by Chuck Weber
There are some signs of hope within the frequently surreal debates unfolding at the Kansas Statehouse.
The safety of confused and conflicted children, authentic care for women experiencing unplanned pregnancies and other hot-button issues are colliding at this intersection of culture and public policy.
Human collateral damage, seen and unseen, is everywhere.
A compliant secular news media, largely abdicating their solemn responsibility as unbiased reporters of fact, contribute to the problem. Reporters and editors have seamlessly adopted the favored language of the LGBTQ+ lobby used to help justify dangerous procedures and treatments.
Puberty blockers, the surgical removal of young boys’ genitals and the amputation of young girls’ breasts is unquestionably declared “gender-affirming care” by the press. It’s all happening at an alarming rate.
A whistleblower from Missouri recently destroyed the news media/LGBTQ+ narrative with testimony about deceptive sex-change practices being performed on children.
Jamie Reed is an avowed supporter of “trans rights,” who once worked at a pediatric transgender center. Reed thought she could help provide care for children in need. She was wrong.
“Instead, I witnessed the center cause permanent harm to many of the patients,” said Reed in testimony before the Kansas House Health and Human Services Committee. “During my time at the center, I personally witnessed center health care providers lie to the public and to parents of patients about the treatment, or lack of treatment, and the effects of treatment provided to children.”
Many legislators were reduced to stunned silence, unable to comprehend what they were hearing.
On another front, attacks against Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) are escalating. Remarkably, PRC volunteers assisting women with unplanned pregnancies are accused of harming mothers. Their offense? Not offering abortion as a final solution to the “problem” of a preborn child.
This is the diabolical groupthink of certain Kansas legislators and their allies in the predatory abortion industry. Life-saving alternative choices to abortion are mocked because they do not include “full-scope reproductive health care.” In other words, the emotionally vulnerable must be led to abortion, as if they didn’t know that option existed.
Tragically, Kansas abortion rates have more than tripled over the past five years with no signs of slowing. Legislators heard about a peer-reviewed national study revealing that nearly 70% of abortions were coerced, unwanted or inconsistent with the woman’s preferences.
Amid the cultural chaos, many Kansas legislators are pressing forward with policies to protect and support children, families and mothers in unplanned pregnancies. As the public policy voice of the Kansas Catholic bishops, we also advocate for these policies that need and deserve your prayerful support. Please join us as we persevere.
Mr. Weber’s statement that a peer-reviewed statement revealed that nearly 70% of abortions were “coerced, unwanted or inconsistent with the woman’s preferences” is misleading at best. Tessa Longbons Cox testified to the Kansas House and Federal Affairs Committee that, according to the study she coauthored revealed that “over 60% of the women who had abortions recalled feeling pressured to choose abortion by finance, by finances, circumstances, or other people in their lives. The bills before the House and Senate will have no effect on women’s finances or circumstances.
Oops! Remove the second “by finances” and insert a quotation mark after “their lives.”