Free Republic

At CPAC, Texas Gov. Rick Perry quipped, “I haven’t left the fight; I just went home, reloaded my Mag and am fighting on a different front.” Clearly, he wasn’t kidding. Texas today cut Medicaid funding to abortion providers — even though the administration threatened to cut the state’s funding if it did so. The Daily Caller reports: On Thursday, Texas Health and Human Services Commissioner Thomas Suehs signed a rule at the behest of lawmakers and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott that will formally ban Planned Parenthood affiliates and other abortion providers from participating in Texas’ Women’s Health Program.The administration...

A Stern Warning to the “Conservative Elites” about Mitt RomneyThrough their silence, the elites are assisting a political cancer that has profound consequences for our children and grandchildrenWe write the following because we must oppose the deception of the American people by powerful and influential conservatives. Many in the conservative grassroots no longer trust the “conservative” media, lawyers and leaders, whom they see as serving the GOP establishment regardless of the will of the conservative base, regardless of the truth. Most of us are not allied with any presidential candidate. But we are troubled by the unethical and Orwellian cover-up...

If abortion, why not infanticide? This leading question is often treated as a canard by supporters of abortion. However, it is seriously argued by two Italian utilitarians and published online in the prestigious Journal of Medical Ethics this week. Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva are associated respectively with Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia, and with the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, in the UK.They argue that both the fetus and the new-born infant are only potential persons without any interests. Therefore the interests of the persons involved with them are paramount until some indefinite time after birth. To emphasise...

What’s wrong with our schools is what’s wrong with America, and we can’t change one without changing the other.

Good grief! A Maryland state legislator has filed a bill that would allow surrogate decision makers to “donate” kidneys and liver lobes. From HB 449: THIS SUBSECTION APPLIES ONLY TO A PATIENT WHO HAS BEEN CERTIFIED UNDER § 5–606(B) OF THIS SUBTITLE TO BE IN A PERSISTENT 8 VEGETATIVE STATE. (3) A PERSON AUTHORIZED TO MAKE HEALTH CARE DECISIONS FOR ANOTHER UNDER THIS SECTION MAY AUTHORIZE THE DONATION OF A NONVITAL ORGAN IF THE DONATION IS BASED ON: (I) THE WISHES OF THE PATIENT AS PREVIOUSLY EXPRESSED BY THE PATIENT; OR (II) A DETERMINATION BY THE SURROGATE THAT THE DONATION...

While I was pregnant I would sit on my bed and look at Riley’s name printed on the wall. I felt that something was a little off. Nothing was wrong, but something wasn’t right. How neat it was that I knew she was special before I even met her... Jennifer peaks her head into the living room where her three daughters are playing house. Sarah and Jaimee giggle as they push their little six month old sister, Riley, around in a carriage that is supposed to be for their baby dolls. Riley simply smiles at all the attention. “Mom, come...

Video translated from clip posted on YouTube in December 2008. Clip originally aired on the Arabic-language satellite station 'al-Hurra', on the program 'Misawa'. Subtitled video is above, full transcript below (thanks to Nonie Darwish for finding the video): Guest - More than 23% of children in Saudi society have been raped. Host – So about a quarter of Saudi children have been-- Guest - About a quarter of Saudi children have been raped. Sixty-two percent of those people— Host – Those children. Guest - No, I’m sorry, the study was directed at university students. Twenty-three percent had been raped during...

Rick Santorum Winning More Support From Republican Women By Amy Gardner, February 23 Over the past several weeks, Republicans have watched squeamishly as presidential contender Rick Santorum has waded into multiple controversies that risk alienating half the 2012 electorate: women. But in fact, Santorum has grown more popular among women while talking about his opposition to abortion, his disapproval of birth control and his view that the federal government shouldn’t pay for prenatal screenings. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows not only that Santorum is doing better among GOP women than he was a few weeks ago, but also...

DALLAS, Texas - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said Thursday that President Obama wants more young adults to go to college so they can undergo "indoctrination" to a secular world view. In an hour-long interview with conservative television host Glenn Beck, Santorum also defended his record on abortion and his vote in favor of President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind education law. On the president's efforts to boost college attendance, Santorum said, "I understand why Barack Obama wants to send every kid to college, because of their indoctrination mills, absolutely ... The indoctrination that is going on at...

Yet another link between the Planned Parenthood abortion business and the Girl Scouts has come to light and it is giving pro-life advocates further pause about their involvement in the organization.Indiana Right to Life has learned the city of Bloomington, Indiana web site in 2009 reported the direct involvement of a Planned Parenthood “health and sexuality” educator in the development of a Girl Scouts program targeted to girls as young as five years-old.In its report on the 2009 Woman of the Year and Lifetime Contribution Award, the site notes that Anne Reese was nominated posthumously for the Lifetime Contribution Award....

TACOMA, WASHINGTON, February 22, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a decision that could impact the unfolding debate over the HHS mandate, today a federal court in Washington state upheld the First Amendment rights of pharmacists to refuse to distribute potentially abortifacient contraception and abortion-inducing drugs, such as Plan B and Ella, if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. The decision overturns Washington Board of Pharmacy rules approved in 2007 by pro-abortion governor Christine Gregoire, which lacked the exemption. “The Board of Pharmacy’s 2007 rules are not neutral, and they are not generally applicable,” the court ruled in its decision. “They...

WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 22, 2012 — The National Clergy Council, representing church leaders of Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox, and Protestant church traditions, has declared a State of Emergency for the Churches in response to the order by President Barack Obama for religious organizations to compromise their religious and moral beliefs by complying with a mandate to provide employees with certain forms of insurance coverage. In recent days, Jewish rabbis have joined all Catholic bishops in the United States in expressing alarm over the president’s “healthcare” mandates and other violations of the Constitution. The National Clergy Council deliberated for the last week...

  One month later, authorities are still trying to find out how the children were there Johnny Hanson/APChild Protective Services removed 11 children from this home in Dayton, Texas last month. DAYTON, Texas — Texas authorities said Tuesday they removed 11 children from a crowded home where a registered sex offender lives after they found eight confined in a small, dark bedroom with restraints tying some to their beds. Along with the children, 10 adults were living in the one-story, 1,700-square-foot home in Dayton, about 30 miles northeast of Houston, Child Protective Services spokeswoman Gwen Carter said. One month after...

Amid the sound and fury of the latest culture-war battles - first over breast cancer dollars and Planned Parenthood, and then over the White House's attempt to require that religious employers cover contraception and potential abortifacients - it's easy to forget that there is at least some common ground in U.S. politics on sex, pregnancy, marriage and abortion. Even the most pro-choice politicians, for instance, usually emphasize that they want to reduce the need for abortion, and make the practice rare as well as safe and legal. Even the fiercest conservative critics of the White House's contraception mandate - yes,...

BOSTON (AP) - A retired Massachusetts judge is defending her decision to order a mentally ill woman to have an abortion and be sterilized against her wishes. Christina Harms is also criticizing Boston University for withdrawing a job offer after her ruling sparked controversy and was overturned by the state Appeals Court. Harms, who retired last month, defended her ruling in a letter she sent Monday to other Massachusetts family court judges, saying she believed the schizophrenic woman would have chosen to have an abortion if she had been mentally competent. The letter was first reported by The Boston Globe....

All 11 active judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis recently heard one of the most important abortion cases in the federal courts today. The case, Planned Parenthood v. Rounds, involves a South Dakota statute requiring informed consent before a woman undergoes an abortion. While many in the media have focused on the controversies surrounding President Obama’s health care law, this case actually is one of the most significant events on the life issue today. The hearing focused on what the courts have called “the suicide advisory”: the statute’s requirement that abortion providers...

You would get something that sounds like this… 7 Arguments for Infanticide 1. Abortion costs money, and many poor people do not have the money to spare on abortion, especially in developing countries. Infanticide, on the other hand, is absolutely free. The procedure requires no doctor’s consultation, no medication, and no follow up visit. It requires no special equipment and can be performed with any number of common household items, such as a kitchen knife or even a shoestring. 2. Criminalizing infanticide is dangerous for women. In societies where infanticide is illegal, young women who do not want their child,...

When Barack Obama was campaigning for president in 2008, he declared that marriage is between a man and a woman. For the most part, his position was treated as a nonissue. Now Rick Santorum is campaigning for president. He too says that marriage is between a man and a woman. What a different reaction he gets. There's no mystery why. Mr. Santorum is attacked because everyone understands that he means what he says. President Obama, by contrast, gets a pass because everyone understands—nudge nudge, wink wink—that he's not telling the truth. The press understands that this is just one of...

CHICAGO (AP) - A small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting support from parents and from doctors who give them sex-changing treatments, according to reports in the medical journal Pediatrics. It's an issue that raises ethical questions, and some experts urge caution in treating children with puberty-blocking drugs and hormones. An 8-year-old second-grader in Los Angeles is a typical patient. Born a girl, the child announced at 18 months, "I a boy" and has stuck with that belief. The family was shocked but now refers to the...

BOSTON (AP) -- A retired Massachusetts judge on Tuesday defended her decision to order a mentally ill woman to have an abortion and be sterilized against her wishes, and she blasted Boston University for rescinding a job offer after her ruling sparked controversy. Christina Harms said she believes the schizophrenic woman would have chosen to have an abortion if she had been mentally competent.