| | Midterm election results roll in | | Curated for you byCP Editors | | Good afternoon! It's Wednesday, November 9, and today's headlines include coverage of the 2022 midterm elections, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders becoming the first female governor of Arkansas, the Florida Boards of Medicine & Osteo Medicine voting to ban gender transition surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones for minors, and new research that suggests women who abort their first pregnancies are at greater risk of health complications. | | Republican incumbent governors secured major victories at the polls Tuesday night, including Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp defeating Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defeating former presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis strengthened his 2024 presidential prospects with a nearly 20-percentage-point victory over Democrat former Congressman Charlie Crist in a state that former President Donald Trump won by less than 4 points in 2020. Republicans also performed well in U.S. House races in Florida, winning 20 of the state's 28 congressional districts. | | Georgia's U.S. Senate race, which could determine which party holds the majority for the next two years, remains too close to call and could be headed to a runoff if neither major party candidate receives 50% of the vote. With 97% of the vote reporting, Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock secured 49.4% of the vote, while Republican challenger Herschel Walker accumulated 48.6% of the vote. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary during part of the Trump administration, was elected governor of Arkansas, while J.D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy, won the open Senate seat in Ohio. In Maryland, Democrat Wes Moore won the governorship currently held by term-limited Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, becoming the first African American governor in the state's history. Unofficial results show Moore winning by a margin of more than 20 points. For more election updates and results, click here. | | P.S. Looking for a way to close out your week? Stay in the know with In Case You Missed It, a Friday-only newsletter that features a roundup of the top stories of the week and a selection of faith-based highlights. Subscribe here. |
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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders becomes first woman elected governor of Arkansas | | Sarah Huckabee Sanders made history on Tuesday, becoming the first woman elected governor of Arkansas. Sanders, the former White House press secretary for President Donald Trump and the daughter of Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, joked in her acceptance speech that while she always considered him "the best governor Arkansas has ever had," she hoped "to take that title away from him pretty soon." With 93% of the vote in by Wednesday morning, Sanders defeated her Democrat opponent Chris Jones, getting 63.1% of the vote, while Jones received 35.1% and Libertarian candidate Ricky Harrington 1.8%. Read more. | | Lawsuit alleges HHS is hiding information about abortion pills | | Nonprofit organization Judicial Watch has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration, cautioning that it is suppressing information about abortion pills. In a medical abortion, women are given two drugs: Mifeprex (mifepristone) and misoprostol. The former works by blocking the effects of the natural pregnancy hormone progesterone, while the latter induces contractions and a miscarriage. In the U.S., these drugs are commonly referred to as the abortion pill. In a statement announcing the lawsuit, Judicial President Tom Fitton said, "Our experience is that this chemical abortion pill did not and will not receive appropriate review from the politicized [Department of Justice]. It is outrageous that Judicial Watch has had to sue in federal court for basic safety information about the abortion pill, which is being pushed on women by a desperate pro-abortion movement." Read more. | | Florida medical boards ban gender transition surgeries, puberty blockers for minors | | Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo has announced that the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathic Medicine have voted to ban minors in the state from obtaining puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender transition surgeries, making the state on track to become the fourth state to ban gender transition procedures for minors. While social conservative activists praised the move, the LGBT advocacy group Human Rights Campaign condemned the vote for "deny[ing] medically necessary, age-appropriate healthcare to transgender" minors, asserting it " will do irreparable harm to countless Floridian kids and their families." Read more. |
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| Can churches balance diversity, inclusion with being biblical, spirit-filled? | | Todd Brady, the vice president for university ministries at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., discusses the exodus of many churches from the United Methodist Church over the issue of homosexuality. As society becomes increasingly polarized, shifting to the edges of the political spectrum, Brady discusses whether churches can balance diversity and inclusion while being biblical. Brady reflects on the biblical story of the woman at the well, explaining, "Jesus was both compassionate and convictional. He told the woman to go home and that 'you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.' While speaking the truth to her, he also showed her love and said that those who are 'true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.' (John 4) For our purposes here, the keyword is 'and.' Spirit and truth. Many of our Methodist friends seem to be making a choice between what their church says is spirit and truth and what the Bible says is spirit and truth." Read more. | | Gay vs. queer | | Grove City College Professor Carl R. Trueman discusses the debate over the use of the terms "gay" and "queer" and the "fundamental incoherence in an alliance that requires affirmation of the gender binary in the L, the G, and the B whilst emphatically denying it in the T and Q." Trueman notes that "queerness" is not inclusive because it "destabilizes, subverts, and thereby ultimately excludes all other categories" and discusses the lack of meaning and stability in critical theories surrounding race, sexuality and gender. Read more. |
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| Study reveals health complications for women who abort first pregnancies | | Research conducted by the Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI) and published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology shows that women who terminate their first pregnancies have greater health risks during later pregnancies than women whose first pregnancy results in a live birth. The researchers examined data from more than 5,400 Medicaid beneficiaries between 1999 and 2015 in the 17 states that use taxpayer funds to pay for abortions that federal Medicaid does not cover. The study organized women ages 16 and older into three separate groups depending on whether they gave birth or if their pregnancy ended in an abortion or a natural miscarriage. Their findings revealed that women who aborted their first pregnancies had, on average, 53% more miscarriages compared to women whose first pregnancies resulted in a live birth. Women whose first pregnancies were terminated also had 35% more pregnancies over their reproductive lifetimes and more than four times as many abortions as women whose first pregnancies involved a live birth. Read more. |
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| Pastor says slain rapper Takeoff loved to worship | | Rev. Jessee Curney III, the senior pastor of New Mercies Christian Church in Lilburn, Ga., says Migos rapper Takeoff was a faithful church member. Police are still trying to decipher the events that led to Takeoff's death at the age of 28 in Houston, which started over a dice game. Curney told V-103 on Monday that the rapper "loved coming to worship," adding, "I plan to remember him as the young man I saw grow up in the church who loved being with his family." Plans are underway to celebrate the rapper's life with an elaborate public funeral at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta Friday. Tickets for the event were free to Georgia residents and were made available to the general public on Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, the event was sold out. Read more. | | | | | | | | Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors |
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