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Virginia?

by | Jul 21, 2020 | Five Minutes for Families

Elections matter. One only has to look to the state of Virginia to see what happens when a state “flips” from pro-life, pro-religious freedom, and generally conservative to being the opposite.

That’s what happened in the 2019 Virginia state legislative elections.

On July 1, the following laws became effective in Virginia:

  • Pro-life laws repealed. Virginia has no health and safety standards for abortion facilities, no informed consent requirements prior to an abortion, no ultrasound requirement, and no waiting period. Nurse midwives and nurse practitioners may perform abortions. Women will be harmed by these changes.
  • Religious freedom targeted. Virginia law includes “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as specially protected groups in almost every part of state law. The law does not include meaningful exemptions for religious schools, nonprofit ministries, and even churches. 
  • Mandated health insurance coverage. Most employers are required to pay for “transgender” health related treatments in their health plans, including “gender reassignment surgeries.” The law has no exemption for religious organizations.
  • Licensed Counselors regulated. Licensed health professionals like counselors, psychologists, and pediatricians that provide talk therapy to children to overcome unwanted sexual desires, risk losing their licenses. Parents and the children themselves have no right to seek this type of counseling. Yet those same professionals can help children undergoing “gender transition” or exploring sexual desires.
  • Mandated education policies. Policies developed by the state Department of Education on the treatment of transgender students will be mandated for every public school. These policies will cover dress codes, sex-specific school activities, pronoun use, and locker room use.

Then other new laws increase taxes on gas and other energy sources and gambling measures to make Virginia the next Atlantic City.

That’s a lot of change in one year.

Then, consider the bills carried over and expected to pass in 2021:

  • Putting abortion rights in the state constitution.
  • Repealing the state’s school choice program
  • Repealing parental consent requirements for abortion
  • Forcing religious adoption and foster care agencies to place children in homes with two dads or two mommies against the agencies’ religious beliefs.
  • Legalizing physician-assisted suicide.

These Virginia laws and proposed bills? They’ve all been filed as bills in the Arizona Legislature.

None have passed. Few, if any, have even received a committee hearing.

That’s because you, the voters of Arizona, have voted for a pro-life, pro-family, pro-religious freedom state legislature.

Yet, the 2019-2020 margin on many of these bills is 15-15 in the state senate and 31-29 in the state house. On school choice, the state house is 30-30.

To keep Arizona from being the next Virginia, we need you to stand with us as follows:

  • Check out CAP Action endorsements at azaction.org.
  • Vote pro-life and pro-freedom in the August 4 Primary Election.
  • Encourage your friends and family to vote pro-life and pro-freedom.
  • Don’t overlook praying for these elections.

And, finally, it takes funding to advocate for the pro-life, pro-freedom candidates. This week, we’ve witnessed leftist groups spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect moderate to liberal candidates, starting with the August 4 Primary Election.

Funding for Center for Arizona Policy Action is separate from CAP Action’s work to elect candidates sharing your views. Even though donations to CAP Action are not tax-deductible, I hope you will consider a gift today.

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