AFR News: Great News! PRA Goes to Subcommittee September 9

Sept. 2, 2014

Great News! PRA Goes to Subcommittee September 9

The Constitution Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on House Joint Resolution (HJRes.) 50, the Parental Rights Amendment (PRA), on Tuesday, September 9. Given that Congress is currently scheduled to be in session for only twelve work days before recessing again for the November elections, this hearing on only the second day communicates the importance of the resolution. The measure enjoys the support of 79 cosponsors, including Rep. Trent Franks, the chairman of the subcommittee. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) is the measure’s lead sponsor.

“I’m pleased that my colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee will consider the Parental Rights Amendment. This is an incredibly important milestone. The Parental Rights Amendment will ensure that child-rearing decisions are not made by faceless bureaucrats but by parents who love their children and know them best,” Congressman Meadows said.

This will mark the second consecutive session of Congress in which the PRA has been taken up by the subcommittee. The same subcommittee held a hearing on HJRes. 107 in July of 2012 during the 112th Congress.

“It is encouraging to know that in the midst of so many other important matters that Congress is dealing with, they have not lost sight of the importance of families,” says ParentalRights.org president Michael Farris. “Parental rights is ‘perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by [the Supreme] Court,’ but recent erosion of this liberty demands that we act to preserve it for our posterity.”

Farris, who boasts 30-plus years of experience as a constitutional lawyer and serves as chancellor of Patrick Henry College in Virginia, will be one of the expert witnesses to speak at the hearing on behalf of the Amendment. ParentalRights.org staff also plan to be in attendance.

Action Items

1. Call on your congressman to cosponsor the Parental Rights Amendment. The 79 cosponsors are listed at 4pra.us/House. If your congressman is not on the list, please contact his or her local office – or reach their D.C. office through the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 – and ask that he or she contact Martha Van Lieshout in Mark Meadows’ office to sign on as a cosponsor.

Feel free to use your own words, of course, but a sample message follows:

I support the Parental Rights Amendment, which is House Joint Resolution 50. I am glad to see that HJRes. 50 is being taken up by the Constitution subcommittee next week, and that it already has 79 cosponsors. I would like to encourage my congressman to sign on as a cosponsor of the measure as well. The lead sponsor is Mark Meadows of North Carolina, and the contact person in his office is Martha Van Lieshout. I urge my congressman to take this stand to protect the right of loving parents to make decisions for their children without undue government interference.

2. Support our efforts with a membership to ParentalRights.org. If you are not already a member, why not join today? Your $5 monthly donation – or discounted $50 annual donation – will not only entitle you to all the great information in our monthly Elite Member Benefits packages, but will also fuel our efforts to protect parental rights.

Only with the help of donors just like you have we been able to introduce the Parental Rights Amendment in both houses of Congress and get it to this subcommittee hearing. Only with your generosity have we been able to stand against the push to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to warn you about dangers like the national student database associated with Common Core, and to inform you of grievous parental rights cases like that of Justina Pelletier.

With your support, we will continue this vital cause until your parental rights are permanently secured in the Constitution.

September 9 will be an exciting day in the struggle for parental rights, and we are grateful for the chance to share this victory with you!

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research

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