On Thursday, April 16, at 9:00 am, the Utah Legislature will have a special session to consider multiple bills dealing with issues from the Coronavirus such as government operations, allocation of taxes, elections, worker’s compensation, right to try investigational drugs, unemployment benefits and emergency operations during the pandemic and to establish procedures for future emergencies. So far, they have posted 10 bills and 2 resolutions that they will be considering. They could post more. It is important that we all call our representatives and legislative leadership and let them know how important it is to get people back to work.
If we don’t do something very soon, we could have conditions similar to the “Great Depression” of the 1930s. Most everyone who lived during that time is gone, but we had parents and grandparent who told us the stories about the unbelievably high unemployment, individuals and families standing in long soup lines just to get something to eat, losing all they owned including their homes and, of course, there were those who actually committed suicide because they lost everything, had no means of support, and little hope. They couldn’t pay their employees or their own obligations. Our generation talks about the 2008-2009 “Great Recession”. That is not what I am talking about. We all survived that with very few consequences or discomfort. We are experiencing for the first time in our lives, a pandemic, and because of that our life has changed. For the first time in our lives we are not able to move around freely from place to place. We are being told that we cannot get in our car and drive to the:
I am not suggesting that we should throw caution to the wind and go and do all these things, but when so many businesses are being forced to close by government order, they may be crossing the line between the common good and restricting liberty. I understand that in times of crisis, government can overreact in an effort to protect the public, but legislators must always protect our personal liberties first, and we must remember that with liberty comes responsibility. It is not the proper role of government to force businesses to close, but we must be responsible in the personal choices we make. We must protect ourselves and our families, as well as others who we could expose. Those who are high risk themselves or to others should stay home. Click here to read our statement on faith and liberty during the CONVID-19 Crisis. It is very important that you contact you legislators today, as well as legislative leadership. We are the ones to steer the direction of government. That is how a republic works, from the bottom up. We elect them to represent us. Let your voice be heard for the preservation of liberty. Now is the time to stand up and act. Ask your legislators to find the best way to start to open businesses and send people back to work while continuing to practice appropriate social distancing. You can read the bills at: https://le.utah.gov/DynaBill/BillList?session=2020S3 Find, email and text your legislators at: https://www.utaheagleforum.org/contact-your-legislator.html#/ Contact information for House and Senate Leadership: Speaker of the House: Brad Wilson Republican, District 15, 801-425-1028, bradwilson@le.utah.gov President of the State Senate: Stuart Adams Republican, District 22 801-593-1776, jsadams@le.utah.gov Gayle Ruzicka Utah Eagle Forum ![]() On Tuesday, March 31, Equality Utah sent an email that included the following misinformation: “Today is International Transgender Day of Visibility. And being visible literally saves lives. This year, a wave of anti-transgender bills swept across the country. Sadly, the Idaho governor just signed two anti-transgender bills into law. Here in Utah, the Eagle Forum worked aggressively to push legislation to criminalize transition related healthcare for transgender children. They recruited Representative Brad Daw to carry out their harmful legislation. Thankfully, when Rep. Daw met with transgender children and their parents and doctors, he just couldn’t do it. He listened with an open heart and refused to advance the Eagle Forum’s cruel medical ban. We are grateful to the courageous advocates who are working to change hearts and minds on Capitol Hill.” Equality Utah referred to “healthcare for transgender children.” It is incomprehensible to call experimental medical procedures, that hurt and permanently damage children, “healthcare.” These are unproven treatments that use children as guinea pigs. It is important to know that many organizations including Empowered Families, a coalition of 30 pro-family organizations, along with the Berean Baptist Church and The Compassion Coalition, and Utah Eagle Forum all joined together on this critically important legislation, and worked very hard during the Legislative session to protect children dealing with gender dysphoria (discomfort with one’s biological sex). These experimental treatments are currently legal in Utah and are seriously harming our children, including:
These misguided, draconian therapies and procedures can hardly be called Healthcare. Rather, they are radical, irreversible and dangerous experiments on children, without any credible medical or scientific validation. Introducing opposite sex hormones, and surgically removing and crudely reconstructing sexual body parts, cannot change a human male into a female and a human female into a male. It may tragically succeed in making one look something like the other, but these children and/or adults will always remain the biological sex they were assigned by God. The truth is, the rates of non-persistence (those who change their mind and are comfortable with their biological sex) are EXTREMELY HIGH. According to the DSM-5, females who identify during childhood as male, the rate of non-persistence can be as high as 88%. For males identifying as females, the rate of non-persistence is as high as 97.8%. There are many other studies with similar results. This shows that the vast majority of children resolve and identify as their biological sex by adulthood. Dr. Michelle Cretella M.D., executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, has said, “Puberty is not a disease. It is a critical window of development that is permanently disrupted by puberty blockers because time machines do not exist. When normal puberty is artificially arrested, valuable time that should be spent in normal development is forever stolen from these children. This time period, during which highly significant and irreplaceable advances in bone, brain, sexual and psycho-social development occur, is time that can never be given back.” Dr. Cretella went on to say, “the medical establishment is “affirming” a population of emotionally troubled and neurologically diverse youth onto a pathway of chemical and surgical sterilization and other life-long risks. This is eugenics not healthcare. Minors and their parents are being led astray by a few in the medical establishment and greater cultural movement driven by an evil ideology and financial greed, not science and the Hippocratic Oath. The suppression of normal puberty, sterilization, and the surgical mutilation of children constitutes atrocities and crimes against humanity, not healthcare.” According to the Controlled Substance Database of Utah, the number of female to male transgender minors in Utah going through medical transition in 2019 was 553. That was just the girls, we don’t have the numbers yet for the boys (male to female), but we can assume that it is significant. That would mean that presently approximately 1000 children are being medically “treated” with this experimental treatment. That is a 10000% increase over the last 5 years. A thousand children being used as guinea pigs. A thousand children whose bodies are being mutilated. A thousand children who are being sterilized. And Equality Utah calls this “Healthcare for transgender children.” Appalling. It is time that the Legislature and the people of Utah do something about this. Please talk to all of the candidates currently running for public office, especially those running for governor or the legislature, about this horrible practice. The legislators are the only ones who can pass a law making it illegal for doctors to give these experimental drugs and medical procedures to children. The governor will then need to sign the bill. That is why we need a commitment from all of them to stop these procedures now. Our vulnerable children and their futures are at stake. Learn more. Download Please contact Governor Herbert and ask him to sign HB 332, a bill that creates Special Needs Tax Credit Scholarships. This parental choice bill provides additional options to families with special needs students.
Contact the governor's office: You can call directly: 801-538-1000 You can use this online form to send a message/email the Governors Office: https://servicecloudtrial-155c0807bf-158b6dc6793.force.com/governor/s/comments Some FAQs about HB332:
What is the revenue source for this new scholarship? This new special needs scholarship will be funded using income tax credits, therefore avoiding taking funds directly out of the education fund. What is a tax credit scholarship? Tax credit scholarships are funded by corporate and individual taxpayers who divert all or a portion of their state income taxes to non-profit organizations who then, in turn, provide scholarships to students in need. Is this tax credit scholarship capped and if so, how will it grow? This new special needs scholarship caps how much each taxpayer could give at $1 million and caps the overall program at $6 million. Built into the program is a growth mechanism that allows that overall cap to increase each year there is sufficient demand for the scholarship program. If a 90% threshold of donations is reached in relation to the cap, then the cap itself will increase 10% next year. Would this program just be for private school tuition? No, this new special needs scholarship would operate as a Flexible Education Spending Account. You, the parent would be able to spend the money on a variety of educational products and services that would best benefit your child. Who would be eligible for this scholarship? The same conditions that currently allow a student to qualify for an IEP (Individual Education Plan) are used to determine who would be eligible as outlined by federal law. What are some examples of what products and services the scholarship could be used for? The following isn’t an exhaustive list: tutoring, online classes and/or curriculum, private school tuition, educational therapy, mentoring, textbooks, specialized software, and equipment. What would the amount of the scholarship be? Students exiting the public school system would be eligible for scholarships up to around $7,000 (2 WPUs). Students that are already in a private school or homeschooled would be eligible for scholarships up to around $3,500 (1 WPU). These caps would automatically increase year to year. Who would oversee these non-profit organizations that would grant the scholarships? The State Board of Education and State Tax Commission would oversee the scholarship granting organizations How would families actually be able to use these funds?In other states that use these kinds of funding models, there are three primary ways funds are dispersed: debit card, a third-party “marketplace” app, and traditional physical checks. Read HB 332: le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/static/HB0332.html We Must Have Faith not Fear - WE MUST PROTECT OUR GOD GIVEN CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED LIBERTY3/26/2020 ![]() Overnight our world has changed! The threat is real. The fear of the Coronavirus Pandemic has caused the government, in many cases, to unjustifiably force us to conform to unreasonable mandates and infringe on our God given, constitutionally protected Liberty. Force creates fear, non-productive behavior, and economic chaos. This is not the time for fear, but for clear-headed thought through faith in God, our spiritual leaders, rational government leadership at all levels, and our capacity to unite and work together. The State of Utah is doing a good job keeping the people informed so they can make wise choices and govern themselves. This is working and most Utahns are trying to do whatever is necessary to be safe. Anne Schlafly Cori, Chairman of National Eagle Forum and daughter of founder, Phyllis Schlafly, wisely said, “In previous pandemics, the sick were isolated. In this pandemic, every single person is isolated.” Stay-at-home orders are already a fact in 42 states. Utah Eagle Forum believes that our personal Liberty is the most important thing to protect, and we all need to recognize that with Liberty comes responsibility. It is not the proper role of government to force private businesses to close. This will force small business owners, the foundation of our economy, to lose their businesses, employees to be out of work, causing lives to be ruined and families put at risk because there is no income for food, rent, and the necessities of life. There are no financial reserves to carry them through this crisis. When the pandemic is defeated, large and small businesses and their employees will have to live with the reality of the financial dilemma forced on them by government, and the general conversation will be focused mostly on the economic catastrophe and its ongoing fallout. Families will mourn the loss of their loved ones. Faith in government will be further eroded. Government does have a proper role in any situation of this nature, and its role should be to facilitate and provide every resource necessary to prevent contamination from the Coronavirus as well as developing and distributing all possible solutions and materials for those who ultimately contract the disease. We further believe government has a vital role and responsibility to disseminate, without spin or agenda, the most current, accurate and relevant information regarding threat status and local conditions. Government also has the authority to close the public schools or any other government offices or agencies. In order to promote consistency and continuity, guidelines for the public and the private business sector on how to protect themselves and each other are also an appropriate and needed government responsibility. These defensive measures are appropriate for the common good. Utah Eagle Forum does not believe that applying force in our current situation, individually or collectively, is appropriate within the scope of the proper role of government, or necessary in promoting the common good. The only exception may be in a specific situation to protect individual lives in imminent danger. We have seen the result of government forcing closures or shut-downs in the private sector. They are devastating and economically catastrophic individually and collectively. This is “shotgun” government mandating, producing no measurable results. Under no logical or rational definition can this be seen as working for the common good. We believe the same result would be achieved voluntarily by virtue of realistic individual and corporate responsibility and self-interest. That is the virtue and reality of a free society and the free market. My husband Don and I have made the decision to stay in our home isolated from family and friends to protect ourselves. We are in the age category of high risk and Don had major heart surgery recently. We did not need the government to force us into quarantine. We also believe most Americans will make wise choices without government coercion. We have already seen this happen as churches and private schools have made the choice to close their doors without government mandates. Utah Eagle Forum believes that individuals and businesses, given the truth about their situations will do the right thing. Blame is easy but counter-productive, and at this point, irrelevant. We also believe that our governments, federal and state, along with their agencies need to restore fundamental liberties to the people and to the private sector in order to begin to restore the faith they expect of us in them. Now is the time for all to Stand Up For Liberty. Contact all elected officials, federal, state, counties and cities and let them know that it is not the proper role of government to unnecessarily force closure of private businesses or criminalize peaceful gatherings over an arbitrary limit, or to force citizens into quarantine unless they have tested positive for the virus. Also send this message to all your friends and family. Talk about it on all Social Media. Urgency and panic have prompted acceptance and we cannot, must not accept any unwarranted infringement on our Liberties. The message must be Protecting Liberty and the Proper Role of Government. Do not get into the “weeds” or most people will not listen. God has said, “Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land and unto all the inhabitants.” And that is what we must do. May God bless us, and may God bless America. Gayle Ruzicka, President - Utah Eagle Forum ![]() We need your help. Please just take 20 minutes today and email the members of the House Health and Human Service Committee and ask them to vote to save thousands of unborn babies. Monday morning, March 9, at 8:00 am, Dan McCay's excellent pro life bill, Abortion Prohibition Amendments, SB 174, will be in the their committee. The bill has already passed the Senate with all the Republicans voting yes and the Democrats all voting no. Now we must get the bill through the House and on the way to the Governor's Desk. This can only happen with your help. Senator McCay's bill will prohibit doctors from performing abortions in Utah with only limited exceptions. The bill states: "the intentional termination or attempted termination of a human pregnancy after implantion of a fertilized ovum through a medical procedure carried out by a physician or through a substance used under the direction of a physician;" https://le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/static/sb0174.html SB 174 would go into effect when the Supreme Court votes to overturn Roe v. Wade. Most importantly, it protects babies from all elective abortions, regardless of gestational age. This bill met stiff opposition when it was heard in the Senate and we expect the same opposition in the House Committee. Please show your support and solidarity to stop the atrocity of abortion. Please come to the Capital Monday morning. The meeting will be in the Senate building in room 210. Remember to contact the members of the committee (listed below) today and urge them to vote FOR SB 174. There is only 4 days left of the legislative session and there is a lot to accomplish in a very short time. Only with your help will this bill pass. Thank you for working to save unborn babies. Rep. Brad M. Daw (R), Chair
Republican, District 60, 801-850-3608, bdaw@le.utah.gov, Utah Rep. Kelly B. Miles (R), Vice Chair Republican, District 11, 801-458-8270, kmiles@le.utah.gov, Davis, Weber Rep. Stewart E. Barlow (R) Republican, District 17, 801-289-6699, sbarlow@le.utah.gov, Davis Rep. Steve Eliason (R) Republican, District 45, 801-673-4748 seliason@le.utah.gov, Salt Lake Rep. Marsha Judkins (R) Republican, District 61, 801-669-6962, mjudkins@le.utah.gov, Utah Rep. Candice B. Pierucci (R) Republican, District 52, 385-414-1488 cpierucci@le.utah.gov, Salt Lake Rep. Paul Ray (R) Republican, District 19, 801-440-8765 rayward@le.utah.gov, Davis Rep. Rex P. Shipp (R) Republican, District 72, 435-590-1073 rshipp@le.utah.gov, Iron Rep. Robert M. Spendlove (R) Republican, District 49, 801-560-5394 rspendlove@le.utah.gov, Salt Lake Rep. Norman K. Thurston (R) Republican, District 64, 801-477-5348, normthurston64@gmail.com, Utah Rep. Raymond P. Ward (R) Republican, District 19, 801-440-8765 rayward@le.utah.gov, Davis ![]() Yesterday, March 2nd the Senate passed SB 174 "Abortion Prohibition Amendments” it passed 23 to 6. All the Republicans voted Yes and all the Democrats voted No. This bill, Sponsored by State Senator Dan McCay, will prohibit a doctor from performing an abortion with limited exceptions. The bill states: "the intentional termination or attempted termination of human pregnancy after implantion of a fertilized ovum through a medical procedure carried out by a physician or through a substance used under the direction of a physician;" This legislation will go into effect when Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court and the authority is returned back to Utah and the other States to set their own Abortion laws. When introducing the bill Senator McCay said "I have long felt that Abortion is wrong" he went on to say that is why he is sponsoring this bill. https://le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/static/sb0174.html ![]() Your emails, phone calls and texts to legislature are extremely important and made a huge positive difference in passing this legislation to protect the unborn. SB 174 now moves to the House of Representives for a vote. We need you to contact your State Representative and ask them to vote in favor of the bill (SB174) that will stop elective abortions except in certain circumstances. Here is news on the bills passing: ![]() Here are links to local and national news on the bill passing: https://apnews.com/7b4c43686ed0955f116489cb28e89c0a https://www.deseret.com/utah/2020/2/28/21157622/utah-abortion-ultrasound-bill-fuels-heated-debate-in-house-committee ![]() https://www.ksl.com/article/46723581/utah-abortion-prohibition-bill-clears-first-senate-vote https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/abortion-ban-passes-utah-senate-reading-after-debate https://www.newsweek.com/utah-senate-passes-elective-abortion-ban-would-punish-performing-procedure-15-years-prison-1489812 ![]() One of the most important pro-life bills of this legislative session, SB 174 "Abortion Prohibition Amendments" will prohibit a doctor from performing an abortion with limited exceptions. The bill states: "the intentional termination or attempted termination of human pregnancy after implantion of a fertilized ovum through a medical procedure carried out by a physician or through a substance used under the direction of a physician;" https://le.utah.gov/~2020/bills/static/sb0174.html This bill - sponsored by Sen. Dan McCay - would go into effect when Roe v. Wade is overturned. Most importantly, it protects babies from all elective abortions, regardless of gestational age. We need your help! This bill will be met with opposition and resistance and we need to show support and solidarity to stop the atrocity of abortion. Please contact the members of the Utah Senate and urge them to vote FOR SB 174. Many parents in Utah are taking their children to transgender clinics seeking hormone therapy and surgery for their children to change their sex. This is troublesome because sex cannot be changed. Even with extensive hormonal or cosmetic treatment, affecting the outward appearance of individuals, XX and XY chromosomes will always be XX and XY chromosomes. Doctors at Utah clinics, including a clinic at the University of Utah, are administering puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and even body-changing surgeries to children. What are these “gender affirming” therapies and what damage are they inflicting on children? Puberty Blockers: Powerful drugs that will prevent children from experiencing puberty. According to the American College of Pediatricians some of the effects of these body altering drugs include:
Cross-sex Hormones: Giving young girls testosterone who want to become boys and giving young boys estrogen who want to become girls. What are some the side effects of these drugs?
Surgery: Hysterectomy, mastectomy, testicle removal and surgeries that attempt to create male genitalia on females and female genitalia on males which can be non-functional or with limited functionality at best. None of these surgeries are reversible in the sense of regaining full functionality or appearance if these children, or the adults they become, ever change their minds. The doctors are using the children as guinea pigs with untested and unproven drugs. As a result, their bodies are mutilated, and children become sterilized. This terrible practice must be stopped. Right now there are over a HUNDRED children at the GEMS Clinic at the University of Utah receiving these hormone treatments with more children starting the treatment on a regular basis. That means there will be hundreds of sterile and mutilated children by the end of this year. Representative Brad Daw is the sponsor of “Prohibition on Transgender Procedures Upon Minors” and Senator Curt Bramble is the Senate sponsor. This bill would make all of these procedures illegal for children under 18. Powerful people, who are not thinking of the best interest of Utah’s children, are blocking this bill from passing. As we have seen many times before, Utahns can be even more powerful than the politicians when they come together and stand for what is right. We need your help to get this bill to committee and on its way to become the law that will save these children. This is not a parental rights issue. Parents hold the legal right to care for their children and provide them the healthcare they need but they have never been able to allow their children to be used as guinea pigs. There is never a reason to sterilize or cosmetically alter children, which as a result destroys their God-given right to choose to have children in the future. According to long term studies in Sweden, individuals who have received chemical and surgical gender-affirming operations are 19 times more likely to commit suicide. The number of children who change their mind is EXTREMELY HIGH. According to the DSM-5 manual, up to 88% of the girls who identify during childhood as boys and up to 97.8% of the boys who identify as girls change their mind if they do not receive puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgery. Please email all the Utah State Representatives and Senators. Call or email the Governor. Ask them to tell their leadership that they want the opportunity to vote on this bill to save the children. Senate Roster House Roster Please come to the Capitol with us this week to speak with your legislators. It makes a big difference when they know you are there and have a personal interest in the well-being of Utah children. For more information please call Maryann Christensen: 801-860-5419
![]() 1. Vague and poorly written
ERA does not allow any distinction to be made between men and women – even when it makes sense to do so based on their biological differences. As a result, the ERA will harm women AND their unborn children by overturning laws and programs that benefit them. 2. Harmful to unborn children The ERA would be used to overturn all restrictions on abortion (including the partial birth abortion ban, 3rd-trimester abortion ban and parental notice of minors seeking an abortion). 3. The ERA would be used to mandate taxpayer funding of elective Medicaid abortions. In both New Mexico and Connecticut, their state ERAs were used in the courts to overturn restrictions on abortions and mandate taxpayer funding of elective Medicaid abortions with the rationale that since abortion is unique to women, restricting abortions is a form of sex discrimination. ” (N.M. Right to Choose/NARAL v. Johnson, 975 P.2d 841, 1998; and Doe v. Maher, 515 A.2d 134 [Conn Super. Ct. 1986] 4. The ERA would overturn laws and practices that benefit women Workplace laws that provide special accommodations for pregnant women State labor laws and guidelines which benefit women who do heavy, manual work Government programs that support women as mothers such as the Women, Infants, and Children nutritional program (WIC) Social Security benefits for stay-at-home mothers based on their spouse’s income. Justice Ginsberg claims that the current gender neutral benefit language is still a violation of the equality principle because it encourages women to stay out of the workforce, and as such she would overturn the benefit. Exemption of women from the military draft and front-line combat. Currently, women who feel they are physically able can choose to enlist in the military. The ERA, however, would require that all women be drafted and placed on front-line combat in equal ratios to men. Laws and presumptions that support women in the areas of alimony, child support, and requirements of husbands to pay for their dependent wives’ medical bills. The ERA will also wipe out state laws that exempt a wife from having to pay her husband’s debts even if he deserts her with children to support. All other laws that provide preferential treatment for women 5. ERA would impact the privacy and safety of women and girls By removing gender designations for bathrooms, locker rooms, jails and hospital rooms. 6. The ERA will not give women any more rights than they currently have. Women already have claim to equal rights through the 14th Amendment (section 1) as well as numerous other laws in virtually all areas of American life – employment (including equal pay), education, credit eligibility, housing, public accommodations, etc. The US Supreme Court has already applied the 14th Amendment to women’s issues (United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996)). 7. ERA won’t erase the gender wage gap. Women are already guaranteed equal pay through the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963 and can seek remediation through the EEOC. The currently quoted wage gap between men and women is a misunderstood statistic in which the average wages of all full-time working men and women are compared in one lump sum of men to women across all occupations and education levels. This doesn’t allow for an equal pay comparison. When we compare the wages of men and women within the same career, in similar positions, at the same age, the wage gap narrows to 98 cents for women compared to a dollar for men. Even when we compare within career fields, key factors such as years worked, the level of education, and time flexibility of job, etc. are not factored into the comparison (see “An Analysis of the Reasons for the Disparity in Wages Between Men and Women” U.S. Dept. of Labor, 2009). 8. The ERA would also transfer large amounts of legislative power from the states to Congress creating a greater imbalance of power and placing sensitive issues under the less responsive federal government. Section 2 of the ERA requires that Congress be given the power to enact the provisions of the ERA.As a result, states would lose their legislative abilities in regards to family law (marriage, divorce, alimony, custody, adoption, and property), sex crime laws, public and private schools, insurance, prison regulations and any other areas of law impacted by gender. 9. It’s clear that ERA sponsors intended for the ERA to overturn all restrictions on abortion. Efforts to soften the extreme nature of the ERA via amendments were rejected by the supporters of the ERA when the ERA was being drafted in Congress. Courts will look to this legislative history for legislative intent as they interpret the ERA. The sample amendment below that was rejected shows that the supporters intended the applications of the ERA to be extreme and without any protection for women or their unborn children. This amending language for the ERA was rejected by the supporters: “The provisions of this article shall not impair the validity, however, of any laws of the United States or any State which exempt women from compulsory military service, or from service in combat units of the Armed Forces; or extend protections or exemptions for wives, mothers, or widows; or impose upon fathers responsibility for the support of children; or secure privacy to men or women, or boys or girls; or make punishable as crimes rape, seduction, or other sexual offenses” (Cong. Rec., pp. S9538–S9540). 10. The accepted time limit for ratification of Constitutional amendments is 7 years. ERA failed in 1979. Five states voted to rescind their earlier approval of ERA. Any vote for ERA today is null and void and would be an embarrassment to the state. |
AuthorVolunteers of Utah Eagle Forum. Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
|