Parental Rights Call to Action!!!

September 17, 2013

 

Call Congress to Action!

 

Please help us call on Congress this week and next to sign on to HJRes. 50, the Parental Rights Amendment.

With conflict in Syria and questions about the new health care law, you may already have a good reason to call Congress on other issues of importance to you. Just this morning Congress cancelled a one-week recess that had been scheduled for next week in order to give themselves time to work on the continuing resolution to fund the government for the next year.

So call them about these other issues – but while you’re at it, urge them to cosponsor the Parental Rights Amendment. (ParentalRights.org has no official position on these other matters.)

Think about it: At a time when every decision requires days or weeks of dealing and debate, this is something they can take care of quickly and easily. Becoming a cosponsor on the Parental Rights Amendment, HJRes50, will only take them a few minutes. Sending a quick message to Rep. Mark Meadows’ office is all they need to do to get on board.

And think what it will say about the importance of parental rights if we can cut through the din of Syria and government funding by sheer call volume on the subject!

Because of your diligent grassroots efforts during August recess each year, September is always a great time of adding cosponsors to the Amendment. But with all the other concerns this year, that hasn’t happened yet. That is another great reason for us to call them now.

This is a limited-time call blitz – today through next Friday only. We are asking you to take a moment now to call your Congressman, then plan to call once more in the next week and a half. Just two phone calls – or a call and an email – urging your representative to take 2 minutes to get something done: become a cosponsor of HJRes. 50, the Parental Rights Amendment.

To find your lawmaker’s contact information, click on your state (or its 2-letter abbreviation for non-flash/mobile users) at ParentalRights.org/States.

Here are a few points you might want to remember when you call:

 

• The legal standard for protecting parental rights has been left up in the air since the Supreme Court’s Troxel decision in 2000, which notably failed to apply “strict scrutiny” protection.


• With no clear direction from the Supreme Court, lower federal and state courts are confused on the level of protection parental rights should receive. As a result, parental rights are becoming protected only on a case-by-case basis.


• The Supreme Court determined in Reid v. Covert (1957) that ratified treaties can override the Tenth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the States if the right in question – in this case, parental rights – is not expressly preserved in the text of the Constitution.


• Two international treaties threaten the presumption that fit parents act in the best interests of their children, including one – the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – that has been taken up by the Senate as recently as last year. The PRA would protect existing parental rights from threats by treaties like this one.


• According to a Zogby poll on parental rights, 93% of all Americans support the traditional view that fit parents have the right to make decisions for their children without government interference. That includes 97% of Republican voters and 92% of Democratic voters. This is the very standard the Parental Rights Amendment seeks to preserve.
  
  

Thank you for taking the time to call. Together, we can see support for the Amendment grow even in this one-week Congress!

Sincerely,

Michael Ramey
Director of Communications & Research