Free Republic

he “it’s my body and I can do what I want with it” mantra has been carried out to its logical conclusion by selfish women who are shrugging off warnings about drinking during pregnancy. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently issued an advisory aimed at combatting Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) a birth defect caused by excessive ingestion of alcohol by women during their pregnancies. FAS can cause learning disabilities, problems with impulse control, low memory ability, short attention span and impaired judgement as well as lower IQ scores and a lifetime of substandard existence. In short FAS is the...

The Center for Disease Control says that more than 3 million US women are at risk of exposing their developing baby to alcohol in a new study released yesterday. The CDC recommends women that are not on birth control stop drinking alcohol so they don't accidentally expose their child to alcohol. According to the CDC about half of all US Pregnancies are planned, and most women do not know they are pregnant until they are 4-6 weeks into the pregnancy. While, 3 in 4 women who want to get pregnant as soon as possible report drinking alcohol. This can cause...

The Florida Department of Health on Tuesday confirmed that three people — two of whom are in Miami-Dade County —contracted the mosquito-borne Zika virus while visiting South America. The virus, which may cause a fever, rash, joint pain, conjunctivitis and could be dangerous for pregnant women or women of childbearing age, is quickly spreading through South America, Central America and the Caribbean....

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A couple in Ecuador is making history with a unique pregnancy: The father-to-be is carrying the baby of his transgender partner. Fernando Machado and Diane Rodriguez announced their pregnancy, believed to be the first of its kind in South America, on social media earlier this month and it's received widespread attention in a continent that has seen a sudden explosion in the rights and visibility of trans people. Rodriguez, who was born Luis, is one of Ecuador's most-prominent LGBT activists and says she and her Venezuelan-born partner, whose birth name was Maria, decided to publicize the...

Chelsea Clinton hit the town for the first time since announcing her second pregnancy on Monday. Clinton, the daughter of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton, was all smiles as she was photographed wearing a button-down white shirt and a pair of jeans, as she hailed a cab in New York City. Any hint of a baby bump was masked by her red winter coat.

If your doctor has ever told you that small amounts of alcohol are safe to drink during pregnancy, a new report is proving them wrong. The American Academy of Pediatrics just released a new report in the journal Pediatrics. No amount of alcohol, whether wine, beer, or liquor, is safe to drink while pregnant, no matter the trimester. While research shows that most women cut out alcohol completely during pregnancy, the report states that a small percentage of mothers-to-be admit they continue to drink, while some even admit to binge drinking. According to Live Science, Dr. Janet F. Williams, one...

Let me begin by clearly stating my biases — I like the Palins. They are dear family friends. My wife, Nancy, worked with Sarah on her most recent book, she worked with Bristol on her book, she edits Bristol’s blog on Patheos, and I represented Bristol in a lawsuit — when a man sued her after he profanely accosted her at a bar. (He lost.) In the years since my wife first flew to Wasilla to meet the Palins and work with Bristol, I’ve seen just a fraction of the non-stop hatred and vitriol directed at the family. Much of...

Know someone who’s smoking while pregnant? They need to see this video made by Dr. Nadja Reissland, of Durham University. In it she shows that unborn babies of mothers who smoke may have delayed development of their central nervous systems.Many people believe that abortion should be illegal — at least after a certain period — because it means killing an innocent life. Well, how about physically abusing one? Shouldn’t that be illegal, too? After all, you aren’t allowed to beat your born child until she has brain damage either. How’s this any different?

[...] Bristol Palin announced via her blog that she is pregnant. The 24-year old already has a son after choosing life in 2008 and becoming a teen mother. Now, she’s expecting again and once again she is unmarried. And? [...] Let’s call it what it really is. This is just another case of the haters waiting for someone they already hate to have a problem so they can go after them full throttle. They’re loaded for (mama grizzly) bear. [...] Others are upset about how Palin’s pregnancy could affect a potential run for office by her mother. Really? We’ve elected...

A 23-year-old Chattanooga man has been charged with criminal homicide after police say he beat a 15-year-old pregnant girl and killed the baby she was carrying. Police say Justin Armour attacked the girl on Tuesday in a vacant house near 2201 East 3rd Street. She gave birth to the stillborn baby — who Armour fathered — early Wednesday morning. Medical staff believe the baby died because of trauma from the assault, according to police. The girl was five months pregnant. The girl and Armour had a history of domestic violence. The girl, who will not be identified by the Times...

It's a striking image that forces you to do a double take. Yes, they're both pregnant, but about a year apart. Vanessa Iris Roy is pregnant in the first photo, and her wife, Melissa, is pregnant in the second and joined by their son Jax. The photo, captioned "trading places" was posted by the couple two months ago, but didn't hit viral status until several LGBT-focused sites picked up the portrait. The couple says they've been blown away by the outpouring of attention and support.

If you scroll halfway down the link you'll see..... DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a teenage boy who apparently has impregnated a teenage girl. She says she's in love with me still, but also she will not get an abortion and insists that I pay support. I think this is all mood swings. How do I support her morally but not monetarily? GENTLE READER: That is neither a moral nor a legal position. Miss Manners trusts that the young lady's lawyer will explain that to you. (Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email,...

It could be a week before we know whether a Longmont woman who allegedly stabbed a pregnant woman and removed her unborn child will face a charge of first degree murder. The Boulder District Attorney says a murder charge is not a given because of Colorado laws and the facts surrounding the case. During a news conference Thursday District Attorney Stan Garnett said any murder charge involving an unborn child is very difficult. “Under Colorado law, essentially, there’s no way murder charges can be brought if it’s not established that the fetus lived as a child outside the body of...

Only an hour ago we had been lamenting yet another incredibly bad road. Here in the Ugandan outback, it is as pointless to complain about the roads as it is to complain about politicians in America, but railing against the unchangeable can lighten the mood. But on the way out of a small village in the Bukedea region of Uganda, we didn’t feel the bumps. That was when our team’s defenses failed, and when the gravity of the assault on women—perpetrated by the champions of “women’s health” and “empowerment”—really hit home. It may have been just me, but my guess...

This year’s “short session” of Virginia’s General Assembly is moving at an increasingly rapid pace in the House of Delegates as legislation is being reported out of committee and onto the House floor. We will soon approach cross-over, the term used for when bills passed in each house of the legislature are presented to the other for consideration. Included in this number will likely be a couple of measures I have sponsored which, having reported out of committee, I anticipate will soon gain passage. Another bill I submitted has proven more controversial, generating particular media attention last week. House Bill...

“Did you know that the key to having a healthy baby is taking good care of your own health. The healthier you are, the stronger you and your baby are likely to be.” Believe it or not that message is brought to you by abortion giant Planned Parenthood. _________________________________________________________________ At Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, they’ll even help you get a midwife. In fact, on their website they state that Rose Midwifery Practice has partnered with the abortion giant. At Planned Parenthood Hudson Peconic they state, “Prenatal care also includes advice on how mothers-to-be can best care for themselves....

The mainstream media in both the U.S. and Europe have done a stellar job protecting the identities of two men who committed a gruesome atrocity against a 19-year-old pregnant woman and her unborn child, and for good reason: the men are Muslims. Not wishing to fuel the “Islamophobia” that liberals claim is so dangerous, the cowardly media bows to Sharia law by safeguarding the very ideology that contributed to these two criminals’ violent choices. This political correctness continues to protect the offenders, subsequently victimizing the innocent and creating more potential victims. According to German newspaper KOPP, a 19-year-old German woman,...

The White House will announce a major push Thursday to require paid leave for American workers. In a blog post on LinkedIn Wednesday, Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the President, said Obama will sign a memorandum to ensure federal employees have access to at least six weeks of paid sick leave when a new child arrives. The president will also call on Congress to offer six weeks of paid administrative leave. “We can't say we stand for family values when so many women in this country have to jeopardize their financial security just to take a few weeks off...

These kind of pregnancies — when mothers are unaware that they are pregnant — are called cryptic pregnancies and doctors say certain women are more likely to have them than others.  PregnancyCorner explains women who have irregular menstrual cycles or women who are obese may be less likely to realize they are pregnant.  There are also psychological factors that can lead to cryptic pregnancies. Psychology Today says a woman experiencing a lot of stress could cause the fetus to produce low levels of the hormone HCG, which would cause milder, potentially unnoticeable pregnancy symptoms.  Low levels of HCG can even cause a pregnancy test to be negative when the woman...

Those intrepid newshounds at ThinkProgress have uncovered nefarious doings in the dark, secretive world of … the Knights of Columbus. You thought the Catholic fraternal organization was all funny hats, ceremonial swords and Special Olympics donations. If only! It turns out the Knights “Bankroll America’s Social Conservative Movement,” according to ThinkProgress’s headline. Besides casting a sleazy aspersion about the compensation of the “Supreme Knight,” the nearly 1,900-word article is utterly, well, stupid. Can liberals reading ThinkProgress be so cut off from religious culture that they’re shocked a Catholic organization believes Church teaching? Perhaps they can. Among the revelations: The Knights...