Free Republic

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has praised church workers in Africa who promote chastity as a key way to prevent the spread of HIV. Francis was speaking Monday at the Vatican to bishops from Tanzania. Many non-Catholic health care workers advocate condoms as an important weapon to fight the spread of the HIV virus that causes AIDS. The Vatican opposes condom use because church teaching forbids contraception. Francis praised church health care workers in Africa who care for those with HIV/AIDS and "all who strive diligently to educate people in the area of sexual responsibility and chastity." In 2010, Pope...

It’s the Truvada conundrum: A drug hailed as a lifesaver for many people infected by HIV is at the heart of a rancorous debate among gay men, AIDS activists and health professionals over its potential for protecting uninfected men who engage in gay sex without using condoms. Many doctors and activists see immense promise for such preventive use of Truvada, and are campaigning hard to raise awareness of it as a crucial step toward reducing new HIV infections, which now total about 50,000 a year in the U.S. Recent efforts range from think-tank forums and informational websites to a festive...

March 20, 2014 (STOPP.org) - Planned Parenthood pushes condoms continuously. Use condoms for anal sex to prevent disease transmission, it says. The condom mantra is at the heart of all the “comprehensive sex ed” programs. Yet, Representative Bob McDermott, who is tenaciously fighting the Planned Parenthood-promoted Pono Choices sex program aimed at middle school children in Hawaii, pointed out as early as February 3 that the FDA has warned about the dangers of using condoms for anal sex and that Pono Choices fails to pass those warnings on to students. In fact, the FDA says on its website that anal...

An Obamacare event in Arkansas offered a prize for those who attended: Free condoms. The Obamacare event took place at the University of Central Arkansas last weekend. It was hosted by a group called the Living Affected Corporation, which apparently has received a grant from the federal government to educate the public about Obamacare. The event organizer spilled out a bag of condoms -- as a couple whoops and hollers could be heard from the small crowd. Then she says, "Ok, if anyone wants a paper application," but she interrupts herself to pickup condoms that had fallen on the floor....

New York City mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn said Wednesday night that one of her priorities will be “improving the NYC condom,” referring to the free, government-issued condoms. “I was at an event recently with a large number of African-American gay men, and they told me there’s a very pressing issue as it relates to New York City’s HIV work,” she said at the Black Pride Heritage Awards in Harlem, the Huffington Post reported. The Department of Health said it hasn’t received any complaints regarding the condoms so far this year, and since 2007, the agency has received only 80 official...

Outspoken San Diego Pastor Chris Clark of the East Clairemont Southern Baptist Church of San Diego, Calif., isn't shy about defending citizens' rights when it comes to government encroachment, especially when it pertains to parental rights. Speaking out against the California Family Health Council mailing condoms to more youths, Clark told The Christian Post, "This is one more example of the government's intrusion on parental rights and responsibilities with their kids. … And it goes against what Scripture teaches." The California Family Health Council, a statewide organization that "champions and promotes access to quality sexual and reproductive health care for...

With just a few clicks of a mouse, kids as young as 12 can have free condoms delivered to their doors in California. News of the program's expansion to two new counties comes as the federal government approves the "morning-after pill" without a prescription for girls as young as 15. -snip The Condom Access Project has been around for a year. Late last month, it expanded to San Diego and Fresno counties, bringing the number of counties it serves to seven. As part of the project, anyone between 12 and 19 years old in those counties can confidentially request a...

It seems freedom of association and religious doctrine, and the juxtaposition thereof, are concepts destined to elude liberals’ grasp. That’s the inescapable takeaway from The New York Times’ report on trouble at Boston College, where the Jesuit school’s administrators have decided to crack down on an unofficial student group dedicated to free condom distribution: “While we understand that you may not be intentionally violating university policy, we do need to advise you that, should we receive any reports that you are, in fact, distributing condoms on campus, the matter would be referred to the student conduct office for disciplinary action...

Boston College officials threaten to take disciplinary action against Boston College Students for Sexual Health (BCSSH), a group of students who have been distributing condoms out of dorm rooms to other students. The group is not recognized by the university. “We go through almost 2,000 condoms every semester for students that need them. It is very much an important need here,” said Lizzie Jekanowski, who runs BCSSH. But now Boston College is threatening to punish the students if they don’t stop giving out condoms because it goes against Catholic values and traditions. “Our position is that we’re a Catholic university...

I don't think this what Bill Gates had in mind when he offered $100,000 to someone to invent the next generation condom. Just when you though the bacon fad was fizzling out, J&D's Foods --the same Seattle-based company that brought us the bacon coffin and bacon mayonnaise (all real products) -- now has introduced Bacon Condoms that claims to "make your meat look like meat." As an added bonus, each condom is coated with its very own J&D’s baconlube.

Washington D.C., Feb 23, 2013 / 04:12 pm (CNA).- New governmental reports on sexual behavior in America show significant rises in both sexually-transmitted infections and use of emergency contraception in recent years. Government estimates “show that there are about 20 million new infections in the United States each year,” said that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a new fact sheet released this month. The report was one of two recent studies by the organization surveying the behavior of sexually active individuals in the U.S. Based on surveys and public disease reports, the group estimated “that there are...

A college student in New Jersey is delivering condoms on campus to promote responsibility among his peers, and to turn a profit. He started the business last year, and hopes to expand to nearby campuses.

The legal challenges over religious freedom and the birth control coverage requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul appear to be moving toward the U.S. Supreme Court. Faith-affiliated charities, hospitals and universities have filed dozens of lawsuits against the mandate, which requires employers to provide insurance that covers contraception for free. However, many for-profit business owners are also suing, claiming a violation of their religious beliefs. The religious lawsuits have largely stalled, as the Department of Health and Human Services tries to develop an accommodation for faith groups. However, no such offer will be made to individual business owners....

The Philadelphia Health Department will install clear plastic dispensers brimming with free condoms at 22 of Philadelphia’s public high schools over winter break. The schools chosen for the pilot program have the highest rates of students infected with sexually transmitted diseases in the city, Philly.com reports. All students — even those as young as 14 — will be eligible to score free condoms unless their parents sign a form prohibiting them from participating. The primary issue city officials hope to address with the pilot program is not teen pregnancy, but the growing prevalence of sexually transmitted disease among adolescents. Teens...

LOS ANGELES, November 9, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A referendum passed on Tuesday is drawing attention to the unhealthy conditions of the pornography industry—and how pornographers profit by placing young people at risk of diseases from syphilis to AIDS. On November 6th, Los Angeles County voters passed a referendum requiring pornographers to wear condoms to cut an outbreak of disease. Critics say porn producers, who make $14 billion a year, put money over safety by insisting that sex scenes with condoms don’t sell.  The industry threatened to move its studios, 90 percent of the which are located in the San Fernando...

Nobody in human history has ever been entirely sensible and rational about the Big Five subjects, at least not for long: sex, power, children, money and God have been agitating and confusing human beings since time began. Note which comes first on the list: sex is both inescapable and inescapably confusing. America’s own peculiar forms of sex craziness were beautifully on display this week. There is the sad and very shocking news that David Petraeus has stepped down as the head of the CIA due to an adulterous affair with his biographer... Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, thanks to the alert...

AIDS activists called a requirement that porn performers wear condoms while filming a "referendum on the subject of safer sex." But with almost all the votes tallied and Measure B winning passage, many in the adult film industry were wondering what's next for the industry — and whether they must now take their business out of Los Angeles County.

This year, women in Ventura County and across the country face a critical election. In Congress, women's health rights are under siege from a radical agenda that wants to take away preventive health programs such as breast cancer screenings, restrict access to contraception and end a woman's right to choose. The health of our sisters and daughters may very well depend on the choices we voters make at the ballot box this Election Day, and nowhere is the right choice more clear than here in Ventura County. My choice for Congress is Julia Brownley. I'm standing with Julia because she'll...

October 21, 2012 Fluke, OFA fail in pics: If you hold a rally and no one shows up, does it make a sound? Twitchy Staff Gut-busting! Sandra Fluke held “rallies” in Nevada this weekend and the crowds numbered in the ONES. "Sandra Fluke speaks to ten (10) people at...wait for it..The "Sak 'N Save" in Reno. Now that's the kind of stuff you just can't make up." Stop, our sides can’t take it! Worse, Obama for America then tries to cover it up by calling it an “intimate gathering.” The giggles, they hurt! Excuse us while we pick ourselves up...

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - You only have to step outside the Democratic National Convention center in downtown Charlotte where vendors and special interest groups are hawking their goods to realize that the Democrats have become the party of hard-edged social issues, not the GOP. While the Republicans have largely tried to follow former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' suggestion that they stick to economic issues, the Democrats have gone hog wild on social issues like abortion, contraception and same sex marriage. Consider the dozens of pink-shirted Planned Parent representatives. As the crowds stroll by, they yell out "Get your 'Protect yourself from...