Bill Enables Children to Hide Abortions, Transgender Treatments from Parents
The California Family Council reports: “AB 1184, sponsored by Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, prohibits insurance companies from revealing to the policyholder the ‘sensitive’ services of anyone on their policy, including minor children, even though the policy owner is financially responsible for the services. These ‘sensitive’ services include abortions, sexual assault treatment, drug abuse and mental health treatment, cross-sex hormones, puberty blockers, and sex-change operations. In California, minors can consent to all of these sensitive treatments, except for sex-change surgeries, after the age of 12 under certain conditions, and consent to abortions at any age.”1
Coach Fired for Prayer Takes Case to Supreme Court
High school football coach Joe Kennedy asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision that allowed the Bremerton School District to terminate his employment. The court petition filed on his behalf states, “Petitioner Joseph Kennedy lost his job as a football coach at a public high school because he knelt and said a quiet prayer by himself at midfield after the game ended.”2 Kelly Shackelford, President, CEO, and Chief Counsel at First Liberty Institute, one of the law firms representing Kennedy, says, “No American should be forced to choose between their faith and the job they love. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion threatens the rights of millions of Americans who simply want to be able to freely exercise their faith without fear of losing their job. We hope the Supreme Court will right this wrong and restore Coach Kennedy to the football field where he belongs.”3
The Good and Bad of Instagram
WORLD’s Sarah Schweinsberg spoke with Instagram influencer Candace Cima, a grandmother who uses her platform to change the perspective on aging. Cima says, “What I wanted to talk about was how women can still feel good about themselves. They can still feel productive. They can still feel like they’re contributing.”4 Cima’s page encourages 40,000 followers to live life to the fullest at every age, develop healthy lifestyles and habits, and embrace new opportunities.
On the flip side, company documents at Facebook show the company was aware of the harm its Instagram platform was causing to teen girls. Likely due to this information becoming public and pressure from activists and lawmakers, development has paused for Instagram Kids, a platform intended for users younger than 13 with parental supervision.5
Report Highlights North Korea’s Violations of Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released a report documenting religious freedom violations in North Korea. The introduction of the report states: “. . . the North Korean government poses an acute challenge to its citizens’ enjoyment of their right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, or belief. Violations of this right in North Korea are ongoing, egregious, and systematic, and they are perpetrated and overseen by the active mobilization of organs of the North Korean government. . . . Our investigators undertook in-person interviews with survivors, witnesses, and perpetrators of religious freedom violations in 2020 and 2021. The majority of interviewees had escaped North Korea in 2019. . . . Victims suffered distinct human rights violations, including arbitrary arrest and detention; torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and the denial of life.”6
1. Greg Burt, “Governor Signs Bill to Hide Minor Abortions, Transgender Drugs from Parents,” California Family Council, Sept. 22, 2021, https://californiafamily.org/2021/governor-signs-bill-to-hide-minor-abortions-transgender-drugs-from-parents.
2. “FINAL 2021.09.14 Kennedy Cert Petition,” First Liberty Institute, accessed Sept. 28, 2021, https://firstliberty.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/FINAL-Kennedy-Cert-Petition_Redacted.pdf.
3. “Coach Kennedy Asks Supreme Court to Reverse Another Troubling Ninth Circuit Decision Preventing Him from Taking a Knee,” First Liberty Institute, Sept. 14, 2021, https://firstliberty.org/media/coach-kennedy-asks-supreme-court-to-reverse-another-troubling-ninth-circuit-decision-preventing-him-from-taking-a-knee.
4. Sarah Schweinsberg, “Aging with grace on the ’gram,” WORLD, Sept. 23, 2021, https://wng.org/podcasts/aging-with-grace-on-the-gram-1632370325.
5. Carolina Lumetta, “Facebook pauses kids app development,” WORLD, Sept. 27, 2021, https://wng.org/sift/facebook-pauses-kids-platform-development-1632774610.
6. “Organized Persecution: Documenting Religious Freedom Violations in North Korea,” USCIRF, accessed Sept. 28, 2021, https://uscirf.gov/publication/organized-persecution-documenting-religious-freedom-violations-north-korea.