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CWA Archives – Concerned Women for America

Wondrous Working Faith

By | Faith Month, LBB, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

I did not expect such a small church to have such a massive impact on me. Yet, the visit was the highlight of my church history studies at Oxford a few summers ago. It was a nondescript building halfway covered by a house right in front to its left side. The uncovered right half featured a driveway (fitting maybe four cars?) that led to the entrance. Frankly, you feel as if you are walking through somebody else’s driveway before you are unexpectedly greeted by what has the appearance of a church only due to its peaked triangular-shaped roof. I was perplexed.

 

Just days before, I had visited the tremendous Metropolitan Tabernacle where Charles Haddon Spurgeon, known as the “Prince of Preachers,” pastored for over 38 years, reaching thousands. Though the original building was burned down, what you visit today was rebuilt along the original perimeter. It seats about 6,000, and it is impressive.

 

But the small church at 12A Artillery St., Colchester, in Essex, the East of England, caught me off guard. There was no big parking lot…

 

Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!

Parental Protection not Paranoia

By | Defense of Family, Education, News and Events | No Comments

The truth will set you free! Vanity Fair reporter Caleb Ecarma in a recent article “How the Right is Turning Political Paranoia into ‘Parents’ Rights’” skews and takes out of context comments made by Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, to the reporter directly and on a panel discussion at CPAC. We want to set the record straight and give everyone the full context of the questions and answers.

Mr. Ecarma: What most concerns you about the current American education system and cultural climate as it pertains to children?  

 

Penny Nance: Our children are falling behind in basic educational skills, especially in math and science.  Fundamentals are being replaced by some teachers and administrators in favor of gender theory, sex education, critical race theory, and Marxist ideology. 

Mr. Ecarma: You and your co-panelists yesterday discussed the lack of humanity and dignity within the schools shaping the next generation of Americans. As a former K-12 homeschooler myself, I’ve been hearing more and more stories from parents looking to raise their children in a similar fashion. Do you think that more conservative parents should consider homeschooling right now, even if just as a stop-gap measure while conservative advocates like yourself work to change schools? 

 

Penny Nance: Parents are desperate for their children to receive a quality education, but they are also appalled to learn that radical ideologues are callously overstepping their authority by undermining parents’ ability to protect their children.  Any adult, even a teacher or school administrator who says, “don’t tell your parents” is not looking after a child’s best interest.  

 

We support what parents want which is educational opportunities tailored to each child’s individual needs.  CWA is very enthusiastic about Education Savings Accounts that have been passed in ten states with more looking at this option for parents to use their tax dollars to choose the school that best fits the needs of their child. 

 

Although homeschooling is a good option for some families, it’s not a possible alternative for others. As a working mom, my children attended private Christian school but it’s expensive and I grieve that it’s out of reach for many other families.  My friend. whose child struggles due to special needs, literally moved in order for her child to attend a public school district that was better able to serve her child. Open enrollment would allow parents to choose from any school in their area.

 

Our point is that families should be able to choose from a range of options: public, private, Jewish Day school, Christian, STEM charter school, home tutors, or homeschooling. No child should be trapped in a substandard school due to their zip code.  My friend, Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, says, “The new redline is the zip codes that trap poor children in failing schools.”  Parents are most able to determine what’s best for their children. The money should follow the child instead of being controlled by government bureaucracies that don’t know that child. When parents are able to choose, eventually the failing schools will either rise to meet the challenge or close and be replaced by better options. 

Mr. Ecarma: On the stage yesterday, you mentioned that the old gods, Baal and Moloch, are being revived in America. Do you believe this is a literal manifestation––that these religions are on the rise again and that people shaping the culture serve them––or something else? 

 

Penny Nance: I was referencing a recent piece written by Naomi Wolf.  I am quite sure the people working to expose small children to graphic, sexually explicit material don’t think they are serving a pagan god or that they are damaging children, but this new culture is a cult or replacement religion where they find acceptance and belonging.

 

Unfortunately, the Christian Church has not been there for them.  As C.S. Lewis said there is a God shaped vacuum in every person, and that vacuum will be filled by something. Tim Keller wrote a book called “Counterfeit Gods” that talks about how as humans we can’t help but replace God with our own version: money, fame, power, sex, drugs, alcohol.  

 

But for some it is less obvious. I believe that “gender warriors” have found their new religion, but it’s not new; it’s actually old. Gnosticism, which was fought by the early Christians, believed that the body and spirit were completely separate. Christianity says that you are to worship God, body, mind, and spirit (I Corinthians 6:19-20).  Add to the mix that shockingly Satanism, although rare, is becoming more openly practiced. Satanists insist abortion is part of worship. The Old Testament Canaanites sacrificed their children to Baal.  How is this different?  Purposefully grooming a child, breaking down their innate sense of modesty and working to introduce confusion and chaos into their little minds is abusive. The smug community of educators who feel powerful by pulling one over on parents serve darkness whether they know it or not.  

Mr. Ecarma: It is often said that the Reagan revolution began at PTA meetings and school boards. Do you believe a similar nationwide movement is taking place right now? And can you detail some of the work you’re doing to change what is being taught in American schools? 

 

Penny Nance: The new freedom revolution began during Covid lockdowns at kitchen tables as parents witnessed both the lack of basic education being taught and in its place, children being served up gender ideology, critical race theory, and Marxist philosophy. Maybe some parents are okay with teachers suggesting that their elementary school child should consider with which of 72 genders they identify and conspiring to keep parents in the dark.  Those parents are welcome to keep the status quo.  But most parents want the ability to choose wisely for their children whom they love more than life itself.  We are urging moms to be aware of what is being taught to their children, women to run for school board, and most importantly, to speak up and advocate for educational freedom.  We are working in every state to break the education monopoly by passing laws that create the ability for the money to follow the child. 

Mr. Ecarma: If a Republican candidate wins the next presidential election, what would you like to see them change in regard to schools and parental rights once they are in power?

 

Penny Nance: Education is primarily a state and local issue, but to the extent that the federal government is involved, it needs to return jurisdiction of the schools to parents and incentivize schools to better accomplish their mission. I speak to teachers regularly who are deeply dissatisfied with the status quo. Educational reform is to the benefit of hardworking teachers as well as families.  

This April, Celebrate Faith—We Need It

By | LBB, Legal, News and Events, Religious Liberty | No Comments

“You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with you.” So started the “Order of the Day” from the “Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force” on June 6, 1944. With a stroke of the pen, General Dwight D. Eisenhower sent the most extraordinary collection of brave young soldiers, sailors, and airmen to execute the famous D-Day operation. It is a day we continue to remember with great honor for the sacrifice that gave the world victory over the Nazis. The order is preserved at the Eisenhower Library as a cherished and important document for our nation.

 

But if today’s woke forces have their way, we better get the shredder out. You see, the letter not only mentioned prayers, as already noted, but General Eisenhower had the audacity (the cultural insensitivity, really, according to today’s woke mob) to “beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

 

Who does he think he is? What about those who do not share his values? He must be canceled. Erase this letter from history, lest someone, somewhere, see it and is triggered into deep anxiety and depression by its insensitive references to God.

 

Maybe we can put Vice Admiral Joanna Nunan, Superintendent of the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), on the case. The esteemed academy recently confronted a similarly emotionally triggering event under her watch and dealt with it swiftly…

 

Click here to read the rest of Mario’s exclusive Substack column. And be sure to subscribe below to never miss one of his posts again!

YWA Rutherford County Hosts Pro-Life Event

By | News and Events, Sanctity of Life, YWA | No Comments

YWA Rutherford County Hosts Pro-Life Event

On Monday, March 6, our Young Women for America (YWA) Rutherford County, Tennessee, chapter president Hannah Faulkner hosted a Culture of Life Banquet to highlight pro-life organizations, hear from pro-life speaker Victoria Robinson, and participate in a special offering for Portico, a local pregnancy center. More than seventy-five people, of all ages, were in attendance.

 

Nicole Herschberger from Turning Point USA Faith, Joshua Rosales with Latinos for Tennessee, and Tammy Burrow with Portico all shared ways to get involved locally with the pro-life movement. 

 

At this event, I was able to share about the mission of YWA and Concerned Women for America (CWA) with a focus on what we do on the sanctity of life issue. I shared a video that beautifully portrays CWA’s fight for life throughout the decades. It was an honor to share with people about CWA’s heart for the unborn, and it was encouraging to see so many people spend their evening learning about how they can be involved and be a voice for the voiceless.

 

As Hannah said when she opened the night, “We as Christians in this nation have a duty, and that duty is to take a stand for life. It may be uncomfortable, but we must continue to fight and make our voices heard.” 

L-R: Hannah Faulkner, Morgan Schlesselman, YWA National Director
People loved grabbing the YWA pro-life stickers and the CWA push cards with pro-life facts.
YWA Rutherford County chapter president Hannah Faulkner did a great job opening the event and encouraging those in attendance to take a strong stance for the unborn.

You Gotta Love Educational Savings Accounts

By | Education, LBB, News and Events | No Comments

ESAs, as they are known, empower parents to make the best choice for their children’s education. It gives parents some of the public funds that the state often misuses in each child’s public education, allowing parents to use it for educational purposes in the best way they see fit. For example, parents can use it to cover private school tuition or online learning programs. Funds can be used for private tutoring, homeschooling, or other educational materials. The possibilities are endless. The choice is in the hands of the persons most interested in the child’s success: the parents. This is good. Parents need school choice.

 

Contrary to what you will hear from some detractors, ESAs do not destroy public schools. Parents who feel their public school is working need not change. They need not apply to receive the money and can continue as they have before. But the reality for millions of American children is that their public school system is failing them, and they are stuck in that failing school or system because of how the law has been set up.

 

Recent national exam results revealed “the steepest declines ever recorded on National Assessment of Educational Progress” in math proficiency. Just 26% of eighth graders were proficient! Fourth graders did not fare much better, just 36% were deemed proficient. Reading scores also declined. Only about one in three students met the proficiency standards.

 

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona called these results “appalling and unacceptable.” But Secretary Cardona and the overwhelming majority of the Democrats’ leadership oppose school choice. Their solution is to pump more money into failing schools while ignoring their pathetic record.

 

I hope the pandemic has opened the eyes of many Americans to the toxic environment that drives educational policy nationwide. Virtually every educational bureaucracy, pressured by influential teachers’ unions, forced the unscientific and irrational policy of prolonged school closures, not to mention the cruel and unnecessary forced masking policies on young children.

 

It was simply amazing to read in the pages of The New York Times just this week (almost four years after the start of the pandemic!), “The Mask Mandates Did Nothing. Will Any Lessons Be Learned?” The article highlighted the “most rigorous and comprehensive analysis of scientific studies conducted on the efficacy of masks for reducing the spread of respiratory illness—including Covid-19.” The lead author of the study, Oxford epidemiologist Tom Jefferson, was quoted saying there is no evidence that masks make any difference, “Full stop.”

 

Yes, after all they put us through— after all they put our children through. They knew it was all for nothing. It was a show. This is infuriating, especially when it comes to children, because although the masks did nothing to “stop the spread” (not in two weeks, two months, or more than two years), they did do something in terms of harming our children’s educational, linguistic, social, and emotional development. Our children have paid the price of their incompetence.

 

That is a big reason you are hearing and will continue to hear more about ESAs being passed in different states. We should support them in every state.

 

As of now, I believe there is a version of them (in varying degrees) in Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and West Virginia. Let us pray for many more in the coming years.

Don’t ERAse Women Press Conference

By | Erasing Women, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

Today,  Concerned Women for America joined forces with other women’s groups and Rep. Mary Miller (R-Illinois) at a Capitol Hill press conference following the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

 

You can view the press conference here.

 

The ERA would allow federal courts and legislative powers to reinterpret every law making a distinction based on “sex” or “gender.” This means that any limits on abortion or denying taxpayer-funded abortions would be seen as sex discrimination. Women-only safe spaces like sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, or domestic violence shelters could be seen as a form of sex discrimination. A woman could potentially be forced into military service against her will.

 

Presidents’ Day

By | News and Events | No Comments

As we celebrate the birth of “The Father of our Country,” President George Washington, I can’t help but wonder what he’d think of America today. Would he be proud of what we’ve become, or would he be shocked by the violence and rhetoric being spewed by many on a number of issues? How would he handle what’s happening?

 

I know what he would do. He would bow his head and pray. Because that’s who George Washington was. He was a man of prayer.

 

Maybe today, as we face this rough patch in our nation’s history, we should take a page from Washington’s playbook. Perhaps we should pray to our Father in Heaven. Would you join me today?

 

Penny Nance

CEO and President

Concerned Women for America

Local Bookstore Hosts Book Reading with a Drag Queen

By | News and Events, Sexual Exploitation, YWA | No Comments

By Young Women for America Ambassador, Hannah Gebhardt

 

On Saturday, February 11, local Morganton, North Carolina, business Adventure Bound Books hosted the Rainbow Readers Story Time event. The store invited young readers to “Join us as we welcome local Drag Queen Chloe Capri to the story time stage to read The You Kind of You. Craft to follow story.”

 

According to the TikTok page @chloecaprithequeen, Chloe Capri is a drag performer with Just Two Guys Productions. Capri has taken part in various drag events, including several shows at another local Morganton restaurant, Moondog Pizza, where multiple “kid-friendly” drag events have taken place. Capri was invited to Adventure Bound to take part in a read-aloud of The You Kind of You by Nina West, a children’s book that teaches “kindness, community, love, and inclusion.”

 

Author of the book, Nina West, is a drag queen and advocate of the Disney Pride initiative. According to an article by Sabina Graves, “West aims to spread awareness that kindness is needed more than ever, especially with legislation all over the U.S. with the potential to endanger LGBTQ youth.”[1] West’s book exposes children to the LGBTQ+ movement, teaching them to embrace who they feel to be on the inside.

 

Events like these rob children of their innocence by teaching them that they should explore sexual preferences and desires at a young age. The LGBTQ+ movement is based entirely on redefining the biological standards of sexuality, and therefore, any material in relation to this movement should not be given or discussed in front of young, developing minds. Today’s youth are statistically the gayest generation in history because our society continues to desensitize morality by redefining objective truth.

 

Ephesians 4:14-15 explains, “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.” Our God is not a God of confusion, but rather He has given us His Word to lead us in grace and truth. The LGBTQ+ movement calls children to love themselves by a worldly standard, leaving them empty as they look upon their depraved state. But true love comes from the truth of the Word of God; that we have been intentionally designed by our Creator and have been called to glorify Him. It’s time to stop exploiting children, and instead begin loving by guarding them with grace and truth.

 

[1] Graves, Sabina. “Nina West on the Importance of Kindness and Being a Fantastical Fan.” Gizmodo, 25 Nov. 2022, https://gizmodo.com/nina-west-drag-star-disney-pride-icon-new-kids-book-1849817738.

 

 

CWA Stands Against the FDA’s Reckless Push for Chemical Abortion Drugs

By | Briefs, Legal, News and Events, Sanctity of Life | No Comments

Concerned Women for America (CWA) submitted an important amicus (friend of the court) brief in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This case, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, challenges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to legalize a dangerous chemical abortion regimen that includes two drugs: mifepristone and misoprostol.

 

The FDA abused its authority with the approval of these dangerous drugs, undermining its legal obligation to protect women’s health, safety, and welfare. This regimen is likely to cause more harm and complications for women than a surgical abortion would. Worse yet, following its initial approval, the FDA has removed the most basic standards of care by increasing the gestational age for which a pregnant woman can take chemical abortion drugs, changing the dosage, significantly reducing the number of required in-person visits, and even allowing non-doctors to prescribe and administer chemical abortions, among other things.

 

CWA argues in our legal brief that liberal, pro-abortion policies and not science are behind the FDA’s push to increase the availability of these dangerous drugs. We write:

 

The public deserves better than the current rush to experiment with chemical abortions on American women. The charge the public has placed on the FDA should be guarded in law to protect the public trust that is crucial to the proper function of our public institutions. Scientific advancement and research are not driving chemical abortion policy. Politics drives it. An apparent effort to undermine the United State Supreme Court’s recent acknowledgment that there is no constitutional right to an abortion is driving it. The U.S. Supreme Court’s determination in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022), has allowed states to enact laws protecting the unborn at different stages of development. The Biden Administration and its supporters do not like that and have therefore been aggressively pushing to promulgate abortifacients to circumvent these duly enacted state laws. Lost in that urge though are the seriously increased risks for women utilizing these drugs under waning supervision.

 

The Plaintiffs standing for the safety of women include the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians, and the Christian Medical & Dental Association, among others, which the Alliance Defending Freedom represents.

 

CWA is asking the Court to grant the Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction preventing the FDA from continuing its reckless approval of the widespread distribution of these dangerous drugs immediately and to ultimately rule on the side of the safety and welfare of women by making that injunction permanent.

 

We argue that the public interest in this case weighs heavily against the FDA’s actions which further erode the public’s trust in this crucial health institution. We remind the Court that a recent survey found that only four in ten Americans are confident of the information they receive from the FDA—a disastrous development for women’s health and safety. “[I]t is decisions such as this one relating to the approval and promotion of chemical abortion drugs that appear to be driven by politics rather than scientific advancement that contribute to this state and further aggravate the distrust. It ultimately puts women’s lives at greater risk,” we argue.

 

Click here to read our brief, and pray for a favorable hearing and ultimate outcome.

#WokeWednesday – AT&T and DIRECTV

By | News and Events, Special Feature | No Comments

Concerned Women for America’s CEO and President Penny Nance exposes the silencing of Newsmax in a new op-ed in The Daily Caller.  

 

“The Left’s attempts to silence conservative voices are ubiquitous and vicious.  They repress us on social media, mess with our search results on Google, cancel us in the public square, and misuse our money. The latest battlefront is AT&T and DIRECTV’s controversial move to cut off Newsmax’s signal, immediately leaving the network inaccessible to over 13 million customers of DIRECTV, U-Verse, and DirecTV Stream. For those keeping score at home, AT&T and DIRECTV have now de-platformed two of the three television networks that Democrats complained about last year and demanded their conservative views to be silenced.  FOX News is the last one standing … for now.”

South Dakota Bans Sex Changes for Children

By | News and Events, Press Releases, South Dakota, Vulnerable Children | No Comments

For Immediate Release
February 14, 2023

Contact:  CWA Communications Team
[email protected]

MEDIA ADVISORY:

South Dakota Bans Sex Changes for Children

Gov. Kristi Noem Signs “Help Not Harm” Bill into Law

Washington, D.C. – Today, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC), the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization, praised South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for signing H.B.1080, the “Help Not Harm” bill which would ban doctors from prescribing puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgical interventions for minors.

“We are grateful to Kristi Noem for signing the ‘Help Not Harm’ bill. No more will children in South Dakota be subjected to so-called ‘treatments’ that ruin their lives,” said Linda Schauer, CWA of South Dakota State Director. “We appreciate Gov. Noem’s leadership and look forward to other states protecting their children as well. Hopefully, our nation will look back at this episode as a dark stain on our history.”

 

South Dakota is the second state this year to adopt policies that will prevent harmful surgeries and experimental drugs from being administered to children who have expressed a desire to transition to the opposite sex, bringing the total to seven states with these protections. Several others are moving forward. 

 

“Our children are vulnerable and impressionable, and they deserve protection. Thank you, Gov. Noem, for protecting them,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of CWALAC. “Puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery don’t solve the depression, anxiety, and confusion children are experiencing, they aggravate it and can cause irreversible harm. Doctors are in place to care for and help children, not harm them. Our hope is that many states will look to South Dakota as an example and follow in their footsteps.”

 

CWALAC has been at the very forefront of this battle for our nation’s children by urging legislators and lawmakers to protect children in the medical field and hold those healthcare professionals abusing their position accountable.

  For more information, please contact [email protected]

##

Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) is the legislation and advocacy arm of Concerned Women for America. Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with a rich 40-year history of helping our members across the country bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy.

Protecting Female Athletes Remains a Top Priority as the NCAA and Biden Double Down Against Women

By | Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sexual Exploitation, Women's Sports | No Comments

A year after the NCAA’s shameful promotion of University of Pennsylvania trans-swimmer Lia Thomas in women’s swimming, federal and state lawmakers are stepping up to the plate. 

 

Since 2020, 18 states have enacted laws ensuring that the women’s category of sports is based on female sex, not an athlete’s self-identified “gender identity.” Some fifteen additional states have bills on the table, with more on the horizon. Federal legislation sponsored by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Florida) has been introduced in the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives, where it will receive high billing in the 118th Congress.

 

Already this year, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee and Young Women for America (YWA) leaders have been at work in Virginia, Texas, North Dakota, Missouri, Colorado, and on Capitol Hill testifying on the importance of these bills in legislatures, at rallies, and in the media. While the Biden Administration works to gut equal protections for women and girls with new rules that use “gender identity” to overrule sex, elected representatives in states and Washington, D.C., are working to thwart the impact.  

 

Getting bills into law will be an uphill battle in many of these jurisdictions, but that is not the only measure of progress. A full court press requires action across branches of government and vigorously challenging the Biden Administration and the NCAA and sport-specific policies that allow biological male athletes to compete in women’s sports. Female athletes will not have their rights restored until laws and policies explicitly ensure that women’s sports are for women only.   

 

Here’s a brief overview of the current state of play:        

 

Congress: Legislation has been introduced in the new Congress, clarifying that it is a violation of federal law to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in athletic programs designated for women or girls. Challenges to Biden’s rulemaking that would gut Title IX protections for female athletes are also anticipated. Speaker Kevin McCarthy hosted an event on National Girls and Women in Sports Day to discuss the injustice, intimidation, and emotional blackmail female athletes are experiencing at the hands of sports authorities forcing compliance with policies that prioritize inclusion of trans-identifying males over female athletes in the women’s category of sport.      

 

States:  Across the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, state legislators are sponsoring bills to ensure that sports remain sex-specific and to guard female athletes from the inequity and mental abuse they face when forced to compete and undress alongside male athletes self-identifying as women. The Virginia House of Delegates was the first chamber to pass legislation this year.    

 

Courts:  In a landmark federal court victory, West Virginia’s law to base participation in sports on biological sex at all levels of schooling has been upheld in court. The presiding judge reversed his previous injunction and ruled the law was constitutional and consistent with Title IX. In a related win, the federal Eleventh Circuit ruled that policies limiting access to school locker rooms and restrooms based on biological sex are fully consistent with the Constitution and Title IX. These court decisions lay a positive foundation for ongoing action in the courts.    

 

NCAA:  CWA has expressed optimism that newly-appointed NCAA President Charlie Baker could offer a new day for protecting college women athletes from the injustice of its current policy. However, nothing in the NCAA’s posture or practice offers promise. Our rally outside the NCAA convention in January was met by silence as officials inside pushed diversity, equity, and inclusion reviews and doubled down on denying the science of the sex binary in slick guidance documents on “inclusion.” Last year, the NCAA passed the buck to national sports governing bodies to determine participation rules involving trans-identifying athletes. But that doesn’t absolve college sports from the obligation of all NCAA member institutions to comply with Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. Sports-specific policies are reflecting the woke culture favoring gender identity over a sex-based standard, thus sidelining female student-athletes in their own sports in a direct attack on the equality of opportunity required under Title IX.   

 

This landscape will continue to be shaped by CWA’s leadership and advocacy in coalition with partners across the political spectrum, providing a backbone of support for courageous female athletes like YWA’s Macy Petty, Chloe Satterfield, and Halli Gravely stepping up to the front line of the fight.   

Making Sense of ESG With Jerry Bowyer

By | ESG, Legislative Updates, News and Events | No Comments

In case you missed it, Concerned Women for America released an explainer about environmental, social, and governance scores, otherwise known as “ESG.” As we state in our explainer, “You have either heard of it, or you will, but the radical ideology known as ‘ESG’ is harming you.”

 

We know that the issue has the attention of the U.S. Congress. In what is likely a very small sample of what is to come, the House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) formed an “ESG Working Group” of nine Members of Congress. On his way out, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) published a report, “New Banking GOP Report Reveals How Asset Managers Use Proxy Voting Power to Advance Liberal Policies.”

 

The “E” in ESG—environmental—is most well thought out. ESG investors that push for “decarbonization,” for instance, demand not just disinvestment in energy but things that use energy—such as farming, especially dairy and meat cattle farming. The harms here are evident. What about the “S” and “G”? So far, this has looked like pro-abortion policies and “gender diversity” quotas on boards, and pressure on businesses to comply.

 

To better understand the issue, CWA spoke with Jerry Bowyer, a Christian financial economist, author, and columnist. Jerry is also host of the new podcast “Meeting of Minds,” author of “The Maker Versus the Takers,” contributor to WORLD News and the Christian Post, and a former columnist for Forbes.com.

 

He agreed to an interview to explain what ESG is and the problems it creates for America.

 

How would you summarize the problem with ESG? ESG is an approach to investing that brings politics—particularly left politics—and inserts it into the financial process. The problem is that we ought to make investment decisions based on financial criteria, not politics.

 

What institutions consider ESG? Managers for investment funds. Banks, which are ESG central. Public and private university endowments. Pension plans, especially in deep blue states.

 

Is this the cause for corporate wokeism, e.g., Walmart and Target? I would say corporate wokeism is a general social phenomenon of which ESG is a particular expression. ESG is wokeism from the standpoint of the investor. Some corporations do it on their own because they have an ideologically captured CEO, e.g., Salesforce or BlackRock. But often, it has to be pushed. ESG is one of the major pushes.

 

I would also call it a fad past due. The logic is, “this is the future so you should do it.” There have been lots of fads in finance. But this one is worse because it’s intertwined with politics in a way others have not been.

 

Can ESG be used to promote abortion policies? It is being used to promote abortion policies. For instance, asset managers will introduce and vote for shareholder resolutions that support abortion.

 

Another argument goes that investing in businesses in states that prohibit abortion are an investment risk. Of course, this is nonsensical. Just look at the population flow from the northeast [which tends to have no or weak protections for the unborn] to the south [which tends to have some or total protections for the unborn].

 

Could Christians be de-banked for having traditional views on marriage? Almost certainly if left unchecked.

 

Who are the relevant government officials? At the state level, the relevant officials are state treasurers and state attorneys general.

 

The treasurers are the Lexington and Concord minutemen of this fight. They didn’t sign up for the war but stepped up when the time came. Great examples are treasurers in Kentucky, Utah, West Virginia, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and others with the State Financial Officers Foundation.

And attorneys general are starting to rev up. They saw people messing with their states; they’re fighting, and they’re winning.

 

At the federal level, the relevant actors are the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the United States Department of Labor, and the Federal Reserve System and the United States Department of the Treasury to some degree.

 

Are there any “wins”? Costco just had a shareholder vote that was pro-abortion and that went down in flames, which you can learn more about here. The bubble is beginning to burst. Revolutionary ideologies can never get enough. Now, regular investors and liberals are finding out that the far Left cannot be appeased. I am glad conservative Christians are beginning to engage. For 30 years, there was a game we [conservative Christians] didn’t show up for. We lost by way of forfeit.

 

What are some action items? If you’re willing to do the work, if you’re an investor, stop throwing out proxies. If your financial advisor is in charge, you need to talk to them. Advisors need to feel the pressure from investors to vote their values.

 

Shareholders have power highly analogous to citizens in a republic. When you don’t like your government, do you never go to the polls again or do you vote them out?

 

States already have good laws. What will help is legislation that will more clearly and forcefully assert what is already the law—that assets will not be commandeered for political purposes.

 

You wrote a book, “The Maker Versus the Takers: What Jesus Really Said About Social Justice and Economics.” What did Jesus really say about social justice and economics? What He really said is that there is nothing immoral about wealth as long as it’s about producing wealth and not extracting wealth. He confronted the rich about wealth exclusively to individuals within the capital region. There are zero confrontations with entrepreneurs in Galilee. Every confrontation was with state actors—people who use their power to extract wealth from others.

 

We are grateful to Jerry for his time. What a unique moment for believers in the financial industry. If there is anything that the ESG phenomenon has revealed, it is a reminder that everything, including financial industry, is under the Lord’s domain.

Caught with Hand in a Medicated Candy Jar

By | Defense of Family, News and Events, Special Feature | No Comments

“Addiction-for-profit industries have always targeted young audiences. The younger the addict, the longer the cycle of addiction, the greater the profit,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America (CWA), in her recent article in American Thinker titled “Targeting Kids for Addiction.” The marijuana industry has taken this marketing to another level by creating indistinguishable dupes of edible marijuana candies. This intentional marketing ploy has increased the reported cases of accidental consumption of cannabis edibles by children under age six by 1,375% within just five years. Even more disturbing is a recent warning from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that a new trend is brightly colored fentanyl pills that look like candy dubbed “rainbow fentanyl.”

 

This is a dangerous trend, and CWA is working with Members of Congress to criminalize the combination of controlled substances with marketing or packaging that appeals to children.

Whistleblower Exposes Harm to Children Committed by “Transgender Clinics” and Medical Facilities

By | News and Events, Press Releases, Sexual Exploitation, Vulnerable Children | No Comments

For Immediate Release
February 9, 2023

Contact:  CWA Communications Team
[email protected]

MEDIA ADVISORY:

Whistleblower Exposes Harm to Children Committed by “Transgender Clinics” and Medical Facilities

Mutilating drugs and surgeries are irreversibly damaging

Washington, D.C. – Today, a former youth transgender clinic case manager in St. Louis revealed the horrifying truth taking place at “transgender clinics” and medical care facilities around the country.   Jamie Reed, a self-described “queer woman” and a liberal, told her story to The Free Press, saying, “I Thought I Was Saving Trans Kids. Now I’m Blowing the Whistle.”

 

Reed, who worked at The Washington University Transgender Clinic at St. Louis Children’s Medical Hospital, explains that the treatment she saw there was “morally and medically appalling.” She said that there were few protocols for treating patients and that they had a variety of disorders, including depression, anxiety, ADHD, eating disorders, obesity, and autism. Yet, doctors pushed treatments that result in “life-altering consequences including sterility.”

 

“This is the wake-up call America needs that no politician or responsible media outlet can ignore,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization. “These same health-destroying practices are happening in children’s hospitals across the country and are the reason so many state legislatures are working to block the use of mutilating drugs and surgeries ‘permanently harming’ vulnerable youth.  Reed’s first-hand account is every reason to shut down the transactivism infecting our country peddled by the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, Big Pharma, corporate America, and the Biden Administration.  Now is the time for courage, like Ms. Reed has displayed, to challenge this madness.”    

 

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Biden called on Congress to pass the Equality Act “to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity.” 

 

“There is nothing safe or dignified about disfiguring and mutilating children’s bodies,” says Nance. “Even more disturbing in Reed’s story is that this ‘transitioning’ trend is a social contagion and doctors know it. They also know that children can’t make decisions about medical care at such ages and any parent who pushes this on their child should be prosecuted for child abuse.”

 

Concerned Women for America is challenging that the “safety and dignity” of youth with gender dysphoria is the outcome of medical activism embracing gender ideology and the rabid promotion of transgenderism in our culture through social media, drag shows, school curriculum, secret gender support plans, and pediatric gender clinics.  And this brave whistleblower makes the case.

##

Concerned Women for America is the nation’s largest public policy organization for women; we are dedicated to promoting Biblical values and Constitutional principles. More information is available at ConcernedWomen.org.

Don’t Let Congress Undo Dobbs, Erase Women

By | Erasing Women, Legislative Updates, News and Events, Sanctity of Life, Sexual Exploitation | No Comments

State of play. This Congress, Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Massachusetts) reintroduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives in support of the so-called Equal Rights Amendment.

 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has already moved the measure onto the Senate’s Legislative Calendar for potential consideration in April. There are rumors that supporters will also attempt forced consideration on the House Floor.

 

Dobbs‘ undoing, erasing women. If it was ever properly ratified, the Equal Rights Amendment would constitutionalize abortion and radical gender ideology. It would undo the historic victory in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), the U.S. Supreme Court case that correctly concluded that there is no right to abortion in the U.S. Constitution, and it would erase women from the Constitution.

 

Procedural defects. The only good news is that this current effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment—in the tradition of the past efforts—will fail. As a proposed constitutional amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment is bound by a unique set of procedural requirements for ratification. Currently, supporters are pursuing ratification outside of these bounds and through improper means.

 

Substantive issues. That said, we remain vigilant because of the Amendment’s dire consequences. Of course, the text sounds good: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” But as we have explained before, “the amendment could have a reverse effect on women’s progress.” Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), for example, expertly revealed in a 2019 House Judiciary Committee hearing that activists will use the Equal Rights Amendment to constitutionalize abortion and gender identity.

 

Abortion. Any difference in treatment between men and women can be considered denial or abridgment of equality. This even includes natural, common sense differences, such as pregnancy and birth. Rep. Johnson explained:

  • [I]n 1988, the Colorado Supreme Court held that Colorado’s ERA in its state constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of pregnancy.
  • Ten years later in 1998, the Supreme Court of New Mexico took the next step and relied on New Mexico’s state-level ERA to strike down a state reg[ulation] that restricted state funding of abortions for Medicaid-eligible women. In New Mexico, Right to Choose/NARAL v. Johnson, the court held as follows:
    • “Neither the Hyde Amendment nor the federal authorities upholding the constitutionality of that amendment bar this court from affording greater protection of the rights of Medicaid-eligible women under our state constitution in this instance. Article II Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution guarantees that equality of rights under law shall not be denied on account of the sex of any person.” “We construe,” the court said, “the intent of this amendment is providing something beyond that already afforded by the general language of the equal protection clause.”
  • More recently, NARAL Pro-Choice America, in a March 13, 2019, national alert, admitted their belief that the Equal Rights Amendment would,
    • “reinforce the constitutional right to abortion. It would require judges to strike down anti-abortion laws.”.

 

Gender Identity. Equality could also mean reinterpretation of the law that makes distinctions based on sex, such as registration for the Selective Service. The Equal Rights Amendment could be used to force women to register for the Selective Service, and the legality of women-only spaces would be thrown into question.

 

Further, while the Amendment only uses the word “sex,” Rep. Johnson exposed through congressional questioning that it would be used as a tool to advance gender ideology.

 

  • Kathleen M. Sullivan, Partner, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan: “The proper textual reading of the term on account of sex does include discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender identity, and that is just a textual reading of the term on the basis of sex.”
  • Pat Spearman, Co-Majority Whip, Nevada Senate: “When you talk about on the basis of sex, gender identity is a new way of saying this is who I am.”
  • Patricia Arquette, Actor and Advocate: “That is going to be argued in court.”

 

And as many of you know, Mrs. Beverly LaHaye, Concerned Women for America (CWA) Founder, started CWA and mobilized thousands of women across the country because of her concerns with the Equal Rights Amendment. She spoke out against not just the Amendment’s harms for the unborn but the unfair characterization of women as a monolithic block of pro-abortion feminists. Radical gender ideology presents new challenges, but our mission remains the same to advocate for Biblical values in public policy and through that, “speaking the truth in love,” Ephesians 4:15.

Why is He Yelling? Reflections on the 2023 State of the Union Address

By | LBB, News and Events | No Comments

You usually yell when people can’t hear you. Perhaps that is why President Joe Biden spent an hour yelling at the country in his State of the Union Address. No one is listening.

 

Frankly, I fear no one believes him. No one buys the D.C. narrative anymore. Americans are hurting. But you wouldn’t know it from the chest-pounding bloviating in the President’s speech. There is a chasm between the empty words in Washington and the reality that Americans face day in and day out.

 

The President gave lip service to everything from jobs and the economy to healthcare to the “existential threat” of climate change. You have heard of unprecedented problems at the border, but those miraculously disappeared for that hour last night. Instead, the Democrats celebrated their incredible work at the border. Seriously.

 

President Biden even mustered a line or two touting bipartisanship when he has been one of the most radical partisans in history. His shtick almost made him lose control of the floor at one moment when he lied about “Republicans wanting to get rid of Social Security and Medicaid.” The pushback was so strong he had to acknowledge Congress was unanimous in wanting to protect these essential programs. Oh, he kept the pre-written lines about saving the programs from some strawman trying to take it away, but he was forced to admit, “I guess no one is opposing this now.”

 

He had a line about protecting “Roe v. Wade.” It does not make any sense, Roe is already gone, but we all know he was just trying to throw a bone at the radicals among his base. The same was true when he uttered a sentence for LGBTQ+ “rights.” Hearing him yesterday, you would think these was not a big part of the President’s agenda. But it is all a façade. The fact is that President Biden has been the most radically pro-abortion President in history. He even supports the taxpayer funding of abortion, something he opposed for his whole career as something too extreme even for Democrats.

 

His plan to promote abortions in every way possible is immoral and unconstitutional, violating even the most basic principles of federalism. In a recent opinion, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) tries to circumvent federal law to spread the use of the mail to deliver abortion pills.

 

The President has been just as radical on the LGBTQ+ issue. President Biden is pushing for men who self-identify as a woman to be able to compete in women’s and girls’ sports. He is pushing for early, life-altering, and irreversible puberty blockers for children looking to “transition.” He has even mobilized his DOJ to go against those who oppose what he calls “gender-affirming care.”

 

But, again, you wouldn’t know that listening to him scream the speech tonight. Perhaps that is by design. Polls show the President’s disapproval is at 53%. Only 40% of Americans approve of the job he is doing. I suspect no amount of yelling will overcome that.

 

As they say, sometimes actions speak so loudly it is hard to listen to the words being said.

The ABCs of “ESG”

By | ESG, LBB, News and Events | No Comments

You have either heard of it, or you will, but the radical ideology known as “ESG” is harming you.

 

ESG stands for “Environmental, Social, and Governance.” It is a set of standards used to measure, at its core, a company’s “wokeness.” The more woke a company is—think Green New Deal policies, abortion travel policies, and diversity quotas—the better its “ESG score,”  and the more access the company attains for capital, credit, and other financial perks.

 

The economic pressure is real. Companies are increasingly changing internal policies to meet these leftist standards, and the impact is all around us. Here are the top three areas of concern:

 

Asset Management: Many companies offer investment portfolios that are ESG-friendly to bolster businesses that are sufficiently woke. And it does not stop with private companies. The Biden Department of Labor, for example, is encouraging fiduciaries for retirement plans and pensions “to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance factors when they select retirement investments and exercise shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.” Without even knowing it, shareholders who are not careful support woke companies that hate their values and punish the companies that they support. It is no matter that ESG-focused investments have many times resulted in a worse economic return for shareholders. Nor are financial firms very concerned about enforcing ESG in China as long as the investment there is profitable.

 

Banking: Poorly scored companies risk experiencing reduced or eliminated access to capital and credit. If your bank fully embraces the ESG model and you want a loan, it will look at your business not only for its pecuniary value but also for its alignment with ESG. Your business may be a “bad” investment, no matter how well it does financially. Does your business provide abortion coverage? Does it support LGBTQ+ causes? Does your business align with the Black Lives Matter idea of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI)? Unless there are abortion travel policies or race quotas, expect low marks. An ESG-controlled economy means capital withheld from profitmaking business activity and capital funneled to underperforming business activity. Left unchecked, the end result is that all American companies—including Main Street small businesses—are weak and woke.

 

Consumers: ESG reinforces corporate “wokeism.” The consequence is a culture that devalues the unborn, commodifies women and sex, harms children through indoctrination, etc., and also punishes any consumer who does not show allegiance to this radical, leftist ideology.

 

What can be done? Put the pressure back on the financial institutions rather than the other way around. We support states that are fighting back by barring state pension funds from considering ESG factors in investment decisions. If you are a shareholder, pay attention to your vote. If you have a relationship with your bank, learn their views on ESG. And if you are a consumer, as best you can, pursue alternative options to woke companies.

 

Nance: Give parents the power of the purse – educational savings accounts.

By | Education, News and Events, Special Feature | No Comments

Concerned Women for America (CWA) believes every child deserves educational freedom and that a zip code should not determine a student’s success. In her just published op-ed for Newsweek, Penny Nance, CWA’s CEO and President, discusses the important option of Educational Saving Accounts.

 

Penny had this to say in the article, “Give parents the power of the purse. Education Savings Accounts allow parents to use their tax dollars to pay for education that best supports their children. Nine states have already adopted ESA policies, including five in the last two years, and more will consider it this year. Let’s make it happen.”

Out Now: National Girls & Women in Sports Day with Macy Petty and Chloe Satterfield

By | News and Events, Podcast, Women's Sports, YWA | No Comments

On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, Young Women for America leaders Macy Petty and Chloe Satterfield joined Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-California) on a panel with fellow female athletes to share their stories about being forced to compete against biological males.

 

Shortly after the panel, Macy and Chloe joined Concerned Women Today with Concerned Women for America’s CEO and President Penny Nance to reflect on the day.

 

Listen to the new episode below. Check out more Concerned Women Today podcasts here.