Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Leo XIV Wades Into Durbin DebatePope Leo XIV responded to controversy over the Chicago cardinal’s plans to honor a Catholic U.S. senator who supports legalized abortion, saying that the senator’s record should be considered in its totality and that Americans should search together for the truth on ethical issues.Several U.S. bishops condemned Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plans to honor U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois, with a “lifetime achievement award” for his work surrounding immigration policy despite his pro-abortion voting record. “I am not terribly familiar with the particular case. I think it’s important to look at the...

The Trump administration’s Department of Education has opened a new investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools over allegations that a high school social worker arranged abortions for teenage students without their parents’ knowledge. The probe, announced as an enforcement action, stems from claims dating to the 2021-22 school year at Centreville High School, where a social worker allegedly scheduled an abortion appointment for a student, paid the abortion fee and pressured a second student into the abortion, according to reports. The district, one of the nation’s largest, faces potential loss of federal funding if it fails to respond adequately. The...

A pregnant woman in Dublin, Ireland told authorities she is “living in fear for me and my kids and my unborn child” after her boyfriend allegedly threatened to drag her “by the hair of her head to the abortion clinic” when she refused to kill her baby in an abortion. That’s according to court testimony and a local news report that underscores the perils of coercive control against expectant mothers. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was refused bail last Friday at Tallaght District Court following the September 12 domestic incident in Dublin’s Tallaght area. The 20-something...

Today, Planned Parenthood is closing its Houston, Texas abortion facility that was the biggest abortion center in North America. Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast announced in July that it would close two Houston-area abortion centers, including its 78,000-square-foot Prevention Park facility, once the largest abortion center in the Western Hemisphere. That closing will happen today and hundreds, if not thousands, of pro-life Texans will be on hand to celebrate. The Houston Coalition for Life is hosting two special vigils today. “The events will both honor the lives lost to abortion within the building and celebrate the closure of Planned Parenthood’s Prevention...

An expansive study across more than 30 countries has confirmed that if prenatal testing is made readily available, the number of eugenic abortions will increase. Dr. Brian Skotko — director of the Down Syndrome Program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a Harvard-educated, board-certified medical geneticist, author, and public speaker — is one of the authors of the study. He is a leading researcher on Down syndrome and serves on the Honorary Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress. Key Takeaways: * A study examining data from 33 countries over 30 years reveals that prenatal testing has...

* Stand with thousands of pro-life individuals throughout the USA and Canada in honor of millions of babies whose lives have been lost to abortion. Pray for people in crisis situations and for our nations. * You'll be a light in a darkened world as you help put an end to abortion through prayer! * Bring your whole family! * Water, lawn chairs, umbrellas and strollers are welcome and encouraged! * Rain or shine! * Signs proclaim "Abortion Kills Children," "Adoption the Loving Option," "Jesus Forgives & Heals," "Lord, Forgive Us and Our Nation," "Abortion Hurts Women," "Life - the...

Planned Parenthood is pausing abortions in Wisconsin because federal legislation preventing Medicaid from funding abortion services for one year goes into effect Oct. 1. Wisconsin Right to Life praised the news. “Taxpayer dollars should never fund the taking of innocent preborn lives,” Heather Weininger, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Life, said in a Sept. 25 WisPolitics article. “Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has long centered its operations around abortion services, and this announcement only confirms that reality.” The Big Beautiful Bill, signed into law by President Donald Trump July 4, prevents Medicaid dollars from funding abortions. A federal judge initially...

If the leftists controlling the justice system in New York would convict Donald Trump on 34 felony charges of not really anything, what would they do to an actual criminal? If the criminal shares their ideology, nothing: Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office has declined to prosecute a woman who left a pro-life activist bloodied during a street interview in New York City earlier this year, according to attorneys from the Thomas More Society. New York police arrested Brianna J. Rivers, 30, in April on one count of second-degree assault after she sucker punched activist Savannah Craven Antao during a...

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Friday allowing healthcare workers the option of anonymously mailing abortion drugs into red states to skirt pro-life laws. The law, AB 260, bolsters the state’s existing shield laws designed to protect abortionists from out-of-state prosecutions. Democrat Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry said she introduced the legislation in direct response to a Texas man suing a California doctor for sending his girlfriend abortion pills, Politico reported. Newsom also signed a bill that would keep the abortion drug mifepristone available in the state, even if the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to...

A 7th Catholic bishop is on record opposing giving a Lifetime Achievement Award to radically pro-abortion former Senator Dick Durbin. Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas posted a message on X against the upcoming award presentation. “At every Mass we ask the Lord Jesus for the gifts of peace and unity in his Church,” the bishop wrote. “And at this time of strife and division, Cardinal Cupich could promote peace and unity by withdrawing the invitation to Senator Durbin to receive an award.” He added that the event should highlight “the many ways in which human life and dignity...

Money talks: Why Cupich may be honoring pro-abortion Sen. DurbinCupich has a long and friendly history with Durbin, who has pulled the federal purse strings for the Chicago archdiocese. Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich is doubling down in the face of backlash to his decision to honor pro-abort Sen. Dick Durbin. Durbin is a Catholic who lives in Chicago, with a long track record of voting in favor of abortion.“Recently some have criticized the decision of the Archdiocese of Chicago to recognize Senator Dick Durbin at our annual fundraiser for our immigration ministry, Keep Hope Alive,” he wrote in a Sept....

An estimated 90,000 mourners filled State Farm Stadium on Sunday for a packed memorial service honoring pro-life conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose death at the hands of an alleged assassin has galvanized conservative Americans as a testament to his unyielding defense of the unborn. The event, held Sept. 21, 2025, in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, drew President Donald trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, leading figures from the conservative movement, the Trump administration and Kirk’s personal circle. Far from a somber wake, the gathering unfolded like a revival, with speakers extolling Kirk’s Christian faith and his tireless advocacy for life’s...

A California man who plotted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh also wanted to kill at least two other conservative justices in a bid to preserve Roe v. Wade. New court filings revealed this week are spotlighting the violent extremism that gripped abortion activists in the chaotic lead-up to the landmark Dobbs decision. Nicholas John Roske, 28, of Simi Valley, California, faces 30 years to life in prison for attempted murder of a U.S. official in his bid to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh. Roske was arrested outside Kavanaugh’s Chevy Chase, Maryland, home on June 8, 2022, where he was found...

A Planned Parenthood facility in Delavan, Wisconsin, has permanently closed its doors, marking a significant moment for pro-life advocates in the state. The closure, effective July 31, was confirmed by Pro-Life Wisconsin, a group dedicated to protecting life from conception. Dan Miller, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, announced the closure in a blog post, stating, “Planned Parenthood in Delavan is closed! Yes! It is true! Planned Parenthood in Delavan is CLOSED!” Miller noted that Google Maps lists the facility as permanently closed, and during a visit on September 8, he observed signs posted inside the glass door and office window...

Texas was stunned earlier this year when authorities arrested Maria Rojas, who ran an underground abortion clinic. On March 5, Rojas was arrested and is now charged with 15 felonies: 12 for practicing medicine without a license and three for performing illegal abortions. For years, Rojas operated three facilities in Houston. She allegedly tricked women into believing she was a licensed physician when in reality she only had a midwife’s license. Reports say she handed out abortion pills as if she were a doctor, and even went to New Mexico to perform an illegal abortion. Rojas denied everything, but a...

From Ohio to Illinois, the ACLJ is standing on the front lines defending the constitutional rights of pro-life advocates against government overreach. We now have a new case defending pro-life rights from assault by the state. In a troubling case out of Maine, we are representing John Andrade Jr., a Maine resident whose sincere religious expression outside a Planned Parenthood facility has made him the target of an unconstitutional lawsuit brought against him by the state of Maine. We filed a major brief Thursday on his behalf, defending his constitutional rights against the state’s motion for an injunction. The State’s...

A former high school administrator in California raped a 17-year-old student on campus, impregnated her and then begged her on a wiretapped phone call to abort the child, warning that keeping the baby would “ruin” his and his children’s lives. That’s the details of a lawsuit filed this week against the shuttered Contra Costa School of Performing Arts and its accused employee. The civil suit, brought by the student — identified as Jane Doe — and her mother, Janice Doe, in Contra Costa County Superior Court, accuses Gerard Michael Flaherty, 43, of using his position as the school’s climate and...

A third Catholic bishop has stood up to oppose a decision by Cardinal Blasé Cupich to give an award to pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin. As LifeNews has reported, Cupich has been flooded with messages from Catholics urging him to rescind an award he is planning to give to Durbin in November. Cupich, head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, plans to honor the radically pro-abortion senator with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the “Keep Hope Alive” Benefit on November 3. Now, Bishop James Conley of Nebraska has spoken out against the decision. “I too was shocked and bewildered to learn of...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who identifies as Catholic, has been named by the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blase Cupich, the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the “Keep Hope Alive” Benefit on November 3. It has already set off the alarms among the clergy and the laity. Leading the criticism is another Illinois bishop, Thomas Paprocki, Bishop of the Diocese of Springfield. “Senator Durbin, who has been banned from receiving Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois since 2004 for his public support for abortion, should not be celebrated by the Church.” Durbin supports partial-birth abortion, the procedure...

Yesterday afternoon, Cardinal Cupich responded to demands by pro-lifers from across the nation that he rescind his offer to honor Senator Dick Durbin with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity’s upcoming ‘Keep Hope Alive’ fundraiser on November 3rd. You can read his statement here. Forgive me for being blunt. This statement is abhorrent. The killing of the defenseless child in the womb is a grave moral evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that a person who formally contributes to the procurement of an abortion commits a grave sin and separates himself/herself from...