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Announcing New Blog; Guidance on Finding the Official Positions of MWEG
We are pleased to announce the launch of “Voices of MWEG,” a blog featuring the work of individual members of Mormon Women for Ethical Government. You can find it at www.womenmakingpeace.org. Empowering women and highlighting their unique voices is an important part of our mission, and this new space will amplify voices you might not otherwise hear. It is already filled with wise and thoughtful words written by the women of MWEG. Our membership is ideologically, experientially, and politically diverse, which is a source of our strength. However, our organization is committed to being nonpartisan. As such, we recognize the need to clearly distinguish between the opinions of individuals we…
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Release Detainees Now
COVID-19 has changed the way we live, work, and learn in the United States, in the all-important effort to slow the spread of this virus. Difficult as these changes have been, most of us are fortunate to be able to socially distance and practice proper hygiene. Inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, however, conditions remain dangerously unsanitary. As COVID-19 continues to present new and pressing needs, consider the ethical obligations in these common scenarios: A young man with asthma fled gang violence in Honduras. He is in ICE custody after presenting himself at the border to declare his desire to obtain asylum. An elderly woman is detained in…
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What Is Vote-by-Mail?
The election of 1864 was held in the midst of civil war — a national crisis of a magnitude our country had never seen before and has not seen since. One German-born commentator was shocked when the nation went ahead with elections. But Abraham Lincoln knew that if they allowed the flames of the Civil War to engulf the elections of 1864, the very republic he fought to preserve would also risk ruin. He said, “We cannot have free Government without elections, and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us” (Nov. 10, 1864).…
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Update on COVID-19 and Immigration
Many of us are focused on our own social distancing and coping with the stress of strange schedules and new routines. Some of us are shuffling to find childcare or replacement income for lost work. All of these struggles are real and valid. As we deal with our own trials, may we also keep in mind those refugees who are unable to work or social distance while in U.S. custody or in camps, both at our southern border and around the world. Asylum seekers in border camps Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP), also known as the “Remain in Mexico Policy,” can remain in…
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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on the Coronavirus Pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic has brought into sharp relief the degree to which we are all interconnected. We prayerfully plead that we meet this knowledge not with selfishness or indifference, but instead with a renewed determination to work together to mitigate exposure and suffering. This effort must be made both by governments and individuals. We can all act in ways that preserve both human life [1] and the cohesion of local and global communities. We must responsibly follow the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, which direct governments and institutional leaders to provide clear information, actively monitor events to mitigate spread, and implement measures to protect health systems and provide care. Failure…
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Official Statement from Mormon Women for Ethical Government on Judiciary Independence
One of the basic institutions of our democracy is an independent judiciary — one that is free from external pressure and political threats that arise from the other co-branches of government. Keeping distance between branches creates and instills trust in the judiciary by assuring each individual access to a fair and uninfluenced judicial system. In the past two weeks we have seen attacks on the judiciary from both the executive branch and the legislative branch of our government. In late February President Trump called on Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor to recuse themselves from anything ‘Trump-related.’ This aberrant request from the president came as the Supreme Court was to…
