Free Republic

A 12-year-old girl is prohibited from bringing aspirin to California public schools without a note from her mother or father – but in many California districts she may sign herself out of classes, leave her junior-high campus without parental permission, secretly have an abortion and return to school before the end of the day – and her own family may be none the wiser. Parents and educators across the state have been in heated debate over school policies allowing children to be excused during class time without parental notification for "confidential medical services" such as abortions, birth control, and drug...

House Democrats ought to be embarrassed by the anti- abortion amendment grafted over the weekend to their landmark health care legislation. As ugly as the health care debate has gotten, the last thing the women of this country likely expected was that a Democrat-controlled Congress would want to limit their ability to purchase health insurance plans that cover abortion. But that's exactly what happened when the House adopted the last-minute anti-choice amendment. It goes far beyond the established practice of banning Medicaid funding for abortion and makes it difficult for anyone buying insurance with any form of government assistance to...

An Oklahoma judge on Tuesday overturned a state law that required women seeking an abortion to receive an ultrasound and a doctor's description of the fetus. Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson said the law violated constitutional requirements that a legislative measure deal only with one subject. She did not rule on the validity of the ultrasound provisions. Her ruling also overturned provisions in the law that allowed doctors and other healthcare providers to refuse to take part in an abortion for moral or religious reasons, required certain signs to be placed in clinics where abortions are performed, and prohibited...

In what police describe as one of the most gruesome crimes against a child in recent memory, an infant boy was stabbed, decapitated and mutilated early Sunday. His 33-year-old mother claimed responsibility, police said. Otty Sanchez told police that she was “hearing voices” and that the devil made her kill Scott Wesley Buchholtz Sanchez, to whom she gave birth on June 30, San Antonio police spokesman Joe Rios said. Sanchez used a steak knife to repeatedly stab the nearly 4-week-old baby, then decapitate and mutilate him, Rios said. A police source said the baby was skinned and gutted.

it's a boy! Or a girl! A group of New York moms has filed suit against the makers of a "99.9-percent accurate" baby-gender test, claiming the results they got were 100 percent wrong. The product was advertised as "infallibly accurate in foretelling the gender of a healthy baby," and its Web site said the "prediction of your baby's gender is unmistakably correct or we will double your money back." The Baby Gender Mentor is touted as allowing women as little as five weeks pregnant to tell if they're expecting a boy or a girl, the suit says. That's nine to...

President Obama's reception at Notre Dame showed once again that a new generation of Americans, including Catholics, is looking for a different kind of leader, not one who speaks down to his audience, demands strict loyalty and demonizes opponents, but one who addresses complexity with honesty, acknowledges disagreements and tries to bring people together for the common good. President Obama showed himself to be respectful of Catholic views, of Catholic institutions like Notre Dame and of Catholic leaders like Notre Dame's former president, Father Ted Hesburgh, and Chicago's former archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. In his speech, he praised Notre Dame...

Facing down protesters who didn't want him at Notre Dame, President Obama fought back not with harsh words but with the most devastating weapons in his political arsenal: a call for "open hearts," "open minds," "fair-minded words" and a search for "common ground." There were many messages sent from South Bend. Obama's opponents seek to reignite the culture wars. He doesn't. They would reduce religious faith to a narrow set of issues. He refused to join them. They often see theological arguments as leading to certainty. He opted for humility. He did all this without skirting the abortion question and...

WASHINGTON, D.C., May 8, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - President Obama's budget recommendations unveiled yesterday are being criticized by the National Right to Life Committee for recommending the re-introduction of taxpayer-funded abortion in Washington, D.C. The White House submission urges the House and Senate to repeal a law known as the Dornan Amendment that prevents tax-funded abortion, except for cases of rape, incest, or threat to the mother's life, in the District of Columbia for several years. Because Congress holds legislative authority over the District of Columbia, the district's budget must be appropriated by Congress through an annual appropriations bill. The White...

Clinton to appear at Planned Parenthood event Doing a rare domestic political event, and continuing the Obama administration's forceful, if understated alliance with abortion-rights groups, Hillary Clinton will receive an award from Planned Parenthood Friday night in Houston, the group says. "The 2009 Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) Margaret Sanger Award, the organization’s highest honor, will be presented to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been a champion of women’s health and rights throughout her public service career," according to the release. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards is an old Clinton ally, and women's health was...

A pastor at a Berkeley church was sentenced Thursday to three years' probation and fined $1,000 after becoming the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic. Walter Hoye could have faced up to two years in jail after a jury convicted him last month of two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully approaching patients at the Family Planning Specialists Medical Group at Second and Webster streets. The case was an emotional one, and pro-choice and anti-abortion advocates jammed the Oakland courtroom for the sentencing hearing. Dozens of people unable...

The U.S. Catholic Church's crusade against the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) has all the hallmarks of a well-oiled lobbying campaign. A national postcard campaign is flooding the White House and congressional offices with messages opposing FOCA, and the Catholic bishops have made defeating the abortion rights legislation a top priority. In the most recent effort to stop the bill, Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia sent a letter to every member of Congress imploring them to "please oppose FOCA." There is only one hitch. Congress isn't about to pass the Freedom of Choice Act because no such bill has been...

From: "Republican Majority for Choice" Date: January 23, 2009 6:07:12 PM EST To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: RMC Applauds Global Gag Repeal Republican Majority for Choice Applauds Global Gag Repeal FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bethany Vensel 202-887-4786 January 23, 2009 The Republican Majority for Choice applauds the repeal of the global gag rule and restoring America as a leader in international family planning. "The global gag rule has been a massive obstacle in efforts to provide safe and effective medical care to the most underserved populations around the world. Millions of Republicans across the country supported overturning this measure and stand with...

In a long-expected move, President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option, officials told The Associated Press on Friday. Liberal groups welcomed the decision while abortion rights foes criticized the president. Known as the "Mexico City policy," the ban has been reinstated and then reversed by Republican and Democratic presidents since GOP President Ronald Reagan established it in 1984. President Bill Clinton ended the ban in 1993, but President George W. Bush re-instituted it in 2001 as one of his first...

While much of America was watching the inauguration of President Obama, BET viewers were seeing Obama's life story turned into an anti-abortion ad. In the 41-second ad, sponsored by catholicvote.org, a camera slowly zooms in on a fetus in a womb as these words appear on the screen: "This child's future is a broken home. He will be abandoned by his father. His single mother will struggle to raise him. Despite the hardships he will endure this child will become the 1st African-American President." The ad ends with a photograph of President Obama and this message: "Life: Imagine the Potential."...

<p>ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - A driver rammed his SUV into the front door of an abortion clinic on Thursday, the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, police said. No one was injured. A 32-year-old man was arrested and taken to Ramsey County jail on suspicion of aggravated assault, police spokesman Peter Panos said.</p>

The Elliot Institute has released a report that exposes America's forced abortion epidemic. Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby tells OneNewsNow that one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. "Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn't get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling at all, or that the counseling they had was inadequate," she explains.

Hit with declines in funding from the economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is laying off around 20% of its staff. Roughly 30 people were let go earlier this week, according to a source who works for the nonprofit. Executives at Planned Parenthood confirmed the layoffs, but declined to give more details. “As with many other nonprofit organizations, Planned Parenthood has had to make staff reductions at our headquarters due to the challenging economic times facing our country,” said Maryana Iskander, chief operating officer at the agency. “While taking this action is never easy,...

Roman Catholic bishops throughout the United States are planning a massive postcard campaign days after the inauguration as part of an attempt to block the Freedom of Choice Act, known as FOCA, a reproductive health initiative supported by President-elect Barack Obama. But one Minnesota priest is breaking ranks with the national campaign, raising the ire of local and national pro-life Catholics, including some who are calling for his excommunication from the church. “Our nation and new president will be challenged by ongoing wars, an economy in severe recession, ballooning deficits, high unemployment and an environment and health care system in...

<p>They call it a "gift," but some would rather opt for a lump of coal.</p> <p>A number of Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana and Illinois are offering gift certificates for their services this Christmas.</p> <p>Officials say the vouchers enable people to give their loved ones "the gift of life" — that would help pay for annual checkups and birth control — but also can be used for abortions.</p>

“Pride cometh before a fall.” It’s an Old Testament proverb, it’s the classic theme of Greek tragedy, and it’s a lesson we observe in our lives again and again. So how come we never seem to learn to avoid it — or exploit it?What’s more, pride always seems to come before a fall in more or less the same way.Take the economy, for example, and consider three things pride does — and the havoc that follows.First, pride makes us forget first principles. In the 21st century economy, we got so used to having more and more money that we forgot...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest has told his parishioners that they should refrain from receiving Holy Communion if they voted for Barack Obama because the Democratic president-elect supports abortion, and supporting him "constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil." The Rev. Jay Scott Newman said in a letter distributed Sunday to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Greenville that they are putting their souls at risk if they take Holy Communion before doing penance for their vote. "Our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the...

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team. A team of four dozen advisers, working for months in virtual solitude, set out to identify regulatory and policy changes Obama could implement soon after his inauguration. The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they...

WASHINGTON – President-elect Obama's transition chief said Sunday the incoming administration is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on stem cell research, oil and gas drilling and other matters.

Pro-McCain Billboard Raises Eyebrows A billboard in Central El Paso supporting GOP Presidential Candidate, John Mc Cain, has people talking.

<p>In an address delivered on October 17, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput stated that ''Prof. Douglas Kmiec has a strong record of service to the Church and the nation in his past. But I think his activism for Senator Barack Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.''</p>

An advocate group sued the state of Oklahoma over legislation that prohibits a woman from getting an abortion unless she undergoes an ultrasound first. The Center for Reproductive Rights claims in the lawsuit filed Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court that the requirement intrudes privacy and endangers health and assaults dignity. The law effective as of Nov. 1 would make Oklahoma the fourth state in the country that requires that an ultrasound be performed prior to an abortion so that the woman can have a chance of viewing the fetus. The other states are Alabama Louisiana and Mississippi. The Oklahoma...

You've read the quote. You've heard the rumors. Now, hear the audio of Mark Warner calling the NRA, people of faith, home schoolers and people who believe in the right to life "a threat to what it means to be an American." When this issue first surfaced in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, then gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner "angrily denied the claim" and called it "inaccurate." But the audio will tell you a different story. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpicD6UIq8A

A group of Christian supporters of Barack Obama – who has a 100 percent pro-abortion Senate voting record – have created a website touting the Democratic presidential candidate as the most pro-life choice in November's election. The Pro-Life Pro-Obama website argues that Obama's economic and health care plans and support of programs for the poor will do more for reducing abortions in the U.S. than the positions of his Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Washington, DC -- A new commercial from the Obama slams a survivor of a botched late-term abortion and presidential candidate John McCain as "sleazy" for promoting a "despicable lie" that calls Obama into question for his votes against providing medical care to babies who survive failed abortions. As LifeNews.com reported, Gianna Jessen, a young woman who survived a failed saline abortion in the late 1970s, chides Obama for voting repeatedly against bills in the Illinois legislature to stop infanticide. She released an ad about Obama's votes against the Born Alive Infants Protection Act and pointed out how even abortion advocates...

The McCain-Palin ticket may be locking its huge lead on a crucial voting bloc: church-going Catholics. The development — contained Thursday in a poll by the Pew Research Center and backed by other polls — could be crucial to victory in November. Why? Catholics are the ultimate swing voters and make up as much as one-third the population of battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Moreover, some 40 percent of U.S. Catholics have no affiliation with either party. Republican presidential candidate John McCain now has opened a 16-percentage-point lead over Democratic rival Barack Obama among observant Catholics, according to...

In stunningly self-centered, cruel fashion, Nicholas Provenzo, writer for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism suggests that Sarah Palin’s decision to give birth to a child with Down Syndrome, is a financial burden that others are forced to suffer with. Provenzo, who has written opinion pieces for the Washington Times, Capitalism Magazine, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, as well as being a guest on Bill Maher’s former show, Politically Incorrect, makes his case for “the morality of aborting a fetus diagnosed with Down syndrome.” The full first paragraph of the piece which is circulating amidst the blogosphere reads (emphasis...

Barack Obama’s surrogate for religious matters told a small Lynchburg gathering Tuesday that an Obama presidency would decrease the country’s “level of fear and division and loathing” that exists across religious, ethnic and cultural lines. Shaun Casey, the Democratic candidate’s evangelical outreach coordinator, also told about 15 people in a forum at the Starlight Café on Fifth Street that Obama’s policies would reduce the number of abortions in America. In addition, Casey said, Obama would give all religious groups, including Christians and Muslims, more access to policy making than any White House in history. “His administration will model the kind...

This video is excellent - pass it on!! Let me know what you think. http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/09/new-video-from-catholicvotecom.html

An English teenager died from complications two weeks after taking two abortion pills, her mother told an inquest into her death this week.Manon Jones, 18, described by her mother as a devout Christian teen, opted to terminate her pregnancy at six weeks because she feared the pregnancy would cause conflict within her "Muslim" boyfriend's family, the Daily Mail reported Friday. The teen took the first dose of medication to terminate the pregnancy on June 10, 2005, and the second two days later. On June 15, Jones felt light-headed and experienced heavy bleeding so her boyfriend took her to Southmead...

According to Barack Obama, Gianna Jessen shouldn't exist. Miss Jessen is an exquisite example of what antiabortion advocates call a "survivor." Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, Gianna's biological mother was injected with a saline solution intended to induce a chemical abortion at a Los Angeles County abortion center. Eighteen hours later, and precious minutes before the abortionist's arrival, Gianna emerged. Premature and with severe injuries that resulted in cerebral palsy. But alive. Had the abortionist been present at her birth, Gianna would have been killed, perhaps by suffocation. As it was, a startled nurse called an ambulance, and...

Buyer's remorse was beginning to afflict supporters of Barack Obama before Tuesday's primary election returns showed he had delivered a knockout... --snip-- John McCain as the Republican candidate does not like that kind of campaigning, either. But a gentlemanly contest between the old war hero from out of the past and the new advocate of reform from the future probably would guarantee Democratic takeover of the White House. The Republican Party, suffering from public disrepute, faces major Democratic gains in each house of Congress -- leaving the defeat of Obama as the sole GOP hope for 2008. --snip-- The test...

An Alaska woman, accused of killing her newborn baby boy at her parents’ Grand Junction home, gave birth at a neighbor’s home, wrapped him in a plastic garbage bag and left him in a tote bag in a closet that her parents found more than two months later, according to her arrest affidavit. Morgan Hite, 22, of Wasilla, Alaska, is in custody on a no-bond warrant, but she refused extradition to Grand Junction during a court hearing Wednesday in Palmer, Alaska. Hite has retained an attorney, and her next court appearance is June 6.

TOKYO — Japan celebrated a national holiday on Monday in honor of its children. But Children's Day might just as easily have been a national day of mourning. For this is the land of a slow-motion demographic catastrophe that is without precedent in the developed world. The number of children has declined for 27 consecutive years, a government report said over the weekend. Japan now has fewer children who are 14 or younger than at any time since 1908. The proportion of children in the population fell to an all-time low of 13.5 percent. That number has been falling for...

The Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments today over subpoenaed medical records of notorious abortionist George Tiller, who is accused of performing late-term abortions — which are illegal in Kansas — at his Wichita clinic. In January, the Sedgwick County grand jury subpoenaed about 2,000 late-term abortion records from Tiller’s clinic; the judge reduced that to 250. Tiller is refusing to turn over the records, claiming it would violate his patients’ privacy. However, the grand jury requested that all patient-identifying information be redacted from the subpoenaed records before the jury receives them. Tiller's attorneys argued the grand jury investigation constitutes harassment,...

STOCKHOLM,Sweden: A Swedish court of appeal on Tuesday sentenced a 27-year-old man to 18 months in prison for trying to make his girlfriend miscarry by mixing abortion pills in her food. The man, who was not named for legal reasons, had his jail term increased from a previous one-year sentence set by a district court in June. In its ruling, the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden found the man guilty of aggravated assault for attempting to make his girlfriend of eight years miscarry by giving her a yoghurt containing three ground-up pills. The sentence also included a more minor...

BEIJING — A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two officials, including the head of the plant, had been detained. The drug maker, Shanghai...

Few issues generate as much heat in the United States as the debate over abortion -- the subject of a powerful and graphic new documentary by controversial British filmmaker Tony Kaye. "Lake of Fire," currently on limited release in the United States, unwinds over more than two and a half hours of interviews with some of the leading figures from the pro-life and pro-choice camps. But it is the graphic and disturbing depiction of termination procedures, filmed like the rest of the movie in black and white, that marks the film out. "From the moment I started making the film...

First Barry Manilow, Now Whoopi Goldberg Hassle The View's Hasselbeck over Conservative/Pro-Life Views Goldberg, who is said to have had at least 6 abortions, says, "Americans ought to 'revere' women, who have had abortions By Peter J. Smith NEW YORK, October 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Once again the pro-life views of Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the only conservative woman on ABC's "The View," have landed her in trouble after a heated exchange with Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O'Donnell's replacement, on Wednesday's program edition. Hasselbeck noted her opinion that presidential Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's proposal to give $5,000 for a new birth could help...

Why wasn't Planned Parenthood Aurora's nonopening party busted?Roger from FamiliesAgainstPlannedParenthood.org took photos of Planned Parenthood Aurora's nonopening party last night, with, of course, pro-lifers were on hand to also celebrate. See more photos on page 2. Meanwhile, the Aurora Beacon reported today: City officials said Tuesday they will not ask Planned Parenthood's staff to vacate their East New York Street building, despite the expiration of their temporary occupancy permit Monday. "At this point, the city has opted to maintain the status quo," said city spokesman Carie Anne Ergo. Ergo said ordinarily, a building owner in violation of the occupancy permit...

Over 1,300 Illinois Citizens Protest Largest Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic By Elizabeth O'Brien AURORA, Illinois, August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Saturday over one thousand pro-lifers met to protest before the recently erected facilities or what is said to be the nation's largest Planned Parenthood center in Aurora, Illinois, just outside Chicago. Pro-Life Action League Communications Director Eric Schiedler told LifeSiteNews.com that at least 1,300 pro-lifers participated in the protest. About 900 formed two large picket lines on York Street and another 250 were at a prayer vigil sight next to the new Planned Parenthood center. Another 75 people participated...

Bishops to Amnesty International: We work with orgs who "do not oppose the fundamental right to life" By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, D.C., August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has decried Amnesty International's recent decision to - as the bishops put it - "promote worldwide access to abortion," telling the organization that the Bishops' Conference will work with other organizations rather than with Amnesty International (AI) to carry out the good ends which AI was traditionally associated with. Bishop William S. Skylstad, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement to...

Proving once again that foolish ideas don't die or fade away -- they walk the earth eternally, preying on the brains of the living -- scientists at a UK think tank have determined that the greatest threat to the planet is more human beings. "The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights," explains Professor John Guillebaud, co-chairman of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT). "The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama is a rising star within the Democratic Party and has a legitimate shot at becoming its nominee in the 2008 presidential race. Obama has a long record of supporting unlimited abortion but, in a recent interview with CBN News, he claims he has a strong Christian belief system. For most Christians, abortion is diametrically opposed to Biblical values. Leading Christian churches such as the Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Church, and many others strongly condemn abortion because it involves the destruction of human life made in God's image. But Obama, who has a 0 percent...

A city court in Erlangen, Bavaria gave Lutheran Pastor Johannes Lerle a one year jail sentence for the "crime" of comparing abortion to the Nazi holocaust. In response, Jim Hughes, Vice-President of International Right to Life Federation has called on pro-life activists internationally to take action on the matter by contacting German authorities to demand freedom of speech and freedom of religion for the pastor (see contact information below the story). Pastor Johannes Lerle compared the annual murder of 150,000 babies through abortion in Germany to the murder of thousands of innocent Jews in Auschwitz. The court, which consisted of...

A second Los Angeles judge threw out the murder charge against a suspended USC student accused of killing her newborn child on Tuesday. Holly Ashcraft, a 22-year-old architecture major who has stood trial for two years, still faces a June 27 hearing for one charge of child abuse. Ashcraft was arrested in October 2005 after a newborn was found in a Dumpster behind the 29th Street Cafe. DNA evidence proved it was her son. Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Franco Barrata had cited a coroner's conclusion that the baby was born alive, but defense attorney Mark Geragos had repeatedly challenged that...