amendment to the Constitution safeguarding parental rights as a buffer against the potential U.S. ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of The Child. Opponents of the treaty contend it would enable government officials and a Geneva-based U.N. committee of experts to interfere with parental authority. Rep. Hoekstra said he and his allies have been concerned by some recent court rulings that they view as erosions of parental rights, but the U.N. treaty is their main concern. His amendment opens by declaring: "The liberty of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children is a fundamental right." It says the U.S. government and the states cannot infringe on that right without clear justification and concludes: "No treaty may be adopted nor shall any source of international law be employed to supersede, modify, interpret, or apply to the rights guaranteed by this article." Ratification of an international treaty requires two-thirds support in the Senate, which would - in the chamber's current makeup - require more than a half-dozen Republicans to join majority Democrats. To date, the Bill has not made it to the floor of the House or Senate for a vote and has been reintroduced in every session since it was originally introduced. On January 30, 2019, Bill H.J.Res.36, "Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States relating to parental rights", was introduced to the House by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN). A new constitutional amendment proposal would establish parental rights in the U.S. Constitution — along with the existing rights to freedom of speech, religion, press, and the rest. Specifically, it would enshrine "the liberty of parents to direct the upbringing, education, and care of their children." The education component would enshrine the right to choose a private schools, religious school, or homeschooling. It also clarifies that the amendment would not "apply to a parental action or decision that would end life.'' In other words, this presumably means the rights of a parent would not extend to the right to abort a pregnancy. On September 22, 2020, the Family Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization advocating for both children's and parental rights, created a petition on the "We the People" website at petitions.whitehouse.gov to gather signatures to urge Congress to act on H.J.Res.36 which was before congress during the current (2019-2020) session. Supporters argue the bill explicitly gives America's 173 million parents more rights and