Free Republic

November 29, 2011 (LiveAction.org) - Ann Furedi, chief executive of the abortion chain British Pregnancy Advisory Service recently engaged with Will Saletan in a debate over the issue of late-term abortion. During her opening statements, Ann made some comments that caught my attention. She admitted that a late-term fetus connects with people because “it looks like a baby.” Of course though to Ann, it isn’t a baby nor worth of legal protection. She further states that “there is no evidence to suggest that we need to restrict later abortions in any way.” What sort of evidence is she looking for?...

Question: “When abortion becomes illegal again, are we going to start throwing all the women who have abortions into jail?” Answer: No. The people who should go to jail in that case are the abortionists. This particular question will be raised more and more as we to come closer to restoring protection to the unborn. The question is actually part of the well-planned public relations attack that abortion advocates always try to make on us in the pro-life movement. We are anti-woman, after all. Isn’t that the only logical reason why we would oppose abortion in the first place? That’s...

There he goes again. Embattled Catholic law professor and former Obama ambassador to Malta, Douglas Kmiec, is back defending the pro-abortion president to Catholics, this time over conscience issues. Writing in the National Catholic Reporter today, Kmiec essentially tells Catholics to get over the fact that the Obama administration is dangerously close to adopting new Obamacare rules that will require insurance companies and religious organizations to pay for insurance that will cover birth control, contraception, and drugs that can sometimes cause abortions. Without saying so directly, Kmiec essentially takes on the Catholic bishops and their argument that the Obama administration...

According to its website, "for more than 90 years, Planned Parenthood has promoted a commonsense approach to women's health and well-being, based on respect for each individual's right to make informed, independent decisions about health, sex, and family planning." There is in this glowing self-endorsement a subtle tribute to Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger. An unabashed eugenicist, Ms. Sanger's "commonsense" approach to unwanted pregnancies and undesirable demographic groups, such as minorities and the handicapped, was clear and unambiguous. She maintained that "the most merciful thing that a family does to one of its infant members is to kill it," and...

JERUSALEM, November 10, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - “Wrongful life” lawsuits, in which doctors are held liable for not discovering fetal abnormalities that might have prompted parents to abort their child, have become so common in Israel that the government has set up a committee to investigate the issue, New Scientist reports. According to magazine, wrongful life claims are more prevalent in Israel where a higher rate of genetic disorders caused by consanguineous (connected by kinship) marriages has fueled a “pro-genetic testing culture.” The county has seen an estimated 600 wrongful cases since the first in 1987. While similar lawsuits in the...

A pro-family advocate finds it odd that a group of homosexual activists has admitted to working to help defeat Mississippi's personhood amendment on Tuesday. In an announcement released the day after the vote, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund admits to sending activists to Jackson, Mississippi, to help with a phone bank and "stand in solidarity" with Planned Parenthood Federation of America and other abortion proponents. Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) thinks it was a peculiar alliance, since homosexuals cannot procreate. "This is a group that works hand-in-hand with so-called 'sexual freedom advocates,'...

A well-backed Democrat candidate who ran for a position on the board of a top beltway-area school system has been found guilty of assault for ramming a pro-lifer with her car during this year’s national March for Life on January 24, LifeSiteNews has learned. Charisse Espy Glassman, the niece of former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, withdrew her candidacy for the Fairfax County Public School board after the charges were revealed by the Washington Post this summer. Glassman was convicted of one charge of simple assault, and found not guilty of a second charge of possession of a prohibited weapon....

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Mississippi voters shot down a referendum Tuesday that would have effectively banned abortions in the state, rejecting an initiative that said life begins at conception. The so-called personhood initiative was rejected by more than 55 percent of voters. If it had passed, it was virtually assured of drawing legal challenges because it conflicts with the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that established a legal right to abortion.

A mother and her two daughters, all former Girl Scouts who say they are disillusioned with the organization’s connection to less-than family values, claim the U.S. group’s 52nd National Convention next week in Houston is a farce. Christy Volanski and her daughters, Sydney and Tess, formed a sort of watchdog group earlier this year with their online site, “Speak Now: Girl Scouts,” as their platform in attempt to expose the group’s pro-abortion stance. Volanski, who also served as a Girl Scout leader in the last three years of her daughters’ eight year membership, told The Christian Post that Girl Scouts...

A National Association of Evangelicals board member is calling on African-Americans to vote for their conservative convictions in the 2012 election, describing President Barack Obama as a theologically liberal candidate. Bishop Harry R. Jackson. Jr., senior pastor of Hope Christian Church outside of Washington, D.C., asked blacks to re-evaluate their tendency to “flock the polls” in support of Democratic leaders in an opinion piece published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. Blacks, he noted, espouse traditional, conservative beliefs on social issues rooted in their faith. Yet, they often vote for Democratic leaders with liberal leanings. “Most blacks have looked the...

President Obama’s re-election campaign has been hammering Mitt Romney from many angles in recent weeks. And now Democrats are beginning a new push against him, this time using the issue of reproductive rights in a bid to raise doubts about Mr. Romney among women. The Democratic National Committee has scheduled a conference call for Thursday with Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the party chairwoman, who, according to the committee’s press release, will “slam G.O.P. presidential candidate Mitt Romney for voicing support for such efforts which could endanger women’s lives.” The Democratic offensive is built around Mr. Romney’s statements on...

It’s one of the most notorious unsolved mysteries in history: who was Jack the Ripper, the Victorian serial killer who surgically disemboweled five prostitutes in the fall of 1888? According to claims that are currently getting a great deal of media attention in Britain, he may be none other than prominent surgeon Sir John Williams – who, in addition to serving as Queen Victoria’s surgeon in London, was also a well-known abortionist. In a new book, Sir John’s great-great-great-great nephew, Tony Williams, presents evidence for Sir John’s guilt, including his discovery of a six-inch surgical knife among his ancestor’s possessions...

Illinois' six Catholic bishops have deplored Catholic governor Pat Quinn's role as the presenter of a “Pro-Choice Leadership Award” at an abortion advocacy group's upcoming ceremony. “We deeply regret the governor's decision to present this award, which so closely associates him with a political action group whose purpose is contrary to the common good,” the six bishops said in a Nov. 2 statement released by the Catholic Conference of Illinois. “With this action, Governor Quinn has gone beyond a political alignment with those supporting the legal right to kill children in their mother's wombs, to rewarding those deemed most successful...

Lorna Jose Mendoza has been given a choice. She can either assist in an abortion this week at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, or she could refuse and risk losing her job. Mendoza is one of a dozen nurses who filed suit today against the hospital – accusing them of violating federal and state law by forcing them to assist in abortions against their religious and moral objections. “The hospital told the nurses they have no regard for their religious beliefs,” said Matthew Bowman, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund. “They were going to be assigned...

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the publication of Betty Friedan’s feminist magnum opus, The Feminine Mystique, we can have a perspective on feminism that was largely unavailable heretofore. And that perspective doesn’t make feminism look good. Yes, women have more opportunities to achieve career success; they are now members of most Jewish and Christian clergy; women’s college sports teams are given huge amounts of money; and there are far more women in political positions of power. But the prices paid for these changes — four in particular — have been great, and outweigh the gains for women, let...

WASHINGTON — In an escalation of the U.S. bishops’ campaign against “grave threats to religious liberty,” Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., endorsed three bills designed to strengthen First Amendment rights. The bishop, who heads the newly established Ad Hoc Committee on Religious Liberty for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops testified before Congress yesterday, Oct. 26. “I am here today to call to your attention grave threats to religious liberty that have emerged even since June — grim validations of the bishops’ recognition of the need for urgent and concerted action in this area,” said the bishop. “I focus...

Two former employees of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell have pled guilty to 3rd degree murder charges for their roles in the deaths of an abortion patient and one baby born alive during a failed late-term abortion. This is reportedly the first time that an abortion worker has been found guilty of murder for killing a baby. ..Gosnell, who ran an abortion facility in Philadelphia that has been dubbed a “House of Horrors,” has been charged with eight counts of murder, including of seven newborn babies and one client, and is awaiting trial. Moton and West may testify against his as...

Almost 100 ELCA pastors and leaders have endorsed a declaration entitled, “Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing.” In this document, the ELCA leaders call for marriage equality for homosexuals, and they voice their commitment to abortion, among other things. Concerning marriage equality and abortion, the declaration says, “We call for:” - “Full inclusion of women and LGBT persons in congregational life, including their ordination and marriage equality.” - “A faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion, and HIV/STI prevention and treatment.” (read here) Here is the list of ELCA pastors and leaders...

First Lady Michelle Obama told two audiences at Democratic fundraising events on Tuesday that the justices her husband appointed to the Supreme Court will protect the right to “love whomever we choose.” She also said these justices would protect “privacy”—presumably a reference to the “right to privacy” the court invoked in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in the United States. “Let’s not forget what it meant when my husband appointed those two brilliant Supreme Court justices,

Russia’s national parliament, the Federal Assembly, has voted to restrict abortion for the first time in decades, in the face of a demographic decline that has reduced the population by 2.9% since 1992. The new law, which is expected to be signed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, prohibits abortions beyond the 12th week of pregnancy, and imposes a mandatory waiting period of between two and seven days. Exceptions are permitted for economic hardship, which allows abortions up to the point 22 weeks of gestation. Join a Facebook page to end abortion here. Legislators discarded proposals by the Orthodox Church to...