Family Council Intends to Support Funding for Pregnancy Centers at State Legislature

The Arkansas Legislature will convene for its budget session on April 10, and Family Council is gearing up to be there in support of good, pro-life efforts in the state.

Now that abortion is mostly prohibited, we need to make it irrelevant and unthinkable.

That’s why in 2022 we worked with the legislature and the governor to secure $1 million in funding for pregnancy centers. We did the same in 2023.

This funding has gone to good organizations across the state that provide women and families with real assistance in the face of an unplanned pregnancy.

We intend to be back at the state capitol in April to work for an even larger appropriation that will provide funding for these centers in the coming fiscal year.

More than 50 pregnancy help organizations are serving thousands of women in Arkansas. We are glad to help these organizations do even more.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

Lawsuit Filed to Block Arkansas Law Protecting Students From CRT, Explicit Sexual Material

A federal lawsuit filed Monday would block the State of Arkansas from enforcing a section of the 2023 LEARNS Act protecting public school students from Critical Race Theory and explicit sexual material at school.

Act 237 of 2023 is a comprehensive education law by Sen. Breanne Davis (R – Russellville) and Rep. Keith Brooks (R – Little Rock) titled “The LEARNS Act.”

The law deals with issues such as Critical Race Theory, teacher salaries, public school employment, early childhood care, and protecting elementary school children from inappropriate sexual material at school.

It also provides a blueprint for implementing a voluntary school choice program that would make it possible for students to receive a publicly-funded education at a public or private school or at home.

The federal lawsuit filed Monday specifically challenges Section 16 of the LEARNS Act, which does the following:

  • Section 16 requires the Arkansas Secretary of Education to review all policies to be sure that indoctrination — including critical race theory — is prohibited and that no public school employee or public school student is required to attend training or orientation that is based on Critical Race Theory or other prohibited indoctrination.
  • Section 16 requires each public school to implement a child sex abuse and human trafficking prevention program that is age appropriate and complies with Arkansas Department of Education standards.
  • Section 16 prohibits sexual material in classroom instruction before fifth grade. This includes instruction regarding sexual intercourse, sexual reproduction, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

You can download a copy of Section 16 here.

Under Section 16 of the LEARNS Act, sex education is prohibited in Kindergarten and early elementary school. In later grades, sex education must be conducted according to other state laws—including other Arkansas laws that prohibit explicit, “comprehensive” sex education. Altogether, Section 16 makes significant improvements to Arkansas sex education laws.

The lawsuit focuses on the LEARNS Act’s effect on AP African American Studies at Central High School in Little Rock.

However, the lawsuit asks the federal court to declare Section 16 of the LEARNS Act unconstitutional and block the State of Arkansas from enforcing it.

If a federal court blocked all of Section 16 as the lawsuit requests, that presumably would include the parts of the law protecting public school students from explicit sexual material in the classroom.

You Can Download a Copy of the Lawsuit Here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.