Free Republic

Yesterday, the United States Supreme Court decided Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, and ruled the federal government could not require closely-held corporations to provide no-cost contraception for their employees. Although that was the question before the Supreme Court, there were many things the Supreme Court didn’t have the jurisdiction to rule on yesterday.  And the most important of these issues--the basic premise at the root of the case’s ideological divide--was not up for debate: that contraception is preventive health care. Yes, contraception prevents pregnancy--that’s the whole point--but why is pregnancy considered to be a disease? It is an odd disease that is...

“Were you lying then, or are you lying now?” So asks an outraged defense lawyer in the great courtroom drama Witness for the Prosecution, when his star murder witness reverses her testimony. In light of recent events, some may want to ask the same question of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). ACOG presents itself as a defender of scientific truth about human reproduction. “ACOG firmly believes that science must be at the core of public health policies and medical decision-making that affect the health and life of women,” the organization has declared. It is purportedly in this spirit that...

AURORA, CO – A Planned Parenthood affiliate awarded a local business for increasing the number of abortions it performed over the previous year. Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains gave a special commendation to its office in Aurora, Colorado, for "exceeding abortion visits first half of fiscal year 2012 compared to first half of fiscal year 2013.” A former abortion industry worker took a picture of the award and sent it to And Then There Were None, the ministry of former Planned Parenthood manager Abby Johnson to those employed in her former industry. “Ever since I left Planned Parenthood, I...

NARAL added to its tidy collection of lies today when the group released a meme that juxtaposed Viagra and a pack of regular, hormonal birth control pills. Over the picture of Viagra was stamped the word “Covered.” Over the picture of the pack of birth control pills were stamped the words, “Not covered.” Why does this matter? Because it’s a lie that many pro-abortion advocates believe, and are spreading throughout social media with abandon.So let’s set the record straight: Today’s SCOTUS ruling did NOT ban low-dose hormonal contraceptives (although a strong case can be made for the abortifacient qualities of...

No line in bioethics is ever fixed. Rather, the push to eradicate the boundaries that keep medical professionalism tied to Hippocratic values (sniffed at as “paternalism” by many in the field) continues unabated, with new boundary lines created, consolidated, and then moved again into ever-more extreme territory.Some call this, the “slippery slope.” Case in point: Suicide by starvation, known as VSED (voluntary stop eating and drinking). Not only do bioethicists say doctors should participate in this method of suicide by palliating the pain starvation and dehydration causes, but also DO IT FOR THE PATIENT if they stated they wanted to...

Governor Rick Perry of Texas recently made waves when he was asked whether he thought homosexuality is a disorder. He replied that he was not professionally qualified to pronounce on a medical or mental health question, and then added, “Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that . . . I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way.” As you might expect, this...

<p>The Supreme Court has ruled on behalf of Hobby Lobby against ObamaCare mandating them to pay for at least four drugs they deem abortive which would violate their religious freedoms!</p> <p>Following the ruling, Twitter filled up with treats to burn Hobby Lobby to the ground.</p>

PHILADELPHIA, PA – On Thursday, the Kermit Gosnell legal saga finally came to an end as the last two employees of his “house of horrors” abortion facility faced justice. Former Gosnell associates Lynda Williams and Tina Baldwin became the final defendants to be sentenced in the most publicized abortion case in decades. Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner sentenced Williams, 45, to serve five to 10 years in prison for two counts of third-degree murder. Baldwin, 48, received 30 months of probation after pleading guilty to sustaining a corrupt organization, conspiracy, and corrupting a minor. Williams entered a guilty plea...

<p>The Daily Journal has reported on a “mistaken” request by the Pennsylvania Health Department, directed to Planned Parenthood.</p> <p>According to a Health Department spokeswoman, an employee took the initiative to ask Planned Parenthood to “provide information about its physicians’ admitting privileges at Pennsylvania hospitals.” But what seemed like a reasonable request was deemed a mistake by the Health Department.</p>

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Most pro-life groups had a warm response to today's Supreme Court decision in McCullen v. Coakley, finding that the state of Massachusetts had overreached when barring pro-life sidewalk advocates from exercising their free speech rights within a 35-foot zone of abortion facilities. But three justices, led by Antonin Scalia, issued a scathing rebuke to part of the otherwise unanimous decision. “Today’s opinion carries forward this Court’s practice of giving abortion-rights advocates a pass when it comes to suppressing the free-speech rights of their opponents” and “continues the onward march of abortion-speech-only jurisprudence,” he wrote. The justices unanimously...

On May 31, 2009, late-term abortionist Dr. George Tiller was shot by a mentally disturbed convicted felon named Scott Roeder. The darkness of late-term abortion and infanticide was met with the darkness of murder. In the aftermath, condemnations and accusations abounded as activists, talking heads, and politicians argued about who, exactly, had more blood on their hands.Four years later in 2013, a film titled After Tiller was released by directors Martha Shane and Lana Wilson. The documentary follows the four remaining late-term abortion providers in the U.S. and purported to shine a light into the cultural darkness surrounding the issue....

The Huffington Post reports that the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday approved by voice vote an amendment that will extend abortion coverage to Peace Corps volunteers.From the report: The GOP-controlled committee blocked the abortion coverage provision last year after the Senate tried to include it in the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill. But no Republicans spoke out against the measure on Tuesday at a committee mark-up of the FY 2015 version of the bill, and the provision passed quickly by a voice vote. (emphasis mine) This is the first time both the House and Senate committees have approved of...

BEAUMONT, TX -- A Texas judge has bought some time for a man whose estranged wife is attempting to have him removed from life support over the objections of his brother and sister-in-law. Terry Martin Terry Dean Martin, 54, is on a ventilator and receiving nutrition and hydration care at the Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas in Beaumont after being admitted June 13 with complications of diabetes and kidney failure.  He suffered cardiac arrest on June 15, but doctors were able to resuscitate him.  He has not fully regained consciousness since, but his brother Gary Martin says he is able...

It would have been shocking if the abortion comedy Obvious Child hadn’t been celebrated on Melissa Harris-Perry’s weekend show on MSNBC. But the spin on Sunday morning’s program could not have been expected.“MHP” wanted to know if abortion opponents just couldn’t handle the uncomfortable truth about women’s sexuality and how women’s bodies operate. She asked Obvious filmmaker Gillian Robespierre if her abortion comedy could be a good educational “tool” for mothers to share with their daughters as they mature, and the answer led to the term “laminated uterus.” (Video Link) HARRIS-PERRY: But I wonder if, in fact, parents often don`t...

What if I told you that I believe it’s OK to physically abuse your household pets?Hold on. Don’t jump on my case about it. I’m saying it’s acceptable to torture and torment pets — but only pets. And only your own pets. You certainly can’t go around drop kicking, headbutting, or piledriving your neighbor’s dog, but your dog is a different story.And you can only punch, pistol whip, and karate chop your gerbils, cats, puppies, parrots, etc, up until a certain age. And only in the most humane way possible.That’s all. I’m not some kind of psycho animal hater —...

Leading pro-life activist Gary Bauer, the former presidential candidate who is now the head of the group American Values, says President Barack Obama will have a terrifying legacy once he leaves office: more babies aborted than jobs created.“This ought to be the epitaph of this administration: In the last five years under this president more babies have been aborted than jobs have been created,” Bauer said on Friday at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference in Washington, D.C.“Now that is a good summary of this president,” said Bauer, who is president of the nonprofit American Values. “Few...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The homosexual lobby’s effort to redefine marriage "is a form of incremental totalitarianism," a self-described gay man told LifeSiteNews at the second annual March for Marriage in Washington, D.C. Doug Mainwaring, who was a speaker at the March, spoke with LifeSiteNews after his brief presentation. Asked about his sexual orientation, he said, "I identify as gay in the same sense that an alcoholic who has been going to AA meetings for years would never fail to identify himself as an alcoholic." Noting that he "put that aside a few years ago," Mainwaring said "the impulses are still...

Engrained in the pro-abortion culture is a mindset that believes some lives are more valued than others. What’s dangerous is how this belief can permeate our culture in such subtle and covert ways. Sometimes we don’t even realize it. And there’s one phrase in particular that seems innocent, but can actually be a gateway into abortion.Sarah Watts is the mother of a little boy who has spina bifida. When she was pregnant, she encountered the words that soon began to haunt her. Sarah articulates it in the thought-provoking title of her blog post, “As Long As It’s Healthy, But What...

Thursday afternoon’s The Cycle plugged the recently released “abortion rom-com” Obvious Child by interviewing the film’s screenwriter and director Gillian Robespierre and lead actress Jenny Slate.After the hosts spent a couple minutes praising the way in which the film portrayed a “positive, safe, shame-free abortion,” co-host Krystal Ball took the liberty of asking the director if there was ever a point where she felt nervous for her “physical safety” citing the sometimes “violent” nature of anti-abortion activists. Robespierre seemed rather uninterested in the idea that she was ever in danger of a “violent” reaction that may come from the Right....

Would you give birth where a woman was having an abortion in the next room? One “full-spectrum” women’s facility in Buffalo, New York, is shepherding patients through that exact scenario, according to the New York Times.The Buffalo Womenservices facility caters to women who want to have abortions as well as give birth yet all they promote on their homepage is their membership in the National Abortion Federation and NARAL and how they “provide women with safe, legal and confidential abortion services in a compassionate and supportive setting”, not to mention that they perform surgical abortions up to 22 weeks. Babies...