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:

• Department store,
• Stop and visit friends and family,
• Go to the gym to workout,
• Get a haircut,
• Take our family to a movie,
• Or even go to church,
• Etc, etc, etc.

 
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:

• Puberty blockers:  Children as young as 9 years old, are taken to adolescent transgender clinics where they are given unproven drugs, usually Lupron, to block puberty.

1. There is not a single long-term study to demonstrate that puberty blockers are safe for gender incongruent youth. This means that the claim that puberty blockers are harmless for gender incongruent youth is a lie.
2. There are also many harmful life-long side effects associated with the use of Lupron. These include premature osteoporosis, seizures, anxiety disorders in young women, obesity and testicular cancer in young men, memory problems in men and women, and when prescribed simultaneously with or followed by cross-sex hormones, permanent sterility in both sexes. The fact that the long-term permanent harm caused by these procedures have not been ruled out by the promoters of treatments means that informed consent is not possible for parents or their children.
3. Puberty blockers used on young boys have been reported to cause the development of their genitalia to be arrested.  By their late teens, it was found that their genitalia were equivalent to that of a 9 year-old boy and that they experienced a loss of sexual sensation. This is a permanent condition. 

​

• Cross-sex hormones: Trans-identified youth next take dangerous cross-sex hormones to try to present as the opposite sex. Young girls are given testosterone and young boys are given estrogen.​​ 

1. This puts youth at an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots, cancer and more across their lifespan. And the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows medical intervention fails to reduce suicide.
2. Most gender-distressed teens are girls and boys who are anxious, depressed, traumatized, struggling with ADHD, autism or other mental illnesses, and are uncomfortable with their bodies and struggling with their identity. Several case reports and series show that the vast majority of teens can embrace their bodies through psychological counseling alone.

 

• Surgery: Top and bottom surgeries are being given to adolescents to change their sexual body parts. Girls as young as 12 years old are being subjected to mastectomies. These surgeries can and often do render children permanently sterile.

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.

• This scholarship will help families struggling to find solutions an opportunity to choose the education options that best meet their child’s unique learning needs.
• Utah parents need a solution that is more flexible and most importantly can serve many more special needs students.
• This bill allows parents to use some of the income tax dollars that they are already paying to pursue education opportunities of their choice.
• HB 332 focuses on those students who need it the most.
• HB 332 uses a proven funding model that is used in over 20 other states.
• The end result of these tax credits would actually be a win-win,  increasing per-pupil spending for Utah students, while allowing parents to choose the best options to fit their child's needs.

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 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.

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

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:

• Preventing the development of secondary sex characteristics;
• Arresting and decreasing bone growth;
• Preventing the sex-steroid dependent organization and maturation of the adolescent brain; and
• Inhibiting fertility. 

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?

• Testosterone for girls: their body will redistribute weight, eyes and face will develop a more angular male appearance, a male-sounding voice, facial hair, it will greatly reduce their ability to become pregnant.
• Estrogen for boys: breast development, redistributes their weight, eyes and face develop a more female appearance, body hair will decrease in thickness, they will become permanently and irreversibly sterile. (University of California, San Francisco)
• These drugs can cause heart disease, blood clots, high blood pressure, strokes, etc.

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

• If you come to the Capitol by car, you will find visitor parking behind the Capitol on the EAST SIDE.  There is a lot right next to the Senate Building that fills up very early, another lot directly north, or parking on the street along the east and north sides of the Capitol Complex.
• If you come to the Capitol by public transportation, take Front Runner or Trax to the NORTH TEMPLE STATION and catch the 200 BUS to the Capitol.  It arrives at the Station every 15 minutes. YOU CAN ALSO PARK YOUR CAR AT THE NORTH TEMPLE STATION (500 W 200 N) and catch the bus!
• You will meet up with us at the south end of the Cafeteria in the Senate Building, which is behind the Capitol on the East.  When you come in from the parking lot, look to the far wall to your left!
• Carola (our volunteer coordinator) or Gabriella (our Intern Director) will greet you when you arrive.

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.