Contraception Rights, Fight Against Human Trafficking, and ‘Queen of Christian Pop’

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday (July 21) to protect contraceptive rights that opponents say will actually violate religious freedom and promote abortion.

The Democratic-controlled House voted close to party lines for the Right to Contraception Act with eight Republicans joining all of the House Democrats in the chamber to approve the proposal.

The House action was the latest effort by Democrats to codify abortion access into law U.S.

The bill bars the application of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a 1993 federal law that prohibits the government from substantially burdening the free exercise of religion.

Brent Leatherwood, acting president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission called the action simply extreme when they created a pathway to pave over sincerely held religious beliefs.

Incorporating the leadership of survivors and programs to address societal inequities are two essentials in the fight against human trafficking, the U.S. State Department said in its 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report.

The United States is one of 30 Tier 1 countries, signaling conformance to minimum anti-trafficking standards under the Trafficking Victim Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA). Tier rankings do not indicate the extent of human trafficking in any particular country named, but ranks the level of engagement of TVPA standards, the report stipulates.

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Contemporary Christian musician Amy Grant has been named one of the Kennedy Center’s five honorees for 2022.

The center plans to celebrate Grant in its 45th class of honorees that also includes actor George Clooney, singer Gladys Knight, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tania León and the rock band U2.

Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein lauded Grant, saying in a statement that she “became the first artist to bring contemporary Christian music to the forefront of American culture, then equally thrived after crossing over into mainstream pop with hit after hit, and today is revered as the ‘Queen of Christian Pop.’”

Over more than four decades, Grant has had album sales exceeding 30 million and more than a billion global streams, earning three multiplatinum albums, six platinum albums and four gold albums.