Free Republic

Man Who Fathered 30 Kids Says He Needs A Break—On Child Support [Pic of Father in URL] By Pueng Vongs And you thought Octomom had her hands full—a Tennessee man who has fathered 30 children is asking the courts for a break on child support. Desmond Hatchett, 33, of Knoxville has children with 11 different women, reports WREG-TV. The state already takes half his paycheck and divides it up, which doesn't amount to much when Hatchett is making only minimum wage. Some of the moms receive as little as $1.49 a month. The oldest child is 14 years old. Hatchett...

May 17, 2012 (Zenit.org) – In 1960, the combined oral contraceptive pill was first approved for use in the United States. Seven years later, “the Pill” was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, illustrating its enormous societal impact[1]. Roughly two generations later, statistics from the United Nations show that, within more developed nations worldwide, just under 16% of “partnered” women use contraceptive pills, a number which does not include usage among single women[2]. However, even as the popularity of oral contraceptives remains high, the drugs themselves have been evolving in response to further discoveries about the human reproductive system,...

Contraceptives and the Environment What the Pill Is Doing to Our Water Supply By Rebecca Oas, PhDWASHINGTON, D.C., MAY 16, 2012 (Zenit.org).- In 1960, the combined oral contraceptive pill was first approved for use in the United States.  Seven years later, “the Pill” was featured on the cover of Time Magazine, illustrating its enormous societal impact[1]. Roughly two generations later, statistics from the United Nations show that, within more developed nations worldwide, just under 16% of “partnered” women use contraceptive pills, a number which does not include usage among single women[2].However, even as the popularity of oral contraceptives remains high,...

The blind Chinese human-rights activist Chen Guangcheng, who escaped from house arrest on April 22 and may be under the protection of the U.S. Embassy, was initially detained for exposing the massive abuse of Chinese women under China’s one-child policy. His documentation of forced sterilizations and abortions landed him in jail for four years, followed by a year and a half of house arrest. His daring escape has now triggered renewed attacks on organizations engaged in helping Chinese women keep and feed their infants. Since April 28, the Family Planning Commission of Susong County in China’s Anhui province has been...

An injectable form of birth control doubles breast cancer risk among young women, according to a new study. The study examined younger women, ages 20 to 44, and confirmed a link between depo-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) - the main ingredient in the contraceptive sold under the brand name Depo-Provera - and breast cancer risk.

The Left is crowing about a recent University of Michigan study which shows that women who practice birth control early in life will end up making more money later on in life. Liberals cite this study as evidence that they must stop the non-existent Republican war on women. Of course, in doing so they make one thing perfectly clear: That they view children as nothing more than an opportunity cost. For starters, I could have saved them a lot of time and money and told them a long time ago that kids cost money. But they're worth it. And that's...

CNSNews.com) – Thirty-year-old Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke, who told a House Steering and Policy Committee hearing convened by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi last month that contraception can cost a student $3,000 during law school, told CNSNews.com on Tuesday that she did not know that the Target store 3 miles from the Georgetown Law campus sells a month's supply of birth control pills for just $9. Target advertises the $9-per-month birth control pills on its website, and CNSNews.com confirmed and reconfirmed that the $9 pills were in fact available at the Target near Georgetown Law. “Without insurance coverage, contraception...

I'm taking a prescription med for arthritis called Methotrexate. Has anyone heard of it or is taking it? From what I read is also used as an abortifacient,which shocked the heck out of me.

I was recently having a drink and cigar in the office of a good friend who runs one of the conservative movement’s most powerful advocacy groups. I’m not going to name him because this problem is not unique to his group – nor, in fact, is it unique at all. My friend showed me his group’s latest video. It needed a little work, but overall it was excellent. The only problem is no one who matters is ever going to see it. It will be polished a bit, put on the Internet and sent to donors. And that’s about all...

I don't get to post too often because I am usually at work. But in regards to the recent outrage on providing birth control, I just wanted to provide a shortcut to our FR mavericks who are doing such an excellent job of defending an agency/office/company's right to refuse to pay for medical or health-related services for which that entity holds moral of religious objections. My agency is required to review contracts, rates, and elements of state healthcare programs against the following regulations: 1932(b)(3)(B)(i) 42 CFR 438.102(a)(2) SMD letter 2/20/98 1932 is a section of the Social Security Act. The...

I know I posted this earlier, Friday I think. But this is, imo anyway, important. It is important that we let the Left know that we take seriously our freedom of speech, our freedom of religion, our right to exist and live within our conscience. If you are unfamiliar with what specifically I am talking about, please listen to the ten min interview with Colorado state Senator Tim Neville, that my posting links to. Know also, that Senator Rollie Heath postponed the hearing concerning this Senate Memorial. A memorial has no force of law behind it, yet Heath killed it...

The announcement came a day after Gov. Rick Perry said the state will use state money to continue the program, which covers birth control and basic health screenings for about 130,000 women. He did not provide details. "Sebelius also said direct federal funding for Planned Parenthood is under consideration. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, who accompanied Sebelius on the tour, said the federal government could bypass the state altogether. "We're going to be looking at this on the legislative side," he said."

SCHULTZ: Joining me tonight is Sandra Fluke , the woman Congressman Darrell Issa rejected as a witness today. Ms. Fluke is a law student at Georgetown University . Great to have you with us tonight, Sandra . Now, I understand that you already planned your testimony. You were going to cite examples of people who could have benefited from President Obama ‘s mandate for birth control coverage. Share with us what you would have told that committee today. SANDRA FLUKE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY LAW STUDENT: That is what I was there to speak to the committee about. That's why I was...

March 7, 2012 (LiveActionNews.org) - I worry about my health a lot. Not because I’m unhealthy, but because I’m a hypochondriac. I don’t imagine symptoms, but when I do have symptoms, I became immediately and irrevocably convinced that they are cancer. Thanks, WebMD! Most recently, back in October, I found a tiny red welt on my right breast. WebMD told me that I almost definitely had inflammatory breast cancer–a particularly aggressive strain. I called my boyfriend in the middle of the night and made him talk to me until the sun came up, so scared I was shaking all over....

In 1984, Mario Cuomo pioneered the argument that one may be "personally opposed" to abortion, while supporting abortion rights. Ever since, this convenient locution has become a staple for countless Democratic politicians, particularly Catholic ones. It is Vice President Joe Biden's view and was Senator John Kerry's stance when he ran for president in 2004. Cuomo's argument was a mess. For instance, in order to buttress his argument he touted the (alleged) refusal of American Catholic bishops to forcefully denounce slavery. The bishops "weren't hypocrites; they were realists," Cuomo explained. They offered a "measured attempt to balance moral truths against...

This is meant to be for the fun of it, but you can really vote on this too. There has been a lot of smoke being blown up our collective behind about birth control the assault on religious freedom. Unlike my first poll, this one isn't really a slam dunk...Rush is legitimately on the block here considering (I believe) he only apologized to stop the hypocritical attacks on his show from the left. For those interested, vote here...

Last week, Rush Limbaugh enthusiastically and eagerly did a swan dive from the high board into the liberal trap. If anyone should know better, it is Rush. But Rush was thinking mainly about getting publicity for himself, to garner interest in people listening to his show. So Rush Limbaugh threw restraint to the wind, and started to channel Howard Stern. Rush started on a line of tittilating sexual innuendo, and just failed to stop at the border. Anyone with Rush Limbaugh's experience knows by now that if you use certain words, phrases, or arguments, people will totally lose track of...

This is the html version of the file http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/statement-Congress-letterhead-2nd%20hearing.pdf. Page 1 Leader Pelosi, Members of Congress, good morning, and thank you for calling this hearing on women’s health and allowing me to testify on behalf of the women who will benefit from the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage regulation. Myname is Sandra Fluke, and I’m a third year student at Georgetown Law, a Jesuit school. I’m also a past president of Georgetown Law Students for Reproductive Justice or LSRJ. I’d like to acknowledge my fellow LSRJ members and allies and all of the student activists with us and thank them...

Save the Georgetown Sluts About our program- Welcome to the world of the slut, promising yet gloomy, hopeful, yet in despair. The hand that holds the Cosmo, the procreator, the aborter of tomorrow; a slut shapes the destiny of civilization. Such is the tragic irony of fate, that a beautiful creation such as the slut is today one of the gravest concerns facing humanity, with a volley of congressional hearings, conferences ...and events held for the cause, with topmost world leaders at the helm. Won't you help? For less than the price of a Latte, you too can ensure...

For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke. I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the...

Several of my friends have been discussing the Fluke issue, and the larger issue of the entire Mandate. It's flamingly obvious that this is to get the discussion away from the economy in general, and gas prices in particular. And THEN a friend had the idea: USE it to turn the talk back to the Economy: How bad is the economy when a young woman can’t even afford the price of a condom? or This poor young woman can’t afford to pay for her own birth control. Four years ago, she could have. . . . Any better ideas ??

* Biggest impact being felt in Texas * Lawmakers say they have no choice * Cuts could cost more than save - study Even as a national debate rages over contraception insurance, tens of thousands of low-income women and teenagers across the United States have lost access to subsidized birth control as states slash and restructure family planning funds. Montana and New Jersey have eliminated altogether their state family planning programs. New Hampshire cut its funding by 57 percent and five other states made more modest program trims. But the biggest impact, by far,Texas. State lawmakers last fall cut family-planning...

With trillion dollar deficits from important stuff (with a welfare state like the one we have I say "important" in the loosest way possible) I can't believe we are even having a debate about publicly funded contraception. Has this country lost it's mind?

So the media and the liberals are all in a tizz because Rush Limbaugh referred to a law student who is demanding free birth control as a slut. The same hypocritical, duplicitous criminal liberal media and politicians that regularly referred to you and I as "tea baggers"

On Thursday night, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz interviewed hot-and-bothered Georgetown coed Sandra Fluke, the woman who went before a Congressional panel and demanded free birth control for herself and her peers. Sandra Fluke, who was mocked by Rush Limbaugh on his radio show this week, insisted she was no prostitute for wanting government to pay for her sex at college. Mediaite reported: Schultz asked Fluke for her reaction to Limbaugh’s comments: I guess my reaction is the reaction a lot of women have when they’ve been called these names. Initially you’re stunned but then, very quickly, you’re outraged because this is,...

BOISE, Idaho, March 1, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – When Grace Swanke, 10, found out that Girl Scouts is entangled with Planned Parenthood, not only did she decide to quit her troop, but as someone who loved to sell cookies, she decided to make and sell her own brand of cookie, but with a pro-life twist. “The thing I enjoyed most about the girl scouts was selling cookies, and then I realized I could still sell cookies, I just had to bake them myself,” Grace told LifeSiteNews. Several years ago, a significant number of Girl Scout councils nationwide admitted to partnering with...

Rush Limbaugh today called a women's health advocate and Georgetown Law student a "slut." The Huffington Post transcribed Limbaugh's comments on Sandra Fluke, who'd spoken to a Democratic panel on the benefits of birth control: "[Fluke] testifies she's having so much sex she can't afford her own birth control pills,

February 29, 2012 Limbaugh: Georgetown co-ed wanting to be paid for sex ‘a slut,’ ‘a prostitute’ (edit) Published: 3:20 PM 02/29/2012 inShare1 Email This Article Print This Article By Jeff Poor - The Daily Caller Bio | Archive | Email Jeff Poor Follow Jeff Poor Get Jeff Poor Feed Ads by Google Save on Body ArmorExclusive Sales With Great Quality Military Products. Join Now & Save www.dvor.com/militarygear On Tuesday, Georgetown law student and “reproductive rights activist” Sandra Fluke testified before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee to explain the obstacles female students face in acquiring birth control. CNS News’...

At a hearing of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee yesterday, a single witness — Georgetown law student and “reproductive rights activist� Sandra Fluke — told sympathetic policy-makers that the administration’s so-called contraception mandate should stand … because her peers are going broke buying birth control. “Forty percent of the female students at Georgetown Law reported to us that they struggled financially as a result of this policy (Georgetown student insurance not covering contraception),� Fluke reported.It costs a female student $3,000 to have protected sex over the course of her three-year stint in law school, according to her calculations.“Without...

This is a polemic:  Access to birth control isn’t really about my “health.” It’s not principally about the management of ovarian cysts or the regulation of periods.Birth control isn’t about my health unless by health you mean, my capacity to get it on, to have a happy, joyous sex life that involves an actual male partner. The point of birth control is to have sex that’s recreational and non-procreative. It’s to permit women to exercise their desires without the sword of Damocles of unwanted pregnancy hanging gloomily over their heads.This proposition is radical only by default, because mainstream liberal voices...

More than half of American voters – 54 percent -- approve of President Obama’s compromise that would have insurance companies pay for birth control for employees of religious-affiliated institutions, according to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll, released on Thursday. Just 38 percent said they disapproved, the telephone poll of 2,605 registered voters found. The survey, conducted last week at the height of the controversy over the new policy, suggests that Democrats have the upper hand in defining the issue as one of women’s health, as opposed to Republican efforts to frame it as religious freedom. More than half of...

See video

Should colleges be required to offer prescriptions for or cover birth control? Yes No Cover but not prescribe Prescribe but not cover I'm not sure

It's really not fair or accurate to say this administration has declared war on religion. Its policy isn't that clear. If it has one. And if it does, that policy keeps changing, depending on who's exerting what pressures at the time. By now there have been so many reversals and retreats, waivers and exemptions, defeats in court and in the court of public opinion, it's hard to tell just what that policy is at the moment. Maybe it's all TBD, as the bureaucrats say. To Be Determined. Remember when Nancy Pelosi told us we'd have to pass Obamacare before we...

On Sunday's show host Bonnie Erbe takes the Obama-care mandate on contraceptives, which is not even in effect yet, and characterizes ANY opposition to it as ‘ debating issues that were decided decades ago.‘ These NEW mandates don’t even go into effect until January 2013 and these libs claim it’s settled decades ago. She also claims that all of the Republican candidates want to overturn the 1965 SCOTUS birth control decision (Griswold v. Connecticut,) and are coming for ‘your’ birth control. While making this new mandate their primary issue of concern they hand wring and complain about how Republicans are...

The Washington Post headlines a piece by Ann Gerhart with the question, “Birth control as an election issue? Why?� It’s the wrong question, but first let’s see how Gerhart sets this up: Decades ago, near the end of the Age of Aquarius, a Republican congressman from Texas argued passionately that the federal government should pay for birth control for poor women.“We need to take sensationalism out of this topic so that it can no longer be used by militants who have no real knowledge of the voluntary nature of the program but, rather, are using it as a political stepping...

On Thursday afternoon [Feb 16] in Washington, the Rev. Matthew Harrison, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, told a panel of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives that the St. Louis-based denomination "stand(s) with our friends in the Catholic Church" in opposition to a recent government ruling on contraception. The Missouri Synod has not traditionally embraced the notion of pluralism, at least when it comes to what the church calls "altar and pulpit fellowship." But in an interview Friday, Harrison, who lives in Ballwin with his family, made it clear that the Missouri Synod has "large consensus with the...

Now that the left is successfully employing this wedge argument over insurance birth control mandates, what can we do on an individual basis to counteract it? I am suddenly seeing local boards and even my face book page being flooded with emotional posts by hysterical women who claim their uteruses (uteri?) are being attacked. They are being successfully distracted from the real issues and seem quite anxious to throw their vote away for red herrings. They have been tricked and I am trying to figure out the best way to dodge their emotional arguments and enlighten them. Some (most) of...

The respected Dem firm Democracy Corps has just published an important polling memo that gets right to the heart of why the birth control battle could matter so much in this year’s elections. The firm’s poll finds that one of the most important factors powering Obama’s gains against likely GOP nominee Mitt Romney has been the President’s improving numbers among unmarried women, a key pillar of the present and future Democratic coalition. Among this group, Obama now leads Romney by 65-30 — and there’s been a net 18-point swing towards the President among them: Larger version here. After unmarried women...

Missouri Synod President tells House Committee: LCMS ‘religiously opposed to supporting abortion-causing drugs’ST. LOUIS—February 16, 2012—The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of the St. Louis-based Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, was one of several witnesses to give testimony today during the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s hearing, “Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?” Following are Harrison’s comments to the committee: “Mr. Chairman, it’s a pleasure to be here. The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod is a body of some 6,200 congregations and 2.3 million members across the...

Attorneys general from a dozen states say they intend to sue over the Obama administration's contraception mandate that requires many religious employers to violate the teachings of their faith. In a Feb. 10 letter, the attorneys general voiced their “strong opposition” to the mandate, which they called “an impermissible violation of the Constitution's First Amendment virtually unparalleled in American history.” They said that if the mandate is implemented, they are prepared to “vigorously oppose it in court.” The letter was sent to the Department of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebilius, Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner and Labor secretary Hilda...

KIRKWOOD, Missouri, February 9, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The President of the Missouri Lutheran Synod added his voice to the growing chorus of religious leaders from across denominational lines who are objecting to the HHS mandate requiring employers to cover sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs in their healthcare plans. “The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod objects to the use of drugs and procedures that are used to take the lives of unborn children, who are persons in the sight of God from the time of conception,” wrote Rev. Dr. Matthew Harrison, in a statement issued February 3rd. “Increasingly we are suffering overzealous...

Catholic teaching on contraception is at the heart of the controversy over the Health and Human Services mandate. Catholic hospitals and universities are unwilling to purchase insurance plans that provide contraceptive coverage. To critics, this unwillingness borders on the irrational; accordingly, they see little value in protecting the freedom of Catholic hospitals and universities to act in accordance with their beliefs. Catholic teaching about contraception is, however, not irrational; nor is it founded, as some have claimed, on irrelevant distinctions such as that between what is natural and what is “artificial.” Rather, two lines of argument are to be found...

ROME (CNS) -- Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan of New York said Feb. 13 that President Barack Obama's proposed revision to the contraceptive mandate in the health reform law did nothing to change the U.S. bishops' opposition to what they regard as an unconstitutional infringement on religious liberty. "We bishops are pastors, we're not politicians, and you can't compromise on principle," said Cardinal-designate Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "And the goal posts haven't moved and I don't think there's a 50-yard line compromise here," he added. "We're in the business of reconciliation, so it's not that we...

LCMS President Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison will take part in a Capitol Hill hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in Washington, D. C., on Thursday, Feb. 16. The hearing will focus on the issues of freedom of religion and freedom of conscience in relation to the Obama administration's recent health-care ruling regarding contraceptives. The panel also will include Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist and Jewish leaders. The Rev. John T. Pless, who teaches theological ethics and is an assistant professor of Pastoral Ministry and missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, and Ann Stillman, vice-president and general...

Last Friday, the White House announced that it would revise the controversial ObamaCare birth-control mandate to address religious-liberty concerns. Its proposed modifications are a farce. The Department of Health and Human Services would still require employers with religious objections to select an insurance company to provide contraceptives and drugs that induce abortions to its employees. The employers would pay for the drugs through higher premiums. For those employers that self-insure, like the Archdiocese of Washington, the farce is even more blatant. The birth-control coverage mandate violates the First Amendment's bar against the "free exercise" of religion. But it also violates...

LCMS reacts to contraceptive mandate 'accommodation' Missouri Synod president says church remains ‘deeply concerned’ about health plan mandate despite White House statement ST. LOUIS—February 14, 2012—The Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, issued a statement today in response to President Obama’s health plan “accommodation” for religious groups, which was announced last week: “In response to President Obama’s announcement Friday concerning an ‘accommodation’ to a previous mandate that health plans must cover all forms of birth control (even those that can kill the unborn), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) remains deeply concerned. We strongly object to...