Free Republic

Peggy Young, a pregnant mother, was a driver for UPS. Though other workers received a “lighter duty” accommodation for conditions like sprained ankles, Ms. Young was denied an accommodation during her pregnancy, in violation of the federal PDA. Ms. Young lost in the two lower courts, and today the United States Supreme Court reversed their decisions in favor of Ms. Young. Ironically, during the course of the legal action, UPS changed its policy to grant “light-duty” to pregnant employees. The case drew widespread attention as pro-life advocates agreed with abortion supporters that pregnant women deserved protection in the workplace.

As LifeNews has reported, the Colorado woman who cut out a 7-month-old unborn baby from a mother’s abdomen, resulting in the death of the infant, will not be charged with murder. That’s because the state lacks an unborn victims law to hold criminals accountable when they kill or injure unborn children in such criminal attacks.However, new information reveals the prosecutor in the case is an abortion advocate who has the endorsement of prominent pro-abortion groups in a previous campaign for state Attorney General and who endorsed legislation to not regard unborn children as victims of such crimes, which would allow...

Imagine there's no IRS. It isn't hard to do. No Obamacare to pay for. And no budget deficits too. Imagine all the people, living with a flat tax. You may say Ted Cruz is a dreamer, but he's not the only one. He hopes some day—especially if you live in Iowa—you'll join him, and, well, he'll be president. That, at least, was the message during his announcement, oddly redolent of John Lennon, that he's officially seeking the highest office in the land. It was a conservative wish list to not only repeal the 21st century, but the 20th, too. About...

She was asking for horror stories about health care, but Rep. Cathy Morris Rodgers, R-Wash., instead found her Facebook page filled with testimonials to the Affordable Care Act. A member of the House Republican leadership, McMorris Rodgers wanted a replenishment of anecdotes like stories of questionable accuracy she told when giving the GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech. “This week marks the 5th anniversary of Obamacare being signed into law,” wrote McMorris Rodgers. “Whether it’s turning your tax filing into a nightmare, you’re facing skyrocketing premiums, or your employer had reduced your work hours, I want...

Premiums are rising rapidly and the young and healthy are bailing out The Supreme Court decision in King v. Burwell, the case challenging the Obama administration’s decision to award tax credits for health insurance sold through federally established exchanges, could turn on the question of whether a ruling that ends the tax credits on federal exchanges might cause something known as a “death spiral” in health insurance markets.The good news is the answer is probably no, but the bad news is that’s only because the death spiral has probably already started.

**SNIP** For years, the state legislature has been embroiled in a mulch-year battle over a package of bills designed to push the interests of women. The bills have been held up in part because it includes a measure that would promote late-term abortions in the Empire State. Despite strenuous support from pro-abortion Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the legislature has refused to pass the package of bills because of the abortion measure. The abortion bill would allow an abortion procedure that has abortionists shooting poison through the hearts of unborn children to kill them. Now, the state Assembly has approved part of...

Yes, Ted Cruz can buy insurance through Obamacare while remaining totally committed to repealing it. Just like his competitors for the 2016 presidential nomination. Cruz said Tuesday that he and his family will sign up for health insurance through the exchanges created by Obamacare, prompting plenty of chest-beating from Democrats looking to paint Cruz—a staunch opponent of the health care law—as a hypocrite. But Cruz isn't the only 2016 contender to turn to the exchanges. Sen. Rand Paul signed up when the marketplaces first opened. "It made me an unhappy person," he said at the time. Sen. Marco Rubio also...

Ted Cruz is set to announce is candidacy for President of the United States. Rand Paul is apparently going to announce early next month before going on a campaign tour. Until today technically the only candidate was Jeb Bush, who announced late last year his intentions. At the time everyone thought that Bush was going to force everyone else to declare their candidacy early. It doesn’t appear that has happened, Cruz and Paul have appeared in no rush to make a formal announcement. Scott Walker, perhaps the front runner in the race, still hasn’t formally announced his candidacy and there’s...

One day before the five-year anniversary of passage of the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama proclaimed late Sunday that his signature healthcare legislation a success and its critics should "embrace reality." In a statement released on WhiteHouse.gov, Obama said, "This law is working, and in many ways, it’s working even better than anticipated." The president signed Obamacare into law on March 23, 2010. The law has undergone "more scrutiny, more rumor, more attempts to dismantle and undermine it than just about any law in recent history," Obama admitted. But he had a word for Republicans still working to repeal...

(CNN)Ted Cruz is first out the gate. The first-term senator from Texas announced early Monday he is running for president. Cruz announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in a 30-second video message in a tweet shortly after midnight Monday. Later in the day, he will appear at Virginia's Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the world, where he will make his in-person declaration. "I'm running for President and I hope to earn your support!" Cruz said in his tweet.Cruz, 44, will be the first candidate to formally throw his hat in the ring for what's expected...

Obamacare’s boosters have made so many implausible assertions about its supposed successes that it’s difficult to single out one as the most preposterous. But any list of their most comical claims would have to include those involving the law’s “wayback clause.” Haven’t heard of that one? Well, like the provision authorizing the IRS to issue subsidies via federal exchanges, it’s absent from PPACA’s text. Nonetheless, its efficacy is routinely touted by Obamacare’s proponents as proof that “reform” works. The most celebrated effect of this amazing provision is its retroactive reduction of medical inflation during the years preceding the law’s implementation....

Four years ago, my reporting on Obamacare brought me to the city of Terre Haute, Ind. Located near the Illinois’ border, about an hour’s drive from Indianapolis, the city of 60,000 residents reminded me of the area where I grew up near Utica, N.Y.It was a brisk March morning, nearly a year after President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, and I had trekked to the Midwest with a camera crew to meet Scott Womack, owner of about a dozen IHOP restaurants in Indiana and Ohio. Womack’s testimony before Congress earlier in 2011 caught my attention and I wanted to...

What is it with this party? Senate Democrats have really personified the “you shall not pass” war cry for anything abortion-related as of late. First, they’re filibustering what was an extremely bipartisan bill to combat human trafficking until their staffs missed the non-controversial Hyde Amendment language, which was added as a rider (standard operating procedure for most spending bills) to the law. Democrats knew this language was going to be in the law because Republicans told them months in advance. Heck, Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) aide found the language, but failed to inform the senator before the bill went to the judiciary committee...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A federal judge has struck down a Wisconsin law requiring abortion providers to get hospital admitting privileges. U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled Friday that the 2013 law is unconstitutional. Planned Parenthood and Affiliated Medical Services had sued the state, arguing the requirement will force AMS’s Milwaukee clinic to close because its doctors can’t get admitting privileges.

**SNIP** Under the Affordable Care Act, people who remained uninsured last year must either pay a penalty with their taxes, one of the most contentious elements of the law, or claim an exemption. The Obama administration has said up to six million people would owe a penalty of $95 or 1 percent of their household income, whichever is greater. But as many as 30 million people are getting exemptions, mainly because they are too poor to afford health insurance or because they live in a state that refused to expand Medicaid last year under the health law. And people who...

<p>NEW YORK (CNNMoney) —The predictions were dire.</p> <p>Under Affordable Care Act rules that kicked in this year, large employers have to offer health benefits to workers who put in 30 or more hours a week or face penalties. Some fretted that the new rules would cost employers a bundle or prompt them to cut workers' hours to get under the cap.</p>

The Obama administration announced Friday that 80,000 corrected tax forms for people on plans through ObamaCare have still not gone out. It's unclear how many people will be affected by the delay, but the administration said people who have not received the corrected forms do not have to wait to file their taxes and will not have to pay any additional tax due to the effort. The issues stem from the announcement last month that 800,000 people on insurance plans through ObamaCare received incorrect tax information. At the time, the administration said forms with corrected information would be sent out...

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday expanded relief to Obamacare customers who are filing tax returns based on incorrect information about their health plans. The relief came in reaction to the disclosure by federal health official there were more errors on tax-related forms sent to Obamacare enrollees beyond the 820,000 forms identified as having problems last month. Between 3 and 4 percent of customers of HealthCare.gov, the federal Obamacare marketplace, have some kind of errors on 1095-A tax forms related to their account, according to marketplace CEO Kevin Counihan. The errors could affect the amount of money a taxpayer owes...

<p>CARSON CITY, Nev. — Pets might soon be able to use pot under a bill introduced Tuesday in the Nevada Legislature.</p>

In a new interview with Playboy, former Vice President Dick Cheney accused President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder of "playing the race card" and said that he could "go on for hours" about all of the ways Obama has "undone" the work of President George W. Bush.Although the article claims that Cheney's "preoccupations revolve around the books in his study and the purchase of just the right gifts for his grandchildren," it sounds more like he's kind of obsessed with Obama. Calling him "the worst president in my lifetime," Cheney said his criticism of Obama and Holder has nothing...