Last week’s congressional tussle over defunding Planned Parenthood demonstrates that national deliberation on controversial moral debates is far from over. While federal funding of abortion is currently in the media spotlight, a new fight is being waged in the culture war over individuals’ right of conscience. As new Heritage research from Visiting Fellow Thomas Messner points out, increasing government overreach through regulations and nondiscrimination policies poses serious threats to citizens’ conscience rights and religious liberty. From health care to institutional religious freedom to legalizing same-sex marriage, threats to conscience rights …
As Tax Day arrives, families across the country are reluctantly pulling out purses and wallets to cut a hefty check to Uncle Sam. While the annual pain of paying federal income taxes is far from pleasant, married families can take comfort in the fact that they are probably better off financially than their single counterparts. Even among families with only one working spouse, married households fare far better than those headed by single men and women. On average, a single man will only make two-thirds the annual income of a …
Teen substance abuse is once again on the rise, according to a national study of adolescent drug and alcohol use released this week. The annual release of the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) showed an alarming increase in adolescent substance abuse since 2008. According to the study (PDF), teen illicit drug use and prescription drug abuse have significantly increased in the past three years. Marijuana use among adolescents increased 22 percent from 2008 to 2010, with nearly 40 percent of teens using the drug within the past year. Ecstasy use …
Yesterday, the House Armed Services Committee heard testimonies from leaders in the armed forces on the impact of last year’s repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The hearing was one of the first full committee discussions of the topic in the House of Representatives since repeal of the law was mentioned by President Obama in last year’s State of the Union address. Such delayed discussion is one of the many concerns surrounding the reversal of the 1993 law banning open homosexuals from serving in the armed forces. A new paper …
Despite the assertive statements of celebrity atheists, national book tours denouncing God and the perennial docket of court cases challenging the presence of religion in the public square, most Americans believe in God and many regularly practice their faith. Heritage research on the newly launched FamilyFacts.org shows that 75 percent of American adults believe in God and another 11 percent in some higher power. Many Americans take their faith a step further—almost 40 percent of all adults act on that belief by attending religious institutions at least once a week, …
Despite the prevalence of TV shows detailing the tawdry lifestyles and nonchalant hook-up scene of the supposedly typical American teenager, more young people are choosing to remain abstinent. According to a recent report from the National Survey of Family Growth, more than a quarter of young men and women between 15 and 24 years old report never having had sexual contact. Likewise, as shown in new charts on FamilyFacts.org, more than half of all U.S. high school students report remaining abstinent, an 18 percent increase since the 1990s. The increase …
The scandal and heartache of teen pregnancy has been exploited by producers of popular prime-time TV, who have made stories of 16-year-olds stumbling through accelerated adolescence into marketable drama. Likewise, news media have scrutinized the teen birth phenomenon for some time. The truly shocking and underreported story, however, is that of unmarried 20-something parents. While 21 percent of children born outside of marriage are to teen mothers, more than 60 percent of unwed births occur to women in their 20s. It is not the young girls studying for the SAT …
The House Judiciary Committee finished its mark-up of H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act on Thursday and voted 23–14, on mostly partisan lines, in favor of the bill. Puerto Rico Delegate Pedro Pierluisi was the only Democrat to vote for the bill. H.R. 3 seeks to prohibit federal funding of abortion by permanently codifying an array of protections against government subsidies for abortions. Keeping federal taxpayer money out of the hands of abortion providers is no small task. From appropriations for the Department of Health and Human …
Among the billions of cuts in the continuing resolution before the House today was a cost-saving amendment that may also save priceless lives. Representative Mike Pence (R–IN), who has fought to end Planned Parenthood’s federal grant subsidies, introduced an amendment to H.R. 1 that would prohibit the abortion provider from receiving any taxpayer dollars. The amendment passed the House of Representatives this afternoon by a vote of 240–185. The amendment to the continuing resolution, which Congress needs to pass in order to keep the federal government in business, eliminates federal …
As millions of rose bouquets grace kitchen tables and office desks across America and dozens of chocolate delicacies are savored after candlelight dinners, card companies, jewelry stores and candy makers will be singing the praises of St. Valentine and raising their own glass of champagne to love. But the economic benefits of celebrating lifelong love are not simply for card stores and florist shops once a year. Marriage not only pays emotional dividends as men and women commit themselves to each other, focus on their children, and face the challenges …
