This week's edition of The 3, highlighting three stories of relevance that illustrate how principles consistent with Biblical truth impact the culture, includes news of multiple states which are challenging the new regulations for Title IX, which has the goal of upholding fairness to women, yet, the rewrite, by redefining, "sex," could actually be unfair to women in sports participation. There's also the story of a large bank's shareholders' meeting that occurred in the past week, which was used to call attention to practices of Christian ministries not being allowed to use the bank's services. And, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments recently in an Idaho case, in which the federal government is challenging its strong pro-life law by saying it violates a federal law requiring emergency rooms to provide treatment.
Pushback underway to Title IX rewrite
Even though it's been just over a week since the U.S. Department of Education announced its revisions to Title IX rules that redefine "sex" to include "gender identity" and "sexual orientation," already you have education leaders in numerous states who have announced their intent to stand against these rules being imposed on them.
A story published on the Tallahassee Democrat website last Wednesday reported:
Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr., at Gov. Ron DeSantis' direction, warned superintendents and school districts to hold off on putting any changes into practice. Florida joins other states, including Louisiana and Oklahoma, in opposing the feds' new regulations.
“Florida will fight this,” Diaz wrote on Friday, referring to the updates related to Title IX, a civil-rights law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that receives federal funding.
Also, last Wednesday, the Washington Examiner posted a story that noted:
Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is directing all local school districts in his state not to comply with the Biden administration’s rewrite of Title IX because it puts “women in danger.”
In a letter Wednesday to all local superintendents in the state obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner, Walters called on districts not to make policy changes based on the controversial Title IX overhaul, which redefines sex to include claimed gender identities, calling the rewrite “illegal” and outside compliance with Oklahoma law.
The National Desk website also reported that South Carolina has indicated its intent to oppose the implementation of these new rules.
Attorneys general, ministry leader, Christian legal organization call attention to "debanking"
A Tennessee-based ministry last year was informed by a large bank that its accounts had been cancelled. Steve Happ of Indigenous Advance Ministries addressed the shareholders of Bank of America in a meeting last Wednesday. MinistryWatch.com reported:
...a shareholder proposed a resolution to curb what was called viewpoint-based de-banking by Bank of America.
Steve Happ, founder of Indigenous Advance Ministries, addressed Bank of America’s annual shareholders’ meeting urging them to adopt the resolution.
Happ received letters from the bank last year informing him, “Upon review of your account(s), we have determined you’re operating a business type we have chosen not to service at Bank of America.”
The account closures forced the ministry to delay paying its employees in Uganda, who often live meal to meal, Happ said at a press conference after the meeting.
Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Happ, and Jeremy Tedesco, Senior Vice President of ADF at a press conference following the meeting of BofA shareholders; Ministry Watch stated:
Tedesco said Bank of America has been at the forefront of politicized de-banking, citing situations involving other groups such as the Timothy Two Project International and a local church in Tennessee.
He said the bank needs to be more transparent and conduct an analysis of its dealings to see if there is a pattern of viewpoint discrimination.
Tedesco also pointed out that Bank of America was named in a Congressional staff report as participating in back channel discussions with federal law enforcement, including the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the FBI, and voluntarily handed over Americans’ private financial information.
The Christian Post reported that a group of attorneys general from 15 states "...sent a letter to Bank of America earlier this week demanding answers to allegations that the financial behemoth has discriminated against customers based on political and religious viewpoints. The company has denied such allegations." The article said that, "The letter contends that Bank of America has shuttered the accounts of multiple religious groups within the past three years."
Idaho argues its pro-life law does not violate federal emergency room law
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case involving the state of Idaho's pro-life legislation and whether or not it violated a federal statute.
Liberty Counsel reported on its website that day:
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Moyle v. United States and Idaho v. United States, two consolidated cases questioning whether the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) supersedes Idaho’s near-total abortion ban and can force emergency room doctors to perform abortions in emergency situations.
The article said:
Secretary Xavier Becerra of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued policy guidance in July 2022 to hospitals stating that state abortion laws with more narrow exceptions than EMTALA are “preempted,” and that physicians “must” perform an abortion if they feel abortion is “the stabilizing treatment necessary” to resolve an emergency medical condition. Under the guidance, hospitals could lose federal funding for failing to perform abortions.The Liberty Counsel piece stated, "EMTALA explicitly requires emergency rooms to provide care to a pregnant woman and her 'unborn child' without discrimination, including if they cannot pay for the treatment." It goes on to note:
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act does not preempt state abortion laws, nor does it require the killing of an innocent life. Emergency rooms are only required to stabilize patients, which includes the unborn patient. This so-called ‘guidance’ by the Secretary of Health and Human Services is another lawless act of the Biden administration that should be struck down.”
As CBN News explained: "EMTALA was passed nearly forty years ago by Congress to prevent...the practice by private hospitals at the time that would send emergency room patients who couldn't afford treatment to other hospitals that accepted poor patients." The CBN article said that, "While the high court seemed split after hearing arguments Wednesday, pro-life advocates see the case as another important step in the process of ensuring the right to life for the most vulnerable and called out President Biden for attempting to rewrite the law."
The article included quotes from a variety of pro-life leaders. Kelsey Pritchard, State Public Affairs Director for SBA Pro-Life America, said, "The Biden administration's attack on Idaho's Defense of Life law is more of a PR stunt to spread abortion lobby misinformation than it is a valid legal strategy to take down states' pro-life laws..."
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