Why We Need the Parental Rights Amendment...

Are your God-given rights as a parent important to you? The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child completely undermines the idea of the right of the parent. Here is some information from parentalrights.org about the UN Treaty being considered by the US Senate and the President.


Eighty years ago the Supreme Court declared that “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.” Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510
(1925). Thirty years ago the Court continued this line of reasoning with the pronouncement
that the “primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established
beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.” Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).

Yet in 2000, when the State of Washington gave any person the ability to override a good
parent’s decision about visitation by simply claiming that it would be “best” for children to
allow the third-party to have visitation rights, in the Supreme Court’s Troxel v. Granville:

•
There were six separate opinions and none reached a five-vote majority.
•
Justice Thomas was the only justice to clearly state that parental rights.
receive the same high legal standard of protection as other fundamental rights.
•
Justice Scalia held that parents have no constitutionally protected rights whatsoever.

Support for a high-view of
parental rights has been
seriously undermined by
the current Court. As a
consequence, numerous
lower federal courts refuse
to treat parental rights as
deserving of protection as
a fundamental right.

At the same time, America
is poised to adopt the UN
Convention on the Rights
of the Child. President
Obama supports this treaty.
Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton has been a leading
advocate of this treaty for
over twenty years. Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has
“promised” that this treaty
will be ratified during this
term of Congress.

Why We Need the
Parental Rights Amendment

The proposed
PARENTAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT
HJRes 42 / SJRes 16

Section 1.

The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education
of their children is a fundamental right.

Section 2.

Neither the United States nor any State shall infringe upon
this right without demonstrating that its governmental inter-
est as applied to the person is of the highest order and not
otherwise served.

Section 3.

No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of interna-
tional law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or
apply to the rights guaranteed by this article.

If this treaty is ratified:

•
The laws of all 50 states on children and parents would be superseded by this international
law by virtue of a specific provision of the US Constitution which expressly declares
treaties to be supreme over state law. Virtually all law on children and parents is state law.
•
Good parents would no longer be entitled to the legal presumption that they act in the best
interests of their children. Instead, the government would have the authority to overrule all
parents on any decision concerning the child if the government believed it could make a
better decision.
•
Parents could no longer spank their children.
•
Children would have the legal right to choose their own religion. Parents would be
permitted only to give advice.
•
America would be under a binding legal obligation to massively increase its federal
spending on children’s programs.

The only kind of law that can override a treaty is the Constitution of the United States. State
laws or state constitutions cannot override treaties. There is no guarantee that federal statutes
could override treaties—moreover, we enter a binding legal promise to obey a treaty when we
ratify it. America should not promise to obey a treaty and then claim it is appropriate to obey
the treaty only when we want to. America of all nations must respect the rule of law.

There is only one possible solution for the eroding support for parental rights in the Supreme
Court that can also stop the encroachment of international law.

We need to place time-honored parental rights, as recognized by the Supreme Court for over
seventy years, into the explicit text of the Constitution.

We cannot wait until our rights are formally demolished. We must act now to stop interna-
tional law and protect these two key principles:

•
Fit parents should be allowed to direct the upbringing of their children.
•
American legislators, not international tribunals, should make the public
policy for America on families and children.

If you believe these two principles, become a supporter of parental rights:

Donate, volunteer, or join the e-mail network at

P.O. Box 1090 Purcellville, Virginia 20132
info@parentalrights.org – (540) 751-1200