Jan. 17, 2014 | Issue 1
Greetings!
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Pro-Life Victory
Abortion rights groups concede that they have neither the money nor the time to repeal the recently passed citizens' initiative which requires separate riders for abortion insurance coverage. The Detroit Free Press interviewed spokespersons from Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, two vocal opponents of the pro-life initiative. Both groups said they will be focusing their resources on the November election and a broader "women's issues agenda." Right to Life and coalition partners gathered 315,000 signatures, whereas opponents would have been required to gather only half that number to place the measure on the statewide ballot.
To read the Detroit Free Press article, click here.
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New Research Shows Abortion,
Breast Cancer Link
While new research linking abortion and breast cancer is hardly a victory in and of itself, publication of that news is a victory. A recent study from China, a nation deeply committed to abortion, shows a significant increased risk of breast cancer for women who obtain an induced abortion. Not surprisingly, critics say the new study is flawed and unreliable because much of it is built on participants' self-disclosed histories. Specifically, women who developed breast cancer were asked whether or not they had ever had an abortion. While memory recall is suspect in some circumstances, it is absurd to claim that women would not be able to accurately recall whether or not they had ever obtained an abortion.
To read a National Review interview on the research, click here.
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Fighting Income Inequality
President Obama's latest endeavor is tackling the issue of income inequality. If he's serious about changing the poverty rates of families, he needs to consider how marriages can be strengthened and the number of out-of-wedlock births reduced. While there is little the federal government can legitimately do in this area, he can at least examine whether or not the government is undermining marriage and fostering out-of-wedlock births through existing programs. It is a well established fact that single-headed households experience poverty at a far higher rate than married households. In Michigan, Census data shows that only 14% of births among married women fall below the poverty line whereas 58% of children born to unmarried women fall below the poverty line. The Census also shows that median income for married couple families exceeds $71,000 while the median income of female-headed households is only $27,000.
To read a Wall Street Journal article on the issue, click here. To read a Washington Post article on the issue, click here.
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Federal Court Strikes
Oklahoma Marriage Law
In what is becoming a familiar pattern, another federal court has discovered that what has historically and universally been called marriage, is discriminatory. The judge said Oklahoma's constitutional definition of one man and one woman violated the equal protection of same-sex couples. The ruling is "stayed" which will allow an appeal without same-sex marriage licenses being issued. A separate federal court recently overturned Utah's marriage law and allowed 1,300 same-sex couples to marry before the US Supreme Court stepped in and halted the rush to the altar. Utah issued a statement that they would not recognize the same-sex marriages that took place, while US Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would recognize the marriages. Holder's decision seems to be directly contrary to what the US Supreme Court said when they struck part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act but left intact the portion that allowed states to define marriage. |
