Free Republic

From Dick Durbin to Michael Sacks: Cupich will recognize an abortion-funding donor at a gala for future priests Cardinal Blase Cupich, Archbishop of Chicago, will participate on October 29 in a gala at which the archdiocese will present the Nostra Aetate award to businessman Michael J. Sacks, president and chief executive officer of GCM Grosvenor, who has donated $600,000 to fund initiatives aimed at facilitating access to abortion in Illinois.The recognition will take place during the annual Seminary Salutes Rerum Novarum gala, organized by Mundelein Seminary, part of the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, with the goal of...

Like most of the West, America has entered a fertility crisis. The U.S. fertility rate hit an all-time low in 2024, with a languid 53.8 births per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15 to 44), which works out to a mere 1.6 children per woman. It takes no math degree to recognize that this birth rate is significantly less than two, which means (native-born) American society is literally, numerically in decline. Worse, the birth rate has been plunging ever since 2007 (just before the Great Recession), and no cause for reversal is in view. While Malthusians may celebrate, the more...

A federal appeals court has struck down an Indiana law meant to protect pregnant teen girls and keep their parents involved, clearing the way for Planned Parenthood to take minors out of state for secret abortions without parental consent or a judicial waiver. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in August that Indiana’s 2017 “aid-or-assist” statute violated the First Amendment. The law barred anyone from knowingly helping a teen girl obtain an abortion unless the state’s parental consent requirements were met or a court granted a bypass. Planned Parenthood sued before the measure could take effect, arguing it...

We don’t watch a lot of television in our home anymore. Especially Disney. And there’s a good reason. The entire entertainment industry has departed from its seemingly harmless mission of turning us into couch potatoes and making us laugh. It has now become our primary catechism for moral and spiritual formation. And Disney has become the high priest of this secular humanistic self-worship religion masquerading as innocent entertainment for children. “Coven Academy,” produced by Disney Kids & Family, opens October 1 and will reportedly follow teenage witches, warlocks, and a vampire at an elite magical boarding school. Disney’s “First Look”...

(RNS) — Officially, abortion is still a top policy priority for many religious leaders. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops calls preventing abortion its “preeminent priority,” and prominent conservative evangelicals continue to mobilize their voters around the issue. But as Idaho, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia prepare to vote on abortion-related measures in the midterm elections, polling suggests it is less of a priority for voters than in other recent election cycles. According to an October poll by Pew Research Center, significantly fewer registered voters from every religious group surveyed said abortion was “very important” in deciding who to vote for...

Democrats know that when it comes to people of faith, the Republicans clean up. This explains why in this election cycle they are trying hard to appeal to religious folks: several “pastors” are running for office. The quotes are necessitated because there are good reasons to question just how representative they are of their Protestant base. Meet the “pastors” running for office. James Talarico He is running to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He is a Presbyterian seminarian and currently serves in the Texas House of Representatives. Abortion When he gave his first sermon, he chose to discuss...

There is nothing Catholic about Catholics for Choice, and its leader in Missouri is not a Catholic priest, though she claims to be one. To say we are dealing with false advertising is an understatement—this is a stealth campaign designed to confuse the public about the true nature of Catholicism, funded by fat cat anti-Catholic bigots who work in prominent foundations. This is nothing new. The faux Catholic entity was founded as Catholics for a Free Choice in 1973, the year Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. The person who led it was Father Joseph O’Rourke. But he didn’t last long—he...

Jessica Valenti, the abortion industry’s ever-reliable cheerleader, was positively giddy yesterday. On October 14, she breathlessly unveiled a new University of Pittsburgh study on her Abortion, Every Day Substack, claiming that Americans will happily vote for abortion ballot measures even when they contain no limits on how late in pregnancy an abortion may occur. Apparently, we’re supposed to believe that voters have suddenly abandoned their longstanding opposition to late abortions. Not for a minute. The study, “Is the Viability Limit Necessary to Win Back Abortion Rights?: An Empirical Study,” comes from University of Pittsburgh researchers Greer Donley, Dana Loll, and...

On Mondays, it is a habit of mine to retrace examples of both the best and the worst in human behavior. I will happily write about the best later today. First, however, an example of the depths to which the human heart can sink. Now, to be sure, the willingness of pro-abortionists to say almost anything is not news to pro-lifers. But looking back, a 776-word-long New York Times op-ed by Susan Heath was unusually cavalier/ blunt/heartless, even by their lowly standards. Thinking about the “attacks on a woman’s right to choose,” Heath told her readers, “It wasn’t always like...

In his memoir, "Devil on My Shoulder," rocker Alice Cooper revealed that his ex-girlfriend, the late Cindy Lang, underwent an abortion during their six-year relationship. Though he said he had doubts the baby was his, he also said he didn't take any responsibility. Key Takeaways: * Alice Cooper wrote in his memoir that his ex-girlfriend underwent an abortion during their relationship. * Cooper was unsure if the baby was his and he took no responsibilty for the baby. * He said while he grew up in a Christian church and knew the church saw abortion as a serious sin, he...

Using out of state money, radical pro-abortion groups have raised more than $25.7 million to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment that would protect babies from abortion in Missouri. Stop the Ban, the campaign opposing Amendment 3, has collected the sum as of Thursday, according to disclosure reports. The Fairness Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group, has contributed nearly $12 million of that total. By contrast, Her Health, Her Future PAC, the main group supporting Amendment 3, has raised $5.3 million, including a $2.9 million donation from a new Missouri-based nonprofit that doubled the campaign’s cash on hand. If approved by voters...

At first glance, it reads like satire – something so grotesque and absurd that it cannot possibly be real. But it is real. In Central Florida, Stand With Abortion Now (“SWAN”) is selling merchandise that turns the intentional killing of unborn children into a joke, a fashion statement, and a fundraising opportunity. We are linking to SWAN’s own website once so readers can see the organization’s words and merchandise for themselves. What follows is not parody. It is how SWAN describes – and markets – its work. SWAN is a pro-abortion clinic-escort group founded in June 2022, immediately after the...

When an anti-abortion activist held a sign depicting a fetus in utero with the caption "What about her body and her rights?" to the side of a University of South Florida weekly open-air market, campus police didn't just order him into a so-called free speech zone, as did Tucson, Ariz. police when an evangelist showed up to a nonsectarian Christmas street festival. USF police arrested and jailed Tyler Newton for 14 hours on Sept. 23 at the behest of campus officials for standing with his sign and sharing his "abolitionist" views with passers-by, a new First Amendment lawsuit claims. Describing...

In Access Independent Health Services v. Wrigley, abortion providers and physicians challenged North Dakota’s abortion law. They argued that the North Dakota Constitution protects a right to abortion and that the law’s exceptions were too unclear for doctors to know when they could legally provide an abortion. The district court agreed with the challengers and struck down the law. The state appealed, bringing the case to the North Dakota Supreme Court. Justice Jerod Tufte played a central role in the Supreme Court’s decision. In an extensive opinion joined by Chief Justice Jon Jensen, he rejected the argument that the state...

new proposed amendment to Missouri’s constitution that would prohibit abortion and sex-rejecting procedures for minors with gender dysphoria is polling close ahead of November’s election day. According to polling posted by The New York Times, 44% of likely Missouri voters said they oppose the adoption of abortion safeguards, follow by a close 43% who support it. In contrast, 47% of likely Missouri voters said they support a ban on gender transition procedures for children while 40% oppose it. In 2024, Missouri voters passed Amendment 3, to codify “the fundamental right to reproductive freedom, including abortion,” according to Ballotpedia. November’s proposed...

How to Collect Signatures to Repeal Massachusetts’ New Abortion Law With just 8 days remaining, volunteers are working to collect signatures for the effort to repeal Massachusetts’ new late-term abortion law. All petition sheets must be delivered to town halls by Friday, October 23, at 5:00 PM. If you want to sign the petition or help someone else find where to sign, visit Repeal188.com homepage, select “Sign the petition,” and submit your town and email address to find nearby signing opportunities. Home Questions about signing, obtaining petition sheets or gathering signatures? Contact the Coalition. Please also watch 4 Things to...

The University of New Mexico hasn’t said whether its recently abandoned plan to purchase one of northern New Mexico’s key rural hospitals was tied to a proposed reproductive healthcare center, following the expiration of a preliminary agreement last month. Alta Vista Regional Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Las Vegas, issued a news release Oct. 2 stating that “a preliminary letter of intent related to a potential transaction with the University of New Mexico” had expired Sept. 1. The letter referred to the university’s proposed “acquisition” of the hospital, according to university spokesperson Christopher Ramirez, who said the deal...

Democratic Senate hopeful James Talarico was ruthlessly fact-checked by a Catholic voter during a Texas town hall Wednesday after he claimed the Bible doesn’t take a stance on abortion. Talarico, a Christian seminarian and state lawmaker, attempted to convince the self-described “one-issue voter,” Jody Hunt, that his pro-choice position is compatible with her faith because “the Bible is silent on the issue of abortion.” Hunt, respectfully, wasn’t buying it. She allowed Talarico to finish his point that “certain policy levers” — absent banning the procedure — can reduce abortions nationwide, before her mic-drop moment. “I just want to add that...

On Friday, October 9, 2026, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $1 million to the “Too Extreme for Idaho PAC,” a political action committee working to defeat Idaho’s Proposition 1. Current Idaho law generally prohibits abortion, with limited exceptions, including for rape and incest. However, Proposition 1 allows abortion up to fetal viability, which it redefines, allowing abortion for any reason into the eighth month of pregnancy. Proposition 1 eliminates Idaho’s parental consent laws. Proposition 1 also says any “health care provider” can perform abortion. The donation is notable not only for its size but also for...

Students for Life of America (SFLA) and Students for Life Action (SFLAction) will bring the Pro-Life Generation to Cobb County, GA, on Saturday, October 17, as Democrat U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff and Democrat gubernatorial nominee and pro-abortion candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms hold a joint campaign rally. Ossoff is seeking reelection to the U.S. Senate, where he faces Republican nominee and current U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), setting up a closely watched Senate race in which abortion policy remains a central campaign issue. The demonstration is also part of Students for Life Action’s ongoing “ Democrats Love Late-Term Abortion ” campaign,...