Parents’ Rights Up for a Vote

Authors: John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy Padgett

In a letter dated June 1, several organizations under the leadership of the Alliance Defending Freedom urged every member of the U.S. Congress to pass the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act (FRRA). This bill would enshrine into law the primacy of moms and dads in the care of their own kids. Among other things, it would recognize: 

(1) The nature of the parent-child relationship endows parents with the primary responsibility and obligation to care for their child. 

(2) From these responsibilities and obligations comes the pre-political, natural right of parents to care for their children. 

(3) The role of parents in the raising and rearing of their children is of inestimable value and deserving of both praise and protection by all levels of government. 

The organizers chose June 1 to mark the 100th anniversary of a consequential Supreme Court case that clarified parental rights. In 1925, Pierce vs. Society of Sisters unanimously recognized a parental right to school choice, affirming what should be obvious: Parents, not the state, are the final authority for their children’s wellbeing. 

Though this case was formally about education, it had strong implications for the relationship between home and government. In his majority opinion, Justice James C. McReynolds wrote: 

The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations. 

That common sense approach to the relationship between family and the state is now being challenged. A dangerous alliance of government agents, medical professionals, educators, self-appointed activists, and media outlets have decided to champion the world’s children by challenging the role of parents, essentially making moms and dads temporary and optional caretakers. This is not God’s design. 

There are already cases of kids being taken from their families that refuse to play along with transgender ideology. Parents have been charged with child abuse for refusing the dangerous and now debunked practice of chemical sterilizations. Most recently, Colorado Governor Jared Polis and the state legislature attempted to grant themselves the power to take kids from parents that “misgender” their child. With HB 25-1312, 

[A] court shall consider deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual’s gender-affirming health-care services as types of coercive control. ... A court shall consider reports of coercive control when determining the allocation of parental responsibilities in accordance with the best interests of the child. 

These examples of government overreach are clear violations of the First Amendment, and Americans have good reason to be confident that many will be overturned before long. Still, as with the long persecution of people like Jack Phillips, much damage is done in the meantime. A dark and powerful worldview of sexual idolization drives these laws, and proponents aren’t backing down.   

It is crucial that laws like the Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act are passed. Parental authority should only be questioned and supplanted in the most extreme situations. Parents do not love and care for their children at the state’s behest. Instead, as the bill describes it, their rights and authorities are literally given by God as a “pre-political, natural right.”  

Please help ensure that the family and government spheres are in proper order. Contact your senators and representatives in Washington. Imitate the persistent widow in Luke 18, and call these elected officials back to common sense. For more information, go to the Promise to America’s Parents website and download ADF’s free resource, “Parents in Control: A Guide to Your Rights in Education and Healthcare.”  

Parental rights precede the state’s power, and any attempt to undermine this structure usurps what both common sense and Scripture tell us.