Thomasson: "This bill equates loving, corrective discipline with hateful, harmful abuse"
Contact: Campaign for Children and Families, Agency Contact, 530-405-4095 ext. 2
SACRAMENTO, Nov. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- This morning on FNC's Fox & Friends, Campaign for Children and Families President Randy Thomasson debated Rep. Jay Kaufman, whose bill banning spanking is scheduled for a hearing today in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
House Bill 3922 states "it shall be unlawful" for a parent to provide corporal punishment to their own children. Taking direct aim at good parents who occasionally spank to correct rebellion, the bill specifically bans "the willful infliction of physical pain," even temporary pain to a child's buttocks.
"This bill equates loving, corrective discipline with hateful, harmful abuse," said Thomasson, who earlier this year helped lead the opposition to a similar California bill by Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber. "Just as California's proposed spanking ban was stopped cold, Kaufman's bill should be rejected by lawmakers who respect the sanctity of the home. Why are Democrat politicians like Jay Kaufman so intolerant of parents who occasionally spank? Do they have something against good, responsible parents who teach their children to respect authority? This bill would turn most parents into suspected child abusers."
"This punish-you-if-you-spank-your-children bill is intrusive, unenforceable, and a blatant violation of parental rights," said Thomasson. "What's next, jail time for parents who raise their voices at their children? We already have enough legitimate laws prohibiting physical abuse of children, and this proposal is certainly not one of them."
"This nonsensical bill injects the big nose of government into the family home, where it doesn't belong," said Thomasson. "Some parents spank and some parents don't, and that's their right as parents. Government regulation of parents' discipline wipes out the right of parents to raise their own children. This is wrong. God gave children to parents, not to the state."
"Appropriate spanking is not 'beating' or 'abusing' a child, which is a ridiculous and offensive comparison," continued Thomasson. "When appropriate spanking is lovingly administered, it greatly helps a disobedient youngster to become a well-adjusted adult who respects authority."
Click here for the rest of this news release
CAMPAIGN FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (CCF) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing children and families in California and America. CCF stands for marriage and family, parental rights, the sanctity of human life, religious freedom, financial freedom, and back-to-basics education.
