Free Republic

Wealthy British couples who cannot have children are increasingly seeking "wombs for hire" from women overseas, according to figures obtained by The Independent. The number of couples formally registering children born to foreign surrogates has nearly trebled in five years, raising concerns that poor women in developing countries are being exploited by rich Westerners. "Parental orders" granted following surrogacy – to transfer the child from the surrogate mother to the commissioning parents – have risen from 47 in 2007 to 133 in 2011. While the figures are still relatively small, experts say they understate the true scale of the...

Forget empress, let's have concubines, says prince By Colin Joyce in Tokyo (Filed: 04/11/2005) A Japanese prince has shocked the country with an attack on plans to let women ascend the imperial throne. Prince Tomohito, 59, the emperor's cousin and fifth in line to the throne, became the first member of the imperial family to speak out on the issue when he called on the nation not to abandon tradition. Under the constitution, the monarchy plays a purely symbolic role and members of the royal family are forbidden from making political statements, even on matters of direct concern to them....

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- Rachael Strong said she was 18 and "too scared to resist" a marriage to a polygamist in his 60s who scheduled nights with his 17 wives on a calendar and ordered them to use birth control. She eventually broke away from the polygamous sect and said she can provide evidence of rape and bigamy at The True and Living Church in Manti, Utah -- but claims authorities won't listen. "Here I am," the 20-year-old Strong declared Wednesday at the Utah Capitol, in a lobby two floors under Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office. "For over...