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A former director of a Texas Planned Parenthood branch who resigned after she watched an ultrasound-guided abortion told WND the clinic was pushing employees to strive for abortion quotas to boost profits. "There are definitely client goals," former clinic director Abby Johnson said. "We'd have a goal every month for abortion clients and for family planning clients."

“I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that’s it.”

The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a "change of heart" after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility. Abby Johnson, 29, used to escort women from their cars to the clinic in the eight years she volunteered and worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. But she says she knew it was time to leave after she watched a fetus "crumple" as it was vacuumed out of a patient's uterus in September.

Disney has long been the most gay friendly studio in Hollywood, having had a couple of gay production chiefs over the years, most recently Nina Jacobson, now an independent producer after being forced out in a studio purge several years ago. The studio's theme parks have allowed unofficial Gay Day celebrations for years, prompting a host of venemous attacks from various Christian right anti-gay zealots. But Disney now has a really big first -- Rich Ross, Hollywood's first openly gay studio chief.

Mary Cheney, the former vice president’s daughter, and her long-time partner, Heather Poe, are expecting their second child, a source close to the family told True/Slant. [Ed. Note: Since publishing this piece, Cheney has confirmed that she and Poe are expecting their second child in mid- to late November.] Cheney has worked as a principal at Navigators Global, a bi-partisan communications firm, but recently announced that she would be leaving the company for maternity leave and to begin a new consulting firm with her sister, Liz. Close friends were informed that she was expecting a second child about four months...

Tried to pawn off her 6-year-old son for $10 in gas money For $10 in gas money, Marcy Pappalardo was prepared to give up her 6-year-old boy. At least according to a tow truck driver who told police Pappalardo made the proposition to him at a gas station in Melbourne, Florida. The tow truck driver turned the offer down, then dialed 911 and followed Pappalardo for several miles until police caught up to her. Pappalardo, 37, denied the allegations. She was charged with child neglect anyway. She is being held in Brevard County jail on a $2,000 bond. She is...

Last fall I took my daughter to school one morning to find one of her 1st grade classmates wearing an Obama hat. For some reason I felt angry and annoyed that a parent sent his child to school advertising for a political candidate. What’s the big deal you ask? It took me a while to figure out why I responded to this child’s hat in this way.

On March 20, 1969, Dr. Richard Day, the National Medical Director of the Rockefeller-sponsored "Planned Parenthood" told a meeting that American industry will be sabotaged and shown to be uncompetitive. In view of the recent bankruptcy of General Motors, his remarks are especially pertinent. "The stated plan was that different parts of the world would be assigned different roles of industry and commerce in a unified global system. The continued preeminence of the United States and the relative independence and self-sufficiency of the United States would have to be changed... in order to create a new structure, you first have...

I go to bed the moment it gets dark in the evenings, but I still don't like to get up until the later morning hours. What they don't know is I sleep all day when they are gone. I know it is not tiredness or sleepiness, but it is great sadness bordering on depression. I remember many years ago when my boy Billy was just a youngster. He'd practice playing catch in the yard with his dad, and I'd watch. For hours he'd practice shooting hoops in the driveway. I'd watch and listen to the rhythm of his dribbling. When...

The fourth-place network, which has struggled to launch new shows, is "doubling down on its scripted commitment," said Ben Silverman, co-chair of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios. NBC's announcement jumped the gun on the traditional "upfront week" in which networks present their lineups to the advertisers who make preseason ad buys.

"...These were the tiny, fleeting pleasures I clung to after my son was born. They felt like all I had left. When a child was added to my life, it was as if something enormous and coveted was subtracted in return, and the transaction left me reeling, like someone who'd just gambled away his soul. I fell into a well of depression so deep I wasn't even aware of it. It was only years later, after I spoke to a psychotherapist, that I learned I was experiencing male postpartum depression...But not 48 hours after we returned home with our boy,...

It was not planned that a 1989 old-fashioned film about parenting and the travails of same would air the seem weekend that I dutifully taped the very hip and modern "Sex in the City" but so it was. So The Wise I gives a review of both movies, the similarities (few), the differences (many...how times change) and attempts to draw a moral from it all. With pics and video you'll find nowhere else on the Internet.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has appointed a state judge who once served on the board of Planned Parenthood to the state Supreme Court, against the urgings of a conservative group who claimed the pick would put "another activist" on the court. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen, 47, will be the second woman to serve on the state's high court. Former Gov. Tony Knowles appointed current Chief Justice Dana Fabe in 1996. Christen was one of two judges recommended for the post by the Alaska Judicial Council, an independent citizen's commission that evaluates judicial appointments for...

The Blueprint for Heroic Family Life by Dr. Jeff Mirus, June 13, 2008 Owing to the confluence of an East-coast heat wave and the failure of a home air conditioning system, my son Peter, his wife Kristina and their two daughters lived with Mom and Dad again for a few days this week. Seeing Elena (age seven) and Natalie (four) bright-eyed and cheerful at the beginning of each day was a joy. It was also a reminder of how things used to be. With the last of our six children going off to college this Fall, I sometimes need to...

MARRIAGE is a constant source of joy, but introducing children into the relationship will send your happiness in a downward spiral, a conference has been told. [...] The more kids you had, the sadder you were likely to be, [Harvard psychology professor Daniel] Gilbert said. US and European studies had shown that people's happiness did spike while they were expecting a baby but sharply plummeted after the child was born. The low point came when children reached the ages of 12-16, and recovered only when they had flown the coop, he said. "In reality ... children do seem to increase...

On Wednesday a full transcript of Democrat presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama’s July 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund in which he vigorously defended legalized abortion became available. In the July 17 speech, Obama attacked the Supreme Court decision that upheld the federal partial-birth abortion ban and the nomination of Supreme Court justices who favor overturning Roe v. Wade. In the speech the senator said, "There will always be people, many of goodwill, who do not share my view on the issue of choice. On this fundamental issue, I will not yield and Planned Parenthood will not yield."...

Being broke need not mean social death in Sweden - as long as you are well-educated. But for Americans and Russians having a good all-round education is no substitute for having cash, according to a new survey on status symbols in the three countries. The international survey by analysts United Minds asked 1,000 people in each country what values confer status. 'Bling' items such as expensive jewellery and designer clothes come well down the list for Swedes, while featuring more highly for Americans and, particularly, Russians. "Sweden is the only country where you can be penniless but well-read and still...

Should Parents Be Allowed To Spank Their Children? (POLL)

National antiabortion leaders put the finishing touches yesterday on a letter to be sent to all members of Congress, urging suspension of more than $300 million in federal funding of Planned Parenthood until a massive criminal case brought in Kansas against the abortion rights organization is settled. That launches an attack against the nation's largest purveyor of "reproductive health care" -- including abortions. On Oct. 17, Johnson County District Judge James F. Vano in suburban Kansas City spent eight hours reviewing a 107-count grand jury indictment against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri. He decided there was "probable cause" to...

A Planned Parenthood clinic was charged Wednesday with providing unlawful abortions and other crimes by a county prosecutor who had engaged in a high-profile battle with the clinic when he was Kansas attorney general. Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline charged the Overland Park, Kan., clinic with 107 counts, 23 of them felonies. Besides 29 misdemeanor counts of providing unlawful late-term abortions, the clinic is charged with multiple counts of making a false writing, failure to maintain records and failure to determine viability. Case documents have been sealed, according to a court order. The first hearing is set for Nov....

Duquesne University has ordered WDUQ-FM to stop airing underwriter support messages from the reproductive rights and health-care education group Planned Parenthood. The National Public Radio affiliate and jazz station, which is based on the Duquesne University campus and operates under the university's 501(c)3 tax-exempt status, pulled the underwriting acknowledgement messages Thursday. "Planned Parenthood is not aligned with the university's Catholic mission and identity and legally, stations are not required to accept underwriting support," said Bridget Fare, Duquesne University spokeswoman

As a poor boy who became educated and semi-successful due to conservative values, I’m wondering what should I do to raise a 5 year old daughter and a 2 week old son. Human observation would tell me to open up a savings account for them, work hard and try to balance earning income while being a good husband and father figure. “Poor” values lead me to think that sex will never be the same and I should balance “Human Observation” with “Poor Values”. “Modern” values seem to be “Poor Values”. “Conservative” values seem to require that I have a responsibility...

NEWSWEEK some weeks back had an arresting picture on its cover. The famous photographer Annie Leibovitz--tall, blonde, and 57, dressed in black trousers and a black V-neck top--stands with her three young daughters: a radiant, curly haired 5-year-old and adorable blonde toddler twins. Leibovitz is holding one of the chubby twins on her hip. All four are gently smiling.  Inside the magazine, in the middle of the cover story, there appear, without further explanation, these two sentences about Leibovitz's family: "She gave birth as a single mother to her daughter Sarah just after 9/11. Then, a few months after...

No, no, sorry. I don't have any . . ." Why does this always seem to be the first thing I'm asked? It takes my breath away, yet why do I feel the need to apologize for my reply? Looking vague and embarrassed, my questioner glances over my shoulder for someone else to talk to: someone with whom he or she has more in common, someone with children.... Just as some women talk of a visceral urge that propels them to have children, others speak of an equally visceral urge that propels them not to. Laurie, a transplanted southerner who...

ENCINITAS, January 16, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Many pro-life organizations use Christmas season sales of poinsettias to raise funds, but according to a US-based researcher, so do Planned Parenthood and other abortionists in the US. James Hartline, a Christian activist in California wrote to LifeSiteNews.com warning that the poinsettias decorating the churches and homes of Christians in the US could easily originate from a family-owned business that has been supporting abortion for decades. The Ecke Ranch in Encinitas, California, supplies 70% of all of the poinsettias sold in the United States and the Ecke family is among the most generous supporters...

Demo(n) parents form play group Outlet available for like-minded to talk politics Parents who want to add some political zip to outings with their children might consider the new Tucson Democratic Playgroup. Golda Velez came up with the idea to provide like-minded parents with an outlet for political discussions. Velez, a home-based computer programmer with two children, also hopes the new group can become politically active. "We'll let the kids play while we can talk about politics and be effective," said Velez, who was the Southern Arizona volunteer coordinator for 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry. "Parents always chat. Now we...

I've always done everything on my own time-table, including waiting until after age 30 to get married. My husband and I remained childless and planned to never be parents, but now in my early 40's I'm feeling differently. I also am blessed in that I would be able to stay at home with the baby. For every story I've heard about age-related fertility issues, I've also heard of yet another couple who thought they couldn't get pregnant, didn't worry about birth control, and got a nice little surprise. I would like to hear from Freepers who have become parents either...

Sorry, but my children bore me to death!by HELEN KIRWAN-TAYLOLR, Daily Mail 08:00am 26th July 2006It's the start of the summer holidays, when millions of mothers despair at how to entertain their children for the next six weeks. What none of them dare say is that they would rather their children were still at school or, frankly, anywhere else. Helen Kirwan-Taylor, a 42-year-old writer, lives in Notting Hill, West London, with her businessman husband Charles and their sons Constantin, 12, and Ivan, ten. Here, she argues provocatively that modern women must not be enslaved by their children. The lies started...

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, JULY 22, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Life without children is a growing social reality for an increasing number of American adults. This is the conclusion of the 2006 edition of "The State of Our Unions" report on marriage, released last week by the National Marriage Project. The project is based at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Up until recently, for most people, the greater part of adult life was spent with young children forming part of the household. A combination of marrying later, less children and longer life expectancy means, however, that a significantly greater part of...

In the name of the fatherhttp://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/opinion.cfm?id=1033732006 http://tinyurl.com/ozefu DANI GARAVELLI Sun 16 Jul 2006 ONCE upon a time, I believed it didn't matter a whit whether a baby was born into a family with one parent or two. Or with two mothers or two fathers rather than a mother and a father. Why should it? What was important was not the number or gender of the parents, but whether or not they were loving and attentive. That was, of course, before I had any of my own. Now I realise that bringing up children is a challenge even for two well-meaning...

Two fuzzy heartbeats—our doctor pointed to the black-and-white monitor of the ultrasound machine, and we both squinted and pretended to see what he was talking about. A lima bean, we thought, with a smaller lima bean next to it? Sensing that we weren’t getting it, he punched a few keys and suddenly the small exam room at Cornell’s Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility filled with a rapid-fire thump-thump-thump-thump: our embryos on speakerphone. So wait, it had worked? Twice? When we still didn’t say anything, our other doctor piped up: “This is good news, you guys.” How did we feel?...

As I was leaving the House chambers for the weekend our Democrat Speaker of the House announced that the coming Monday would be the final day of this year’s General Assembly. He went on to state that there were still numerous resolutions on the calendar which we would need to be addressed prior to the summer adjournment. Interestingly, he specifically mentioned that one of the resolutions we would be hearing was being carried by the House Majority Leader Alice Madden (D), honoring the 90th anniversary of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. As a strong pro-life legislator I was disgusted...

A federal survey of men about sex, marriage, children and fatherhood has revealed one surprising statistic: Fully 64 percent of men had their first child between ages 20 and 29. So much for delayed daddyhood. To arrive at this surprising conclusion, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed almost 5,000 men ages 15 to 44 and 7,600 women about their feelings and relationships for what USA Today calls "the first comprehensive governmental glimpse into the male psyche." When men talk...this is what we find out: *Among black fathers, 25 percent fathered their first child as a teenager, compared with...

Jeremiah Clayton Jones discovered that his former fiancée was pregnant just three weeks before the baby was due, when an adoption-agency lawyer called and asked if he would consent to have his baby adopted. "I said absolutely not," said Mr. Jones, a 23-year-old Arizona man who met his ex-fiancée at Pensacola Christian College in Florida. "It was an awkward moment, hearing for the first time that I would be a father, and then right away being told, 'We want to take your kid away.' But I knew that if I was having a baby, I wanted that baby." Mr. Jones...

A funny thing happened to me the other day when my wife and I had, thank God, another baby (a boy). Many of my friends didn’t seem all that happy for me. Sure, they went through the motions of smiles and congratulations. But it was evident that many thought me insane. Why would a young man and his wife ruin their lives with eight children? Who could afford the day-school bills? Didn’t we want to live life a little, and not just be burdened with kids? It got downright surreal when a European film company pressed me, while my wife...

A seven-month pregnant woman - her belly vast - was at a supper with a friend. He, being of the family type, told her she was very lucky to be expecting a baby. He was the first person who had said such a thing, she told him. [snip] How is it that in cultures all over the world pregnancies prompt congratulations rather than anxious questions about childcare? How is it that in a culture equipped, materially and medically, to ease child-rearing, we are so reluctant to enjoy new life? [snip] The answer, I would argue, is that a bias against...

Another hectic week in the General Assembly is completed, and several important pro-family pieces of legislation are moving through the process. These bills will now move onto the Senate side as crossover approaches next week. At some point during the Senate debate we will need concerned citizens to contact their Senators to express support for the following bills. Stay tuned for further details. Student Survey Bill Delegate Tim Hugo's (R-40, Centreville) HB 1242 passed the House of Delegates this week by a vote of 93-4. This is legislation that will forbid school boards from surveying school children under 9th grade...

Three environmental activists were cooking up plastic explosives and had planned to test a device the day they were arrested, federal prosecutors alleged Wednesday as they indicted them. The three face five to 20 years in federal prison if they are convicted of conspiring to use fire or explosives to damage property. The suspects planned assaults this spring in the name of the Earth Liberation Front, a 'loosey-goosey, sort of mist-of-the-fog kind of an organization' of environmental activists, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott said. Eric McDavid, 28, Zachary Jensen, 20, and Lauren Weiner, 20, remain in jail. They could enter a...

After a delay of nearly a month, a Flagstaff woman accused of being connected with the 1998 firebombing of a logging company in Oregon has been released from jail. Kendall Tankersley, 28, also known as Sarah Harvey, was released from an Oregon jail Jan. 10 on $150,000 bond. She is back in Flagstaff, ready to begin taking two classes at Northern Arizona University. Tankersley, a former employee at the university, was indicted in November by a federal grand jury in Oregon. She is accused of attempted arson and arson, acting as a lookout, in connection with a fire at U.S....

New research by economists Professor Andrew Oswald at the University of Warwick, and Dr Nattavudh Powdthavee at London University's Institute of Education, reveals that the more daughters a family has the more likely the parents are to vote for left of centre parties. Sons, by contrast, make people more right-wing. The researchers examined the data in the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) - a nationally representative sample of British households containing over 10,000 adult individuals. Individuals were tracked in each year from 1991 to 2004. Left of centre was measured by using individuals? support for the Labour Party or Liberal...

Presents Institution as "Patrimony of Humanity" VATICAN CITY, DEC. 4, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Children have the right to parents who are married, says Benedict XVI. The Pope made this point when addressing participants of a conference of presidents of the episcopal commissions in Latin America for the family and for life. The conference Saturday was organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family. "Children have the right to be born and to grow within a family based on marriage," said the Holy Father, who invited the ecclesial community to "present in all its richness the extraordinary value of marriage that, as...

BIRTHS TO UNMARRIED MOTHERS ARE at a record high in the United States--almost 1.5 million in 2004 alone, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. While the rising trend is of long standing, one novel factor driving up childbearing outside marriage is the growing popularity of single motherhood by donor insemination. The incidence of this "assisted reproduction," as it is called, has more than doubled in the last decade.Most public discussion of donor insemination for single women has been carried on in a neutral, positive, or breathlessly celebratory tone. Isn't it great, the thinking seems to be, that these...

News Tip: Upcoming Supreme Court Case 'Huge' for Abortion Rights, Law Professor Says “The question in this case isn’t whether Roe v. Wade is going to be overturned, but whether it is going to be severely undermined,’’ says Neil Siegel Monday, November 28, 2005 Durham, N.C. -- On Nov. 30, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider a challenge to a New Hampshire law that could significantly affect abortion rights, a Duke University law professor says. In Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, the Court will consider, among other things, how courts should analyze abortion restrictions and whether a...

Laws Concerning Food and Drink; Household Principles; Sermon on the Table OF the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are...

New Orleans, LA (LifeNews.com) -- Pro-life advocates say Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion business, continues to exploit victims of Hurricane Katrina. The organization previously said it would provide morning after pills to victims, instead of food or shelter, and is now raising money off of the hurricane for its local abortion centers. On its national web site, Planned Parenthood solicits funds for Hurricane Katrina support efforts. In fine print, the abortion advocacy group explains that all of the money raised will be used to support its local abortion businesses. Under a headline "Help Those Affected by the Hurricane," Planned...

When it comes to the classroom, religious extremists have an ambitious agenda: to replace science with ideology at every opportunity. As if denying even that their own ideas can evolve, they've recently taken up their dusty arms against an old, familiar issue — the teaching of evolution in public schools. New Name, Same Agenda The supposed rival to the theory of evolution — creationism — now goes by the new name of "intelligent design." Just as with other phrases (like the Bush administration favorite, "culture of life"), the name change is merely the latest tactic in an ongoing strategy by...

Can you say ''perverse''? Planned Parenthood in Indiana and Kansas is effectively fighting to protect child rapists from potential prosecution in two high-profile legal fights. That an organization devoted to the interests of women finds itself in this position is a cautionary tale of abortion-rights extremism. In Indiana, the attorney general is seeking the records of girls under the age of 14 who have visited Planned Parenthood clinics. Let that sink in: We're talking about 12- and 13-year- old girls. It is a crime to have sex with a child under 14 in the state. Under law, individuals with reason...

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- A fire someone tried to start inside a Planned Parenthood office burned out before causing significant damage in the second apparent act of vandalism there in two weeks. The FBI has joined local police in investigating the fire, which was reported after an employee saw the damage in the office's foyer upon arriving for work Wednesday morning. "Our facilities are safe for the public, and our staff are alert for anything unusual," said Theresa Browning, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Indiana. "We don't see this as a major cause for alarm. No services were disrupted."

INDIANAPOLIS - Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) sued the state of Indiana Monday to stop the seizure of its clients' medical records, saying investigators were on a "fishing expedition," possibly to identify the partners of sexually active 12- and 13-year-olds. The lawsuit filed in Indianapolis seeks temporary and permanent injunctions barring Attorney General Steve Carter and his Medicaid Fraud Control Unit from searching the private records of clients at 40 Planned Parenthood clinics across the state. Already, the unit has seized records of eight clients from clinics in Bloomington, Franklin and Lafayette, according to Betty Cockrum, chief executive officer...

Look at this ridiculous movie. I had a good laugh when I was watching it.