Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Health and Human Services’ most recent guidelines explaining the “preventive services” mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—or Obamacare—says health insurance plans must provide co-pay-free pap smears and mammograms to “transgender men.” As defined by the federal Office of Personnel Management: “a person assigned the female sex at birth but who identifies as male is a transgender man.” The guidelines, written as a FAQ sheet, state: Q5: Can plans or issuers limit sex-specific recommended preventive services based on an individual's sex assigned at birth, gender identity or recorded gender? No. Whether a sex-specific...

I sat at a picnic table listening to various mothers discussing their hectic schedules trying to keep up with teenage daughters, all on the same sports team. When one mother told of squeezing in an appointment that morning to get her daughter the HPV shot that her doctor recommended, the conversation turned to the necessity to "protect" their girls in such troubling times. I stayed quiet, hoping to learn the values guiding these parents' decisions. Predictably, they had not thought through the issues, nor did they know the facts. Those mothers were merely following doctors' recommendations and that of all...

LUMBERTON - A Lumberton woman who tormented her pet Boston terrier was given jail time by a District Court judge on Tuesday. She is the second Robeson County woman convicted of animal cruelty in the past month to receive an active jail term. Treza Ann Sweeney, 47, 305 Hollywood Drive, was charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty in December 2003 and pled no contest to the charge Tuesday, according to Katherine Floyd, the equine and animal cruelty investigator for Robeson County. Judge Greg Bell sentenced Sweeney to 45 days in jail - she received 20 days credit for time served after...

<p>NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana has the nation's worst gonorrhea rate and is in the top 10 for two other sexually transmitted diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p> <p>2002 was the second year in a row that Louisiana has had more cases of gonorrhea per 100,000 residents than any other - and the fifth in a row that it has been among the five worst for both gonorrhea and chlamydia.</p>