AFA-IN: Latest IN Court Move, Democrat Doomsday? – American Family Association of Indiana
Legal Battle Over Abortion Continues
Last week Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a motion to throw out the injunction putting our state’s new abortion law on hold. That injunction was granted to the ACLU of Indiana in their attempt to block the law while the case is heard in Owen County. The AG’s motion also seeks to move the case immediately to the Indiana Supreme Court noting that in the end, only that court can settle this matter.
Rokita’s filing states in part: “The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated . . .While the trial court’s preliminary injunction remains in effect, state laws essential for protecting unborn children cannot be enforced. The lives of the unborn will be terminated.”
No court date has been set yet for consideration of this appeal.
For pro-life Hoosiers, this is a very frustrating situation, but one that was to be expected no matter what the legislature passed. In recent years almost every pro-life bill, no matter how significant, has been challenged in court by the abortion industry following our spring legislative sessions. One-way pro-life Hoosiers can help in this is to pray for the judge to rule quickly and to protect human rights in Indiana.
After Six Yearly Increases, A Sad New Record
Sexually transmitted infections (STI) jumped last year after six yearly increases in a row. According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) the rate of syphilis rose by 26%. This was the largest yearly increase in 70 years.
There were 2.5 million infections reported last year. More than 2,600 babies were born with syphilis in 2021, up from 529 in 2000 when the country seemed on the verge of eliminating the condition. Gonorrhea increased 2.8 percent — reaching almost 700,000 infections in 2021. Chlamydia, which had declined in 2020, increased 3 percent last year. HIV increased by 16% in 2021.
News articles on this topic repeat the same excuses that we always read in these stories – more funding is needed, and a lack of education equates to lack of condom use.
Yet, Bill Donahue of the Catholic League noted in his response to this news:
“Is there anyone alive in the Western world who hasn’t heard about the wonders of condoms? Why is it when no one learned about condoms in school, and there was no massive educational campaign —including the free distribution of condoms in cities and on college campuses — that STDs were hardly a problem? Why is it that the more we spend to curtail this problem, the worse it gets?
“In the fiscal year that ended in 2008, the New York City Health Department, under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, gave away 39,070,000 male condoms to community groups. That figure was more than double the rate from the previous fiscal year. The result: syphilis cases increased by 20 percent. What lesson did they draw from this? They said they would hand out 51.6 million condoms the next year.”
Donahue has a good point that no one can deny. As America’s moral values and sexual restraints have faded away, sexually transmitted diseases have increased. Add to this the fact that the LGBT community is at a dramatically higher risk for STI’s and that lifestyle is regularly promoted as vogue in our schools and culture, the likelihood of these numbers declining anytime soon seems remote.
Will the November Elections be a National Referendum?
Election Day, November 8, is just 40 days away. In our daily lives, this is not that long, but it can be a long time for candidates. Many things can still change for them before the election. For that reason, polls now may not yet predict how voters will feel in a month.
However, a new poll from Rasmussen Reports may not bode well for Democrats if voters connect the fact that it is that party alone that has controlled both chambers of congress, the executive branch, and all its many agencies, for the past two years.
In every fall election, good candidates should have their party base. This means elections often swing with the middle ground. If that happens again, many Democrats could be in deep trouble. The new poll finds that the top five issues among independent voters are not the ones the White House wants (abortion, global warming, the Capitol riot, etc.)
The top five issues of concern to independents are:
1) Energy Policy
2) Violent Crime
3) High Gas Prices
4) Inflation
5) The Economy
One analysis of current trends concludes that if these remain the top concerns among voters, many Democrat-held congressional districts that Joe Biden won by 10 points two years ago could be up for grabs on Election Day.
This means that the 1st Congressional District in northwest Indiana held by freshman Congressman Frank Mrvan could be lost to Republican challenger Jennifer Ruth Greene. If this were to happen, 8 of our 9 congressional districts would be held by Republicans. (This assumes a win by Indianapolis Congressman Andre Carson who has a strong opponent in Angela Grabovsky.)
Perfected and Cured
On Monday, former Fort Wayne Congressman Mark Souder was greeted by his Savior in Heaven when lost his heroic battle with pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, many people who didn’t know Mark well, or disagreed with his political views, may only point to the reason he left office. Yet, that would be a disservice to a great mind and good man who loved the Lord.
I was privileged to work with Mark many times and I liked him a lot. Mark was a total policy wonk, and he knew it. He could wear you out talking issues with his vast knowledge and political experience. But such a trait was also very helpful to me as a young political activist when I worked for the Indiana Family Institute in the 1990s. There were many like me whom Mark impacted who are political leaders today in their own right.
Please keep Mark’s family in your prayers this week as they grieve and make funeral preparations.
In Their Own Words:
“What they don’t tell us when they propose all these benefits that they are going to give you from our government, [is] that a government big enough to give us everything we want is a government big enough to take from us everything we have.” – President Gerald Ford, October 16, 1974
