Free Republic

Over-the-counter emergency contraception has just survived a fourteen-year slog through the federal bureaucracy, with the Justice Department announcing this week that it will finally allow people of all ages to purchase the pill without a prescription. Obama backed down when it looked like a lawsuit over the age restriction would make it all the way to the Supreme Court. Apparently, after years of citing paternal concerns as the reason his administration has ignored the recommendations of doctors and lawyers, he just doesn’t want to continue to have this fight in public. In April, when Obama became the first sitting president...

At a Thursday press conference, the Weekly Standard's John McCormack asked House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi what the moral difference was between Dr. Kermit Gosnell's murdering born-alive infants and legalized late-term abortion. In response, McCormack was not only met with anger from Pelosi but also howls of laughter from his media colleagues.... Must be a beautiful thing being a Democrat and only having your extremist views backed by your palace guards in the media.

June 9, 2013 Ours has become a neo-pagan culture, and that can be even worse than a simple pagan culture By Father George Rutler Last week the Church celebrated the feast of the Martyrs of Uganda. In the late nineteenth century, French and English missionaries were welcomed by King Mutesa I of Buganda in the southern part of modern Uganda. His successor, Mwanga II, however, was a youth who became a persecutor of Christians and all foreigners. He especially opposed Christian morality, as it contradicted his affinity for unnatural vice which was abhorred by the local Buganda culture, but...

Tell me who you hang out with and I’ll tell you who you are. Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts USA (GSUSA), offers this pithy saying as her favorite quote. In order to figure out who the Girl Scouts are, I suppose we must follow Ms. Chávez’ logic and look at the organizations that GSUSA associates with. A good place to start would be the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). WAGGGS has member organizations across the globe, the largest of which is GSUSA, contributing approximately a quarter of the ten million members that belong to...

Murder charges have been filed against a 21-year-old woman who stabbed her 5-month-old son to death, then stabbed herself in a motel on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. Kimberlynn Bolanos, of the 2700 block of West Balmoral Avenue, is facing one count of first-degree murder. She remains at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with wounds to her abdomen, police said.

Film and television stars hit Republicans on Wednesday for their opposition to abortion rights and free access to birth control. Stanley Tucci, Morena Baccarin, Mehcad Brooks and others appeared in a Web video where they slammed conservative positions on women's health as retrograde... campaign began last year with another star-studded video featuring Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Amy Poehler and other notable actors. "We've drawn the line on moving backward on reproductive rights," Tucci said in the video released Wednesday.

This week the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week struck down Arizona’s law prohibiting abortion at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy – a law that was based on uncontroverted medical evidence that abortion’s risks to maternal health increase dramatically at 20 weeks gestation. It is universally accepted that risks to maternal health from abortion increase as pregnancy progresses. There is no debate on that fact, and peer-reviewed evidence utilized by the Arizona Legislature demonstrated that abortion imposes significant risks of harm beginning at 20 weeks gestation. In fact, in his concurring opinion in this case, Isaacson v. Horne,...

Via the Examiner and NRO, a few more credible, confidence-inspiring breadcrumbs from this morning’s Ways and Means hearing. It’s starting to make sense now why protesting Planned Parenthood might present a risk to your tax-exempt status, isn’t it?The second clip is of Miller saying that he did indeed ask his underlings who was targeting conservative groups, and they told him, but now he can’t remember the answer. Really. The disdain this guy harbors for the proceedings is palpable, but that’s probably in his best interest: The more antagonistic he is, the more liberal support he’ll have when the administration inevitably...

The other day, I was in the middle of doing research online when I stumbled across a Planned Parenthood ad. Planned Parenthood, over the years, has run some pretty shocking ad campaigns. Without a doubt, this one is the worst I’ve ever seen: This ad proves that insanity can indeed reach new heights. Planned Parenthood recently coined its “Care. No matter what.” slogan, around the same time the abortion giant decided that claiming to be “pro-choice” wasn’t the best way to win people to their side. Now, it’s insane to claim to “care” when your work is actually killing. (Insanity...

New video footage of the interviews with the jurors in the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell shows one juror talking about how difficult it was to view pictures of the babies Gosnell killed. Jury Foreman David Misko says: “It was definitely hard to see the photos. There was cases where the photos of the babies were blown up and they were right in front of your face and you had to stare–it was definitely hard seeing that.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSVzLrWeDXM&feature=player_embedded

A new report indicates nine of the 12 jurors who convicted abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell of murder yesterday, take a “pro-choice” view of abortion. AS CNS News first uncovered, according to NBC 10 reporter Jacqueline London, “And to give you some background on the jurors, of the seven women and five men who are on the jury, at least nine told the court that they are pro-choice. Two say that they are neither pro-choice nor pro-life.” “So, interesting background on them, they have been very attentive throughout this entire trial,” the local reported added. The jury in the murder trial...

An abortionist who is now facing a criminal investigation would regularly allow late-term babies to be born alive, then twist their heads off with his bare hands, according to a videotaped interview conducted by three of his employees. “Most of the time the fetus [sic] would come all the way out before he either cut the spinal cord or introduced one of the instruments into the soft-spot of the fetus in order to kill the fetus,” said Deborah Edge, one of the employees. “Either that or twisting the head off the neck with his own bare hands.” “Most of the...

PHILADELPHIA, April 16, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Kermit Gosnell's history of injuring women through reckless abortion practices extends as far back as 1972, when he injured nine women by testing an experimental abortion device on them that caused plastic razor blades to lacerate their wombs. Even then, however, Gosnell escaped receiving any disciplinary action, with the state turning a blind eye, as it would for the next four decades as he operated his "House of Horrors."

• Dr Kermit Gosnell earned more than $1.8 million a year from abortions • He bought an 18ft sailboat and at least nine properties in four states • While he earned up to $15,000 a week, his staff were on minimum wage • Authorities are now looking for more properties after he failed to reveal all of his assets Investigators are looking to see if he owns further properties... after he refused to respond to a court order telling him to reveal all his assets... Gosnell's assets are estimated to be worth several million dollars and all paid for from...

...NARAL Pro Choice America’s statement in response is an exercise in denial. It completely avoids grappling with the fact that the three first-degree murders of which Gosnell was convicted were not committed against adults who walked into Gosnell’s practice, but against three prematurely born babies. The

The jury in the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell returned a verdict and found him guilty on three of the four first-degree murder charges he faced. Gosnell is charged with four counts of first-degree murder for killing babies following delivery in an abortion process that involved “snipping” their necks and spinal cords. He also faces a third-degree murder charge related to the death of a woman, Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Virginia, from a botched legal abortion. Gosnell, who has been in jail since his January 2011 arrest. The abortionist faces 258 counts total and other charges against him...

The jury in the murder trial of abortion practitioner Kermit Gosnell returned a verdict and it moments away from announcing it. Reports indicate the jury has reached a verdict on all 263 counts. Gosnell is charged with four counts of first-degree murder for killing babies following delivery in an abortion process that involved “snipping” their necks and spinal cords. He also faces a third-degree murder charge related to the death of a woman, Karnamaya Mongar, 41, of Virginia, from a botched legal abortion. Gosnell, who has been in jail since his January 2011 arrest. The abortionist faces 258 counts total...

After 10 days of deliberations and an announcement by the jury that they were deadlocked on two charges, a verdict has now been reached

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, May 11, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – This Sunday, children of all ages will celebrate the role mothers play in their lives. But Vogue model Christy Turlington Burns and a host of female celebrities are encouraging mothers across the nation to ignore their children as part of “No Mother’s Day,” a sign of their support for reducing maternal mortality by supporting family planning and global access to abortion. The campaign asks women to “disappear” on Mother’s Day to raise awareness of maternal mortality rates and underscore “just how much a mother is missed when she’s gone.” But amidst positive...

May 9, 2013 (LiveActionNews.org) - In 1977, abortion was legal throughout the country during all nine months of pregnancy. When an obstetrician/gynecologist told teenager “Mary W” that she was 28 weeks pregnant, he suggested that she give the baby up for adoption, as few doctors in the area were willing to perform abortions that late. But Mary was determined, and she managed to find an abortionist – Dr. William Baxter Waddill. On March 2, 1977, Mary arrived at Westminster Community Hospital for a saline abortion. Saline abortions are seldom performed today because of the danger to the mother and the...

It seems Tamara Holder, one of Fox's in-house liberal commentators, is a tad confused on the subjects infanticide and abortion.  As the following segment makes clear, Holder only appears certain of one thing: She's no fan of this Lila Rose character, nor of her pro-life investigative group, Live Action.  Scroll ahead to the 2:50 mark, where things got a little heated -- for one of the participants, at least: Lila Rose v Tamara Holder Debate Bronx Infanticide Undercover Video - Sean Hannity - 4-30-13 Right off the bat, Holder makes a string of errors.  She mispronounces Rose's name, wrongly asserts...

Remember when Obama hoped not for a red or blue America, but a purple America? And he pledged to be a president to all of America? To me, that means he will be my advocate, my defender, my cheerleader. It sure doesn’t mean he will scoff at who I am and belittle me. But Obama does scoff at whole groups of us. First, he disparaged those of us in small Midwest towns who, according to him, are “bitter,” and “cling” to our “guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren’t like” us to explain our “frustrations.” Next, he berated...

History Of Horrors: Gosnell trial reveals nothing new by Daniel Clark Since the start of abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s trial, the leading drama queens of the pro-abortion movement have taken turns declaring, “I know ye not, old quack.” In reality, both Gosnell and his methods have been as familiar to them as Falstaff and his antics were to Prince Hal. Gosnell was committing abortion-related atrocities in Philadelphia at least as far back as 1972, when he performed a series of second-trimester abortions with an experimental instrument called the “super coil.” According to testimony from a colleague of his, the super coil...

Yesterday, April 28, the blog Media Matters published an article entitled “Live Action’s Latest Abortion Clinic Undercover Video A Bust” The article attempts to disparage the footage that Live Action released which showed a 23 week pregnant woman posing as a patient going in for an abortion at Dr. Emily’s Woman’s Clinic The footage, which can be seen here in it’s edited form and here in it’s unedited form, addresses the clinic’s policy of what happens if a baby is born alive. The pregnant woman asks about what would happen if the baby were to come out intact and alive....

A Philadelphia jury is hearing closing arguments in the murder trial of an abortion provider accused of killing a woman and four viable babies, but they won’t hear from the doctor himself. Dr. Kermit Gosnell decided Wednesday not to testify or call witnesses at his capital murder trial. Gosnell, 72, is charged with killing babies after they were born alive at his West Philadelphia clinic, which allegedly catered to poor, desperate women and teens with late-term pregnancies. [snip] Defense lawyer Jack McMahon has argued that there were no live births at the clinic, and he found some support from a...

An antiabortion group that mounted a six-month undercover investigation has released videos this week that raise questions about what might happen to a baby as a result of an unsuccessful abortion. One video features a D.C. doctor, Cesare Santangelo, who said that in the unlikely event that an abortion resulted in a live birth, “we would not help it.” Santangelo was answering repeated questions from an undercover operative about what would happen, hypothetically, if she gave birth after an unsuccessful abortion. “I mean, technically, you know, legally, we would be obligated to help it, you know, to survive, but . . ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxOWyumLufA

An anti-abortion group that previously released several videotapes of undercover visits to abortion clinics released another video on Sunday of a staff member at a Bronx clinic describing late-term abortion procedures. The group likened the practices to those at the clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia doctor charged with killing viable fetuses. Lila Rose, president of Live Action, said the group would release more videos as part of its campaign against late-term abortions. Sunday’s video was shot at the Dr. Emily Women’s Health Center on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx. When a pregnant woman posing as a patient asked...

Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin doesn’t see any difference between Planned Parenthood and Kermit Gosnell, the provider of illegal abortions who is currently on trial for several counts of murder. Speaking at a Planned Parenthood event this week, President Barack Obama denied rumors that he was distancing himself from the organization, reassuring them that they’re “not going anywhere.” In seeming response, Palin took to Facebook to write a lengthy message in which she tied Planned Parenthood to the aforementioned Dr. Gosnell. “Considering the role Planned Parenthood has played in looking the other way while the mass murdering abortion doctor Gosnell...

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who is on trial in Philadelphia for doping one patient to death and killing seven fetuses born alive. He doubtless seems a worthy candidate for death row. Dr. Gosnell, after all, is a monster. Yet his barbarity never required him to venture much beyond the expansive abortion rights created by Roe v. Wade and its companion 1973 Supreme Court decision, Doe v. Bolton. Dr. Gosnell, indeed, could argue that he had a constitutional right to slaughter his very young victims. If instead we insist Kermit Gosnell should die, then perhaps...

April 26, 2013 Obama to Largest Abortion Provider: 'God Bless You' BY DANIEL HALPER President Obama ended his address to the largest abortion provider in the U.S., Planned Parenthood, by saying, "God bless you." VIDEO "As long as we've got to fight to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we've got to fight to protect a woman's right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you've also got a president who's going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way,"...

President Obama slammed state abortion restrictions Friday in a speech to Planned Parenthood's national conference. Obama criticized efforts at the state and federal levels to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and roll back access to abortion. When abortion-rights supporters see some of the proposed restrictions, "you want to check the calendar, you want to make sure it's still 2013," Obama said.

After five weeks of prosecution evidence, the defense in the murder trial of West Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell ended abruptly today with the 72-year-old doctor not testifying and his lawyer presenting no witnesses.

Aaron Ramsey, 35, was found guilty of severely injuring a child in the death of his son, Johnathan, after less than an hour of deliberations on Tuesday The father locked his son in his room, where he slowly starved on a diet of bread and water Dumped the child's emaciated body in a rural area south of Dallas in 2011 The boy's remains were found in the area a year later in a creek Jonathon's stepmother, Elizabeth Ramsey, will also face charges A North Texas father has been convicted of slowly starving to death his 10-year-old son, slipping his body...

The judge in the Kermit Gosnell murder trial admitted today he made an error when dropping one of the charges against the abortion practitioner. Common pleas court Judge Jeffrey Minehart admitted he “erred” when dropping the murder charge for Baby C, who was killed in an abortion-infanticide when he was a victim of an attempted abortion but was born alive and tossed in a shoe box, with Gosnell staffers confirming they saw him breathing for 20 minutes. Gosnell faces eight total murder counts — one for killing a woman in a botched abortion and seven for killing babies in abortion-infanticides...

t’s shaping up to be a dramatic day in the courtroom for those keeping a watchful eye on the Dr. Kermit Gosnell case. According to columnist J.D. Mullane, a writer for the Bucks County Courier Times, the abortion doctor was acquitted this morning on three counts of murder. In a series of tweets from inside the courtroom, Mullane described the dismissals, noting that Gosnell still has five murder charges remaining against him (in sequence from oldest to newest): #Gosnell defense atty Jack McMahon asks Judge Jeffrey Minehart for abort doc's acquittal. Judge listens, takes recess. #Gosnell Judge Minehart acquits abort...

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania hosted Gloria Steinem on April 16 as the keynote speaker for their annual Spring Gathering; she commented generally on abortion with a statement indicative of the pro-choice movement’s suddenly prominent reasoning problems. Said Steinem [1]: If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament. Though not an immediately apparent similarity, this branch of Planned Parenthood begins their mission statement on their “Who We Are” page [2] with the same approach. Note the following is not included as a secondary position, but is the first sentence, the initial message they chose to define the organization’s...

On Wednesday, President Obama is slated to head to Dallas, Texas, to attend the opening of the Bush Presidential Library, along with Presidents Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and George W. Bush. But he’s using the opportunity to fundraise for 2014. Obama will be headlining a $10,000-per-plate fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee at Naomi Aberly’s home on the night before the library opens. That fundraiser will mark Obama’s third for the DNC this year. Obama has a busy week. That night, he will headline a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in Washington, D.C. The White House says, “On Thursday,...

Often when a baby is born alive during an abortion procedure, the child is kept in the abortion clinic until he or she dies. In rare cases, the abortionist himself takes action to kill the baby. But sometimes the baby is transferred to a hospital, where he can be given medical care. Unfortunately, it is the policy of many hospitals simply to allow these babies to die. Nurse Kathleen Malloy, from Jacksonville, Florida, witnessed the death of one baby who was born after a saline abortion and transferred to her hospital. Melanie Green of Last Days Ministries quoted Malloy in...

Kirsten Powers has done a national service, by virtue of her now-famous USA Today column, of putting the news of the trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell on the national radar screen. This, of course, is the horror story of a cesspool in Philadelphia posturing as an abortion clinic, operating without inspection for 17 years. Gosnell, the doctor who ran the place, is formally charged with the murder of one woman and seven infants. However, the grand jury report and testimony of family and staff at the trial indicate that if there were records in this dump, where life and...

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former abortion clinic worker capped the five-week murder trial of her former boss with powerful testimony that she saw more than 10 babies breathe before they were killed. "I thought they were breathing," Kareema Cross testified Thursday, explaining that she saw their chests go up and down. "He would say they're not really breathing," Cross, 28, is the final prosecution witness in the capital murder case against Dr. Kermit Gosnell. He is charged in the deaths of a patient and seven babies allegedly born alive. Cross also described seeing three babies move, one after being born...

72 Congressmen slam media for failing to cover Gosnell, Planned Parenthood infanticide remarks WASHINGTON, D.C., April 18, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a sternly worded letter, 72 congressman have accused the three leading mainstream media networks – ABC, NBS, and CBS – of “blatant media bias” for failing to cover two of the biggest abortion-related stories in recent years: the trial of “House of Horrors” abortionist Kermit Gosnell, and remarks made by a Planned Parenthood representative in support of infanticide. “The broadcasters’ blackout of the Planned Parenthood infanticide lobbying scandal and the Gosnell ‘House of Horrors’ murder trial are the biggest...

The grand jury report is full of horrific and gruesome details about the clinic that Gosnell ran for more than three decades. Patients were neglected; providers were not certified; and cats were allowed to roam and defecate in the clinic. “The walls appeared to be urine-splattered,” the Philadelphia district attorney’s office found when it inspected the clinic in August 2010, months after it had closed that February. “The procedure tables were old and one had a ripped plastic cover. Suction tubing, which was used for abortion procedures – and doubled as the only available suction source for resuscitation – was...

Fox News’ Ed Henry asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to respond to the Kermit Gosnell murder today. While President Obama is “aware” of the case, Carney said he couldn’t comment further. Henry pressed further, however, questioning the president’s past stance on an abortion bill as well as future legislation. “The president is aware of this,” Carney replied to Henry’s initial question about the case. “The president does not and cannot take a position on an ongoing trial. So I won’t as well.” In 2003, Henry went on to recall, Obama “voted against a bill that would provide medical...

President Obama will not comment on the trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell because the trial is ongoing, a spokesman said Monday. “The president does not and cannot take a position on an ongoing trial, so I won’t as well,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters when asked about the trial. However, Carney said, the president is “aware” of the case. “Certainly, the things that you hear and read about this case are unsettling,” he added. “But I can’t comment further on an ongoing legal proceeding.”

I expect more Gosnell political cartoons will roll out this week, but here are the first three. I’m also including two flashbacks from January 30, 2011, when the Gosnell mass murders were first publicized. Vote for your favorite at the bottom of this post. http://www.jillstanek.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/bc3217e085fa01302950001dd8b71c47.jpg http://www.jillstanek.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/b0a22db0865601302988001dd8b71c47.jpg http://www.jillstanek.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/gosnell-trial-620x443-e1365951195499.jpg http://www.jillstanek.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cartoon-1-30-glenn-mccoy-go-1-28-poster-child-for-choice.gif http://www.jillstanek.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cartoon-1-30-signe-wilkinson-go-1-29-gosnell-abortions.gif

Thanks to conservative new media, the Kermit Gosnell trial is finally part of the national dialog. But before the mainstream press got around to doing their job, ten congressmen took to the floor of the House to protest the lack of media attention being paid to the horrifying story. One such congressman, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), contrasted the abortionist's trial to another ongoing narrative that the media covers obsessively: gun control. “If Dr. Gosnell had walked into a nursery and shot seven infants with an AR-15, it would be national news and the subject of presidential hand-wringing,” said Smith, a...

When the Newtown shooting took the lives of 20 children, the nation was justifiably horrified. Journalists reported round the clock on ways to change public policy to prevent another shooting. But when seven children and a mother died in a Philadelphia abortion clinic dubbed a “house of horrors,” the major media couldn’t have cared less. It’s a news story that reads more like a Hollywood torture plot – “Saw” or “Hostel” or some other movie so foul that it makes you want to take a shower just having viewed it. Only this case is real and the media are keeping...

Like a lot of high school sophomores, 15-year-old Ashley Baldwin found a job. Baldwin, however, wasn't working retail or fast-food. She was doing ultrasounds, administering intravenous medicine and, ultimately, assisting in abortions performed by West Philadelphia doctor Kermit Gosnell. Baldwin, now 22, and the mother of a two-year-old, today told a Philadelphia jury hearing Gosnell's murder trial of her unusual hands-on medical apprenticeship. She also told of seeing at least five aborted babies moving, breathing and, in one case, "screeching," after procedures at Gosnells' Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. "They looked just like regular babies," Baldwin said...

Media Bias: A basketball coach who shoves and curses at his players merits constant coverage by a media also transfixed by Newtown. But a Philadelphia doctor on trial for murdering a woman and seven babies? It's ignored. Those who get their news from the three major networks have probably not heard of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, now on trial in Philadelphia, charged with seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of third-degree murder for killing seven babies who survived abortions and a woman who died after a botched pain-killer injection. Everybody has heard of Mike Rice, the disgraced former Rutgers...