Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is advancing federal regulations that require federally funded organizations caring for illegal alien minors who are in the United States without their parents (Unaccompanied Children or UC) and who may have been sexually abused access to “emergency contraception” services. “Emergency contraception” includes abortion-inducing drugs. These care providers currently include Catholic and other faith-based organizations that oppose abortion, according to the Center for Family and Human Rights or C-FAM, a Catholic advocacy group. The Interim Final Rule was published in the Federal Register on Dec. 24,...

It is one thing to be ignorant of a law. There are so many out there that none of us can keep track of them all, including the lawyers. It is quite another matter to be behind the curve on a statute you are debating. feminist majority foundation While the outcome of the Hobby Lobby Stores v. Burwell case is still heavily debated, it remains important to consider why the Supreme Court ruled the way it did in this controversial case. This issue received considerable attention at a recent Feminist Majority conference in which the importance of creating a women’s...

LEXINGTON, MA – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the development of a contraceptive microchip that can be remotely controlled to release hormones that can act as abortifacients into a woman's body for up to 16 years. Both the chip's potential to take a life and the potential privacy concerns have drawn criticism. The chip, which measures 20 x 20 x 7 millimeters, can be implanted under the skin of a woman's buttocks, upper arm, or abdomen in 30 minutes. The device contains a 16-year reservoir of the drug levonorgestrel, releasing 30 micrograms a day – but the...

As a faithful Catholic with moral objections to forced Christian complicity in both abortion and contraception, I had many reasons to rejoice in the Supreme CourtÂ’s majority decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby written by Justice Alito. Unfortunately, the CourtÂ’s reasoning was not one of them. Two premises in the majorityÂ’s argument were especially troubling: first, the CourtÂ’s assertion of the legal inscrutability of moral and religious beliefs, and second, its assumption of the GovernmentÂ’s claim that contraceptives and abortifacients are necessary for womenÂ’s health and well-being. Contrary to the first premise, I agree with dissenting Justice Ginsburg that...

On April 30, the Food and Drug Administration approved over the counter sale of the morning-after pill Plan B One-Step to all women aged 15 and older. Plan B One-Step is the name of the drug, made exclusively by Teva Women's Health, Inc., which acts as an emergency contraceptive which reduces the possibility of pregnancy when taken up to three days after sexual intercourse. It is taken as a single-dose 1.5 mg tablet of levonorgestrel. Pharmacies and retailers with on-site pharmacies will have the drug on shelves, and those wishing to purchase it will have to provide proof of age....

August 16, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In July, LifeSiteNews broke the story of Catholic Relief Services, “the official overseas relief and development agency of the USCCB,” granting $5.3 million to CARE, a pro-contraception and pro-abortion organization. Since then, numerous blogs have picked up the story—and investigated further. “Red State” has reported on CRS as a dues-paying member of both the pro-conraception CORE Group and the pro-abortion group MEDiCAM. “Societas Restituo Catholicam” has the evidence on MEDiCAM in a detailed post showing visual proof of the company’s “firm commitment to expanding abortion” since 2005. In a press release, CRS said their...

Someone should tell President Obama there’s no such thing as a free abortion pill. The White House is trying to douse a political wildfire sparked by an Obamacare mandate forcing religiously affiliated institutions to provide a full range of contraception measures for employees - including pills that induce abortions. Catholic and other religious leaders with principled objections cried foul, citing promises that they and their affiliates would be covered by a “conscience waiver” for any provisions of the law that created this kind of moral dilemma. On Friday Mr. Obama proposed a new rule whereby the onus would be on...

May 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A documentary called “28 Days on the Pill” has been released that seeks expose the abortifacient properties of the birth control pill.  The documentary explains that many forms of birth control pills contain progesterone, which thins the endometrium, the walls of the uterus, which in turn causes it to become inhospitable to a conceived ovum.  This inhospitality may cause a newly conceived human being not to implant in the endometrium and cause an abortion.The documentary instead promotes the use of Natural Family Planning, which is the use of natural periods of infertility to regulate the...

Cardinal James Stafford reflects on how dissenters to Humane Vitae tore the Church apart -- and how that rift left scars that remain to this day. "Lead us not into temptation" is the sixth petition of the Our Father. Peirasmòs, the Greek word used in this passage for 'temptation,' means a trial or test. Disciples petition God to be protected against the supreme test of ungodly powers. The trial is related to Jesus's cup in Gethsemane, the same cup which his disciples would also taste (Mk 10: 35-45). The dark side of the interior of the cup is an abyss....

SANTIAGO, April 26, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A terrorist group calling itself the Insurrectionist Federation has reportedly taken credit for the recent bombing of the University of the Andes in reprisal for a decision of the Chilean Supreme Court prohibiting the distribution of the abortifacient "morning after pill". The bomb detonated in a university bathroom on April 23. Although no one was hurt, ACI Prensa reports that the bathroom suffered severe damage, contrary to media reports that the device was just a "noise bomb". "They say it's just a 'noise bomb' but in reality the bathroom was destroyed and if anyone...

The popularity of the morning-after pill Plan B has surged in the year since the federal government approved the sale of the controversial emergency contraceptive without a prescription. Plan B sales have doubled since the Food and Drug Administration authorized the switch for women 18 and older last August, rising from about $40 million a year to what will probably be close to $80 million for 2007, according to Barr Pharmaceuticals, which makes Plan B. The sharp rise was hailed by women's health and family-planning advocates, who say it illustrates the value of easing access to birth control to help...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A new study published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility finds that the Plan B drug, known as the morning after pill, can work to cause an abortion of a human being after her life has started. Abortion advocates have claimed the drug only prevents conception but the study appears to contradict that claim. Dr. Rafael T. Mikolajczyk of the School of Public Health at the University of Bielefeld in Germany and Dr. Joseph B. Stanford, who teaches public health at the University of Utah, are the senior authors of the paper. Combining data from...

TORONTO, May 28, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a recent article in Fertility and Sterility R.T. Mikolajczyk and J.B. Stanford proposed a model experiment that estimated the effectiveness of the disruption of ovulation by Levonorgestrel used as an "emergency contraceptive," based on the prevention of fertilization. They also demonstrated what was termed the "effectiveness" of levonorgestrel with or without "mechanisms acting after fertilization." If disruption of ovulation were the only significant mechanism of action of levonorgestrel, its "effectiveness" could not be much more than 50% if given immediately after intercourse. With delays in its administration, it would be substantially less....

Contact: Wiley Drake, 714-865-8132 BUENA PARK, Calif., -- Dr. Wiley S. Drake Sr. pastor of First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park California, and newly elected 2nd Vice President of the Southern Baptist Convention, announced today that he is calling all people from all walks of life to boycott Wal Mart until the company repents and returns to the family roots put down deep by Christian businessman Sam Walton. Drake said on his 63 birthday he sent the following letter to Lee Scott, President of Wal Mart: Dear Mr. Scott, Please accept my appreciation for Wal-Mart taking a stand to...

Recent publicity concerning Plan B has been seriously misleading. The Plan B morning-after pill has been referred to as "contraception," even though it may act after fertilization to cause the death of a human embryo. This is an important mistake because, whatever one's judgment on abortion may be, I think we all agree that no woman should be misled into doing what she would consider to be taking a life without realizing that she is doing so. There has been a shameful disinformation campaign on Plan B for years, and the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has failed to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Non-prescription sales of a "morning-after" contraceptive could be approved for women 18 and older within weeks, U.S. health officials said on Monday in a surprise announcement after years of delays. Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Plan B pills would be kept behind pharmacy counters and women would need to ask for them, a Food and Drug Administration official said. Anyone younger than 18 still would need a prescription.

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, January 27, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Target pharmacist has lost her job for refusing to dispense or refer for the abortifacient morning-after pill.“For me, life begins with two cells,” said Heather Williams, explaining that the so-called emergency contraception pill, Plan B by Barr Pharmaceuticals, often prevents implantation of a newly formed human embryo within the uterine wall – which, of course, constitutes abortion. The same mechanism is responsible for the sometimes abortifacient effect of the regular birth-control-pill.According to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, Williams has refused to dispense or refer for the abortifacient for the past five...

PHOENIX, January 10 (CNA) - Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix is now the third U.S. bishop to require a full course of natural family planning for couples who want to marry in a Catholic church. The other dioceses are Denver and Fargo. Most other dioceses only require an introduction to the method. In a series of articles, Bishop Olmsted said artificial birth control is a grave wrong that is at the root of many of the problems afflicting American society, reported the Arizona Republic. He said: "marriage itself is gravely harmed" when a couple uses birth control, and that marital...

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) announced today that legal action is underway in defense of two pharmacists who were fired for refusing to hand out abortifacient drugs. “These Conscience Clause cases are significant and represent the cutting edge of the abortion debate in our country right now;” ACLJ said in a statement to the press. “Doctors, nurses and pharmacists should not be compelled to violate their conscience and participate in an abortion procedure. We have already had success in a number of cases around the country, and we are confident that we will succeed in Illinois as...

Sen. Murray Withdraws FDA Investigation Amendment After Sen. Coburn Threatens Amendment Looking Into FDA Approval of Mifepristone Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Oct. 26 proposed an amendment to the Labor-HHS appropriations bill (HR 3010) that would have mandated an investigation into alleged mismanagement at FDA -- including the agency's handling of a proposal to make the emergency contraceptive Plan B available without a prescription -- but later withdrew the amendment because Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) would have introduced an amendment calling for an investigation into the agency's approval of mifepristone, FDA Week reports (FDA Week, 11/4). Murray's amendment would have...