpose of "reducing Africa’s projected population by nearly half a billion people by 2050."Noah Webster and the Power of Words by John Stonestreet and Glenn Sunshine Sometimes, words change the world via new definitions, such as the forced use of masculine and feminine pronouns that are contrary to biological identity. Other times, the world is changed by new words, such as the invention of new pronouns for “nonbinary” people. These are, in fact, attempts to use language as a tool to control thought. Our words can impose ideas. Before complying with the linguistic demands of others, we’d do well to remember these words of Confucius, "When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom."
Legislative Update
Several CCV-backed bills have received recent hearings at the Ohio Statehouse:
SB217 – To Prohibit AI-Generated Child Pornography
Sponsored by Senators Louis W. Blessing III (R-Colerain Township) and Terry Johnson (R-McDermott), SB217 received its second hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would prohibit AI-generated child pornography, making it a felony to create, distribute, buy, or possess any such material. SB217 would also require AI-generated content to have a watermark, and prohibit identity fraud using a replica of a person's likeness or voice. Watch CCV Policy Director David Mahan's proponent testimony.
HB475 – To Prohibit State-Funded Abortion
Sponsored by Representative Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.), HB475 received its first hearing before the House Government Oversight Committee. HB475 would prohibit state funds from being given to any entity that supports, promotes, or provides abortions; require local governments to report abortion-related spending; and withhold government funds from any local government that spends state dollars on abortion, and reallocate that funding to pregnancy resource centers. Watch Rep. Williams' sponsor testimony.SB212 – Protecting Children from Accessing Porn
Sponsored by Senators Stephanie Kunze (R-Dublin) and Bill DeMora (D-Columbus), SB212 received its second hearing before the Senate Financial Institutions and Technology Committee. Similar to the Innocence Act (HB295) in the Ohio House of Representatives, SB212 aims to protect children from the porn industry by requiring Ohioans to provide ID for age verification to access obscene websites. Watch CCV Policy Director David Mahan's proponent testimony.
Take a moment to review where other CCV-backed legislation currently stands in the 135th General Assembly.
Click here to learn how a bill becomes a law in Ohio.
Resources & Opportunities
Vital Signs Ohio Abortion Report
Vital Signs is Center for Christian Virtue’s report on the November 2023 election results, the exit poll, and other key abortion-related statistics in Ohio. This report’s purpose is to provide a sober-minded assessment of the state of Ohio’s culture so that all who are concerned about protecting innocent life can begin rebuilding what has been broken. Go to CCV.org/VitalSigns to access the report online or donate any amount to receive a physical copy of the report.
Don't Miss
Save the Date for the First Annual Essential Summit
Hosted by Center for Christian Virtue, The Essential Summit will take place Thursday, October 3, to Friday, October 4. Join us to hear from speakers like Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, Dr. Ben Carson, Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon, and more. Pre-registration is opening soon–watch your inbox for more details. Not on our list? Join today at CCV.org/Join!
Prayer
Scripture calls us to pray for those in authority and to have confidence that God hears our prayers. Join the CCV team this week in praying for the below intentions.
Our elected officials: Rep. Scott Lipps (R-Franklin), Rep. Beth Liston (D-Dublin), Rep. Brian Lorenz (R-Powell), Rep. Mike Loychik (R-Cortland), Rep. Susan Manchester (R-Lakeview), Rep. Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville), Sen. Nathan Manning (R-N. Ridgeville), and Rep. Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon).
Continue to pray for the churches that are planting schools this fall. Finding qualified teachers and continuing enrollment are critical steps during this time.
Praise the Lord for His provision in the continued growth our first two school plants are experiencing in enrollment!
As a number of mission-critical bills are moving through the legislature, continue to pray for our policy team to be filled with the fruits of the Holy Spirit with all wisdom and courage, and to lean on the Lord for guidance and strategy.
As Ohio’s largest Christian public policy organization, Center for Christian Virtue seeks the good of our neighbors by advocating for public policy that reflects the truth of the Gospel.
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