By Cathi Herrod President

I often get asked why I do what I do. There are two simple reasons...

First, God has called me. I do this out of obedience, knowing in my “knower” that God has called me to stand for righteousness in the culture. I know that he has gifted me and made me to do this work. Three key Bible passages guide me:

Matthew 5:13 – We’re to be salt and light in the culture.

Ephesians 5:15 – We’re to wake up and make the most of every opportunity for the days are evil. We are to expose evil deeds of darkness.

Judges– In the book of Judges, Deborah arose as a mother in Israel to lead the troops into battle.

I believe that each one of us is called to do something to stand for righteousness in the culture.

Second, I am committed to this cause because of my two children.

I can’t sit silently by when the issues I care most about — sanctity of human life, sanctity of marriage, our First Amendment freedom of religion — are being threatened and destroyed by our culture today. I see a culture all around me that’s out to capture my children and the grandchildren I hope to have one day.

Allow me to share some real-life stories impacting very real families. These stories illustrate what is happening in our own back yard, right here in Arizona. I believe they will show why I — why we all — must engage the culture and why there is a great need for an organization like The Center for Arizona Policy.

Story #1

In Chandler, a 16-year-old girl had an abortion at a local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. Arizona law requires written consent from one of the parents or a court order authorizing the abortion. Planned Parenthood did not get the parents’ consent. Instead, the clinic accepted an email sent by the girl’s boyfriend from his high school computer!

Within about two weeks of the abortion, the daughter told her mom everything about the abortion. Mom called dad. When dad got to the house, he found his daughter curled up on her bed in a fetal position, crying that God wouldn’t be able to forgive her and she couldn’t forgive herself.

Imagine the parents anguish. I’ve met with both parents. I have no idea whether these parents would have said “yes” to the abortion or not.

But Planned Parenthood didn’t care enough about them — or their daughter — to make sure the parental consent was valid. These parents certainly would have stood by their daughter and walked her through the decision-making process. Instead, Planned Parenthood thought they knew better and totally ignored the parents’ rights.

To prevent this situation from happening, CAP asked the legislature to pass a bill to require notarized parental consent. I have to get numerous school forms notarized for my kids. It seems like a consent form for an abortion should be notarized. The bill, however, was vetoed by Gov. Napolitano in 2006.

These are the facts today in Arizona: our daughters as young as 12, or even 11, can go to the local abortion clinic and get their first female exam, get birth control pills, and even get an abortion without our knowledge. How can we sit silently by when that can happen today? How dare anyone think they can touch my young daughter without my involvement and approval?

Story #2

In another abortion story – Planned Parenthood performed an abortion on a 13-year old girl not once, but twice, before she turned 14. Arizona law requires sexual conduct with a minor to be reported to law enforcement. Planned Parenthood didn’t report the sexual activity as required after the first abortion. They waited until the girl had two abortions.

This young girl was a ward of the state. She was impregnated by her 23-year-old foster brother both times. He was the one who took her for the abortions. The perpetrator was given a prison sentence. Planned Parenthood was sued for civil damages and settled out of court.

Story #3

Next, consider what has happened to the sanctity of marriage. Over 30 years ago, Arizona and most other states passed so-called “no-fault” divorce laws that make it easier to divorce your spouse of 30 or 40 years than it is to fire your employee of one week.

Stop and think about your circle of friends — we all know someone who has gone through a divorce because the husband was having an affair or is addicted to pornography or some other sexual perversion. Or perhaps he merely decided he didn’t want to be married any longer. The divorce laws in our state are so skewed that women in this position often don’t get an equitable settlement.

Our divorce laws make it too easy for one spouse — whether it is the husband or the wife — to walk away from their vows and commitment.

When no-fault divorce laws were passed 30 years ago, organizations like CAP didn’t exist to oppose those laws and stand for the family. Now, we face an uphill battle to reform divorce laws, but it is a battle we can win if people engage with us in this fight.

In 2005, CAP worked to pass a law to allow judges to consider marital misconduct as part of the divorce financial settlement only to have the governor veto the bill.

Story #4

Or consider this reality in our state – our young daughters who go to college often face two very lucrative ways to support themselves or to simply make extra spending money. They can become a stripper at a local sex club or they can sell their eggs. University newspapers carry ads offering as much as $4,000 to young coeds for each egg donation procedure.

Both stripping and selling eggs exploit women and carry long term consequences.

At CAP, we’re working to support regulation of local strip clubs and egg sales. Some of the laws we’ve supported to regulate strip clubs have become law. On egg donations, two bills were passed, only to be vetoed by the governor. But we are not giving up!

Story #5

About this time last year, we started hearing about this wonderful new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer called the HPV vaccine. HPV stands for the human papilloma virus – it is a sexually-transmitted disease and the leading cause of cervical cancer. The only way you get HPV is by having sexual relations.

Throughout the country, states were considering legislation to require young girls get the vaccine. The Texas governor signed an executive order making the vaccine mandatory for girls in order to attend school.

At CAP, we don’t take a position on whether or not women should get the HPV vaccine. But we do take a strong position that government should not require young girls as early as 6th grade to get a vaccination against a sexually-transmitted disease. That’s a decision for parents to make, not the government.

Because of our work at the legislature last year, Arizona is one of the few, if not the only, state in the country to have a law prohibiting the HPV vaccine from being required for school attendance.

Story #6

I’m sure many of you have children with MySpace or Facebook pages. It’s a popular way for kids to stay in touch with their friends. It also can be a dangerous way to connect with strangers.

Last year, CAP worked with legislators and law enforcement to get a bill passed and signed into law to require convicted sex offenders to register their online identities with law enforcement.

Starting in January, the new law requires convicted sex offenders to provide their online emails and screen names to law enforcement, just like they have to provide their street addresses. Parents then will be able to go online and check whether any of their children’s friends online in fact are sexual predators.

Story #7

How about another story right in our own backyard – an 8-year-old boy in a Phoenix elementary school recently went to the school nurse complaining of an ear ache.

Rather than simply tend to an earache, the school nurse showed him pages of a booklet titled Always Changing: Puberty and Stuff published by Old Spice.

It’s what’s inside that’s the real problem. The booklet gives detailed descriptions about changes to the male body during puberty, including information about anatomy, erections, and wet dreams. All this given to an 8-year-old without his mother knowing about it!!!

When the 8-year-old brought the booklet home to dear old mom, mom was a little upset. As a result of a mom taking action, the school now requires parental consent before they give the “always changing” materials to students.

This one mom has made a difference. She has taken steps to protect her child.

CAP is now looking into this situation to see whether changes to state law should be pursued and whether state laws were violated.

Story #8

Consider the story of Jesse Ramirez. Jesse and his wife were having an argument while driving in the car. They got in a rollover car accident. Jesse suffered serious injuries leading to a coma. Jesse’s doctors gave his wife several options for Jesse’s treatment. One option was to put Jesse in hospice and remove his feeding tube. Wife chose this option. Jesse’s feeding tube was removed and he was sent to hospice to die by starving and dehydration.

But Arizona law requires a court order or a legal document like a living will or health care power of attorney that specifically states whether a feeding tube can be removed. Jesse’s wife had no such documentation.

Thankfully, Jesse had a sister who fought for his life. She contacted our friends at the Alliance Defense Fund who took the necessary legal action to save Jesse. The feeding tube was put back in. In just a few weeks, Jesse woke up. Recently he walked out of the hospital.

Not long ago, CAP General Counsel Peter Gentala and I had a breakfast scheduled with Jesse's sister. To our great delight and blessing, Jesse came along with his sister for breakfast. It’s not everyday we get to witness miracles — and Jesse’s walking into the restaurant surely was and is a real life miracle.

Jesse ordered pancakes for breakfast. He could carry on a conversation. Yet he had been left for dead.

We’re working on legislation – we’ll call it “Jesse’s Law” – to make sure our laws are as strong as they need to be. We’re concerned other people are dying because their feeding tubes are removed without legal authorization but nobody steps up to fight for their lives.

Story #9

At least Arizona hasn’t gone the way of California or Massachusetts — or at least not yet.

Consider the legislation recently signed into law in California. The California Student Civil Rights Act prohibits teachers from any instruction or activity that “reflects adversely” on persons because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. No one really knows what “reflects adversely” will mean for California school children.

Most believe the new law will require positive portrayals of homosexuality, bisexuality, and transsexualism, starting in kindergarten. The Los Angeles School District already allows students claiming to be transsexual to use the locker rooms of their choice. That means a young boy who “identifies” as a girl could be using your daughter’s locker room if you lived in California.

Also consider what’s happened in Massachusetts since same-sex “marriage” licenses were imposed by the courts. Children as young as 5 and 6 years old have been required to listen as they are read a book called King and King.

This fairy tale tells the story of a young prince who sets off to marry another prince rather than a princess. When parents complained, they were told “too bad” – same-sex “marriage” in Massachusetts trumps your rights as parents to pull your children from classroom materials and activities you find offensive to your personal, religious, or moral values.

Heeding the Call

Given these real–world, real-life stories, we each have to ask ourselves how can we not be involved? How can we not expose evil deeds of darkness and be salt and light to this culture?

At The Center for Arizona Policy, we’re committed to defending and protecting traditional family values.

I’m convinced the next year is a critical one for the future of our state, our nation, and our children. The next President will shape the United States Supreme Court for the next 30 or 40 years. Who gets elected to the Arizona legislature next year will determine what happens in our state on critical issues like abortion, school choice, parental rights, religious freedoms, and the definition of marriage.

Will you please join CAP in the effort to shape the future of Arizona? We cannot do it alone. It takes all of us working together to make a difference. As 2007 comes to a close, would you consider send us a year-end tax-deductible gift? You can contribute online from the CAP web site, www.azpolicy.org, or send a donation to CAP at 7227 N. 16th Street, Suite 250, Phoenix, Arizona, 85020.

Thank you for standing firm to protect Arizona’s families!

[Ed. — This article was excerpted from a November 2007 speech given by Cathi. To schedule Cathi as a speaker, contact Jane Snyder at jsnyder@azpolicy.org.]