Contact: Michael Ramey, Director of Communications & Research, ParentalRights.org, 540-751-1247, Media@parentalrights.org
WASHINGTON, June 18, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC) today introduced a resolution in the U.S. House to amend the United States Constitution to protect children and parents from governmental overreach. The proposed Parental Rights Amendment already has 40 original cosponsors. ParentalRights.org leads grassroots support for the measure.
"In a time when longstanding truths and traditions are being tested, we must safeguard the right of parents to direct their children's upbringing and education," Meadows explained. "This amendment to our Constitution would ensure that these decisions are made not by faceless bureaucrats but by parents who love their children and know them best."
Constitutional lawyer and ParentalRights.org president Michael Farris agrees. "Traditionally the Supreme Court has held that fit parents make decisions that are in their child's best interests. But that presumption is being eroded today in our courts and in U.N. conventions. More and more, judges are making decisions based on what they think is best for the child, rather than respecting the natural right of loving parents to make that call."
The proposed amendment would establish, in part, that "[t]he liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children is a fundamental right." Other sections establish a high legal standard to protect these rights and a safeguard against international law overriding the parental role. This is the fourth consecutive Congress in which the measure has been introduced.
Support for the Parental Rights Amendment has increased through a number of high-profile incidents in recent months, including a California case in which Child Protective Services removed a baby from his parents' custody because they sought a second medical opinion prior to heart surgery. And more recently, a bill that would assign a government worker to oversee every child from birth is being considered in Scotland in response to their obligations under the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child. Parental rights supporters believe the proposed amendment will keep such laws from ever being adopted here.
More information on the proposed Amendment, including the full text and a current list of cosponsors, is available at ParentalRights.org.
