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...

Parents have been banned from supervising their children in public playgrounds, because they have not undergone criminal record checks. Only council-vetted "play rangers" are now allowed to monitor youngsters in two adventure areas in Watford while parents must watch from outside a perimeter fence. The Watford Borough Council policy has been attacked as insulting and a disgrace by furious relatives who say they are being labelled as potential paedophiles.

Minneapolis firefighter and paramedic John Ackerman joins Fightin Words to discuss recent cases where parents faced homicide charges for turning to religion as medicine rather than modern science. What are the proper bounds of parental authority? How much religious freedom is too much? Who gets to decide, and where do they derive their authority? Part one of a two part interview, to be continued next week.

In 1995 MassResistance (then known as Parents Rights Coalition) wrote and successfully lobbied for the Parental Notification Law (Ch. 71 Sec. 32A) which was signed into law by Gov. Bill Weld in 1996. Unfortunately, the law (which is "opt-out" and is aimed at sex education) has serious flaws and loopholes. In 1995 we did not anticipate the aggressive homosexual agenda in the schools. MassResistance has carefully crafted a new bill to address this issue properly, and close those loopholes. It's Bill H406 which we've named the David Parker Parents Rights Bill. It completely re-writes the current Parental Notification Law. It's...

This is not a “slippery slope” argument. This is a “line in the sand” argument. Government must not be allowed to stick its nose in the tent of parental affairs except in cases of extraordinary and demonstrable physical abuse and real neglect (starving or exposure). Erring needs to be on the side of parental and religious rights, because we either have them or we don’t. This case, believed to be the first of its kind in the history of the state, sets the precedent that government decides what medical treatment is appropriate rather than parents. It is a very small...

Planned Parenthood Used Underage Girls in 10 Clinical Trials Pushing Abortion Washington, DC (LifeNews.com)-- A new report from a Planned Parenthood watchdog group finds the abortion business used underage girls in at least 10 clinical trials over the last two decades to push abortion, birth control, and STD testing. The news comes at a time when Planned Parenthood is facing criticism for videos showing it ignoring potential statutory abuse cases. http://www.LifeNews.com/nat5548.html

PHOENIX — An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant. Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit. The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for...

NBC's John Harwood smears parents as stupid, plus a video from the NBC Nightly News going to bat for the Dear Leader on his speech to school children...

Angry parents get schools to shun Obama speech to students Dublin, Hilliard, Olentangy districts decide not to show president's TV address Tuesday Thursday, September 3, 2009 11:22 PM By Bill Bush THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH School districts across central Ohio learned today that the list of things parents want their children protected from -- drugs, predators, violence -- now includes the president of the United States delivering a "stay in school" message. Faced with phone calls from angry parents who don't want their children to view the Tuesday address to the nation's students by President Barack Obama, several districts have decided...

DRUMMONDVILLE, Quebec, September 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Quebec Superior Court has denied a petition from concerned Catholic parents who wanted exemptions for their children from the province's mandatory relativism program, 'Ethics and Religious Culture' (ERC). In making his decision, the judge, Justice Jean-Guy Dubois, relied heavily on two Catholic sources: (1) the testimony of a Catholic theologian who emphasized that the Catholic Church values instruction in other religions, and (2) the position of the Assembly of Quebec Catholic Bishops, who did not support "a priori" exemptions based on religion. Even without the support of his brother bishops, Quebec City...

Amanda Kurowski is a 10-year-old homeschooled girl who performs well academically and is socially well-adjusted. But her strong Christian beliefs were reason enough for a New Hampshire court to order her out of homeschooling and into a public school. The daughter of divorced parents, Amanda has been homeschooled by her mother, Brenda Voydatch since first grade. Her father, Martin Kurowski, is opposed to homeschooling, arguing that it prevents "adequate socialization" for Amanda with other children. He requested that she be placed in a government school. In the process of renegotiating the terms of a parenting plan for the girl, the...

A 10-year-old homeschool girl described as "well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level" has been told by a New Hampshire court official to attend a government school because she was too "vigorous" in defense of her Christian faith. The decision from Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that the girl's "vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view."

If they can do it to Mr. Bary, they can do it to youORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - The fate of a 17-year-old girl who ran away from her Ohio home because she says she feared punishment for converting from Islam to Christianity could be decided in an Orlando courtroom Friday. The teenager disappeared last month and police used phone and computer records to track her to the Rev. Blake Lorenz, pastor of Orlando, Fla.-based Global Revolution Church, who she had met through an online Facebook prayer group. My first thought was, this one's easy. Send her back to her family...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A man was arrested and charged with attacking his own daughter with a piece of pizza. Deputies say the 38-year-old father got into an argument with his daughter in Gainesville Friday. The man had asked his daughter to get off her computer. When she would not, he began verbally attacking her, according to deputies. The daughter called 911 when her father threw a piece of pizza that hit her in the back of the neck. The suspect was arrested and charged with felony child abuse. Deputies are not releasing the girl's age or the names of either...

Dirty secret No. 1 in Obamacare is about the government's coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development. It's outlined in sections 440 and 1904 of the House bill (Page 838), under the heading "home visitation programs for families with young children and families expecting children." The programs (provided via grants to states) would educate parents on child behavior and parenting skills. The bill says that the government agents, "well-trained and competent staff," would "provide parents with knowledge of age-appropriate child development in cognitive, language, social, emotional, and motor domains ... modeling, consulting, and coaching on...

In the “Dating, Family & Friends” section of the Teen Talk web site promoted on Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s home page, a teenage girl asks, “My boyfriend and I have decided that before we have sex [I] should be on the pill or some kind of birth control, but still use a condom. I asked my mom about putting me on Birth control, and [I] even researched it but she said no...what do [I] do now?” PP answers, “It's good that you and your boyfriend have discussed using birth control. In general, parental permission is not needed for prescription...

Members of the activist homosexual community have decided to advance their cultural revolution, in spite of the rights of parents, by using children and the willing administration in some school systems. The Pacific Justice Institute is representing the parents in that area, free of charge. Rather than deal with the specific incident, I want to address the broader problem, the growing failure in some public school districts to respect parental rights. I also want to affirm the Catholic teaching on the primary role of parents in the lives of their children and in education. The Church is in favor of...

AUSAU, Wis. — A Wisconsin man accused of killing his daughter by praying instead of seeking lifesaving medical help considered her illness "a test of his faith," a prosecutor told jurors Saturday. Dale Neumann, 47, is a "full-Gospel Christian," who did not know his 11-year-old daughter had diabetes, his defense attorney said. There's also not "a shred of evidence" Neumann knew his prayers would fail to help his daughter or cause her death, the lawyer said. Neumann is charged with second-degree reckless homicide in the 2008 death of his daughter Madeline Neumann, called Kara by her parents. His wife, Leilani,...

UK, July 17, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The sex education lobby in the UK is putting pressure on the government to ban parents' rights to withdraw their children from the controversial new sex education program that is slated to become a compulsory part of the National Curriculum from September 2011.Parents currently have the right to withdraw their children from sex education under the 1996 Education Act.In response to the Department for Children, Schools and Families' request for public input on the sex education program that would see comprehensive sex-ed begin in Grade 1, "health education" groups such as the Brook Advisory...

On Friday, I spotlighted the devastating reporting on Obama “science czar” John Holdren posted at zombietime and featured it as the lead story all weekend. Refresher on Holdren’s eco-zealous views: • Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not; • The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food; • Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise; • People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can...