Free Republic

(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...

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...

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...

A Missouri judge who ordered two children locked inside juvenile detention cells because they refused to leave a courthouse with their mother has been dealt a humiliating defeat in federal court. On Tuesday, October 13, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled against Missouri Circuit Judge Eric Eighmy, concluding that his outrageous handling of a family custody dispute violated the children’s clearly established constitutional rights. The decision, written by Circuit Judge David Stras, upheld a jury’s $10,000 damages award to the children, along with a staggering $326,637.22 in attorney fees and costs. And the reason for the...

One of JD Vance's former Senate colleagues is emerging as a leading contender to be his running mate in a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt has built a close relationship with Vance and is considered a top candidate for the ticket, Axios reported Tuesday. Vance views Schmitt as 'trustworthy, intelligent, and articulate,' according to the outlet. Schmitt, 51, served as Missouri attorney general before winning his Senate seat in 2022. Vance has not formally announced a 2028 bid. Donald Trump has repeatedly floated Vance and Marco Rubio running together in 2028, but has not said which of...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City mother will spend 13 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 2024 death of her 1-month-old daughter. Mariah Thomas pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree endangering the welfare of a child resulting in death. A Jackson County judge sentenced her to 13 years in prison, with credit for time she has already served. The case goes back to February 2024. Kansas City police were called to a home near 41st Street and Forest Avenue after getting a report of a baby who wasn't breathing. Emergency crews tried to save the 1-month-old girl, but...

A Missouri mother who shocked America by baking her newborn daughter to death in an oven will serve just 11 years behind bars for the nightmarish crime. Mariah Thomas, 28, cut a plea deal on Tuesday, nearly three years after she was detained in Jackson County jail over for putting her one-month-old daughter Za'Riah Mae in a hot oven in February 2024. On Tuesday, records show Thomas took a plea deal on lesser charges of endangering the welfare of a child leading to death, in exchange for prosecutors dropping murder charges. At the time of the baby's death, a friend...

The Eighth Circuit ruled that Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in November, holding that switching to the 2022 map after the August primary violates the Constitution. The court ordered entry of a permanent injunction, but paused it for one week. The court held that Article I, Section 2 protects voters’ ability to participate in the selection of congressional nominees. Switching maps after the primary would leave some voters choosing among nominees they had no opportunity to select. The court rejected arguments that the Supreme Court’s stay or approaching election deadlines made the appeal moot. It reached the constitutional...

Within hours of the terror attack in Manhattan, Gov. Cuomo said “we have no evidence that today’s attack is part of a wider plot involving more than one individual.” He called the attacker a “lone wolf.” This kind of statement has become the obligatory instant response to almost any terrorist attack. It is profoundly misleading, however. It perpetuates an inaccurate understanding of how attackers in the United States and Europe operate and how counterterrorism investigations work. Proving a terrorist was part of a network or cell can be easy. Among other possibilities, first responders can find messages, as in the...

NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for a man charged with killing eight people when he drove his truck onto a New York City bike path say the death penalty should be ruled out because President Donald Trump was “uninformed and full or rage” when he called for it. The lawyers filed papers Tuesday in federal court on behalf of Sayfullo Saipov (sy-foo-LOH’ sah-YEE’-pawf).

But don’t be concerned: Governor Cuomo says there is no “ongoing threat.” In lower Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, a Muslim named Sayfullo Saipov, screaming “Allah akbar,” drove a rented truck along a bicycle path, killing at least eight people and injuring numerous others. According to Al Arabiya, “New York state governor Andrew Cuomo told media that there is no evidence to suggest wider plot or wider scheme.” And Time.com reported that Cuomo said that there was no “evidence of an ongoing threat or any additional threat.” No evidence to suggest a wider plot or an ongoing threat? Really, Governor? Here’s...

A top Missouri prosecutor was found dead inside a county courthouse — reportedly killing himself inside the building months after saying the job brought him “considerable pain.” Eric Zahnd, 53 — the longest-serving prosecutor in Platte County history — was found dead inside Platte County Courthouse at around 2:15 p.m. Thursday, the local sheriff’s office confirmed, according to FOX 4. The courthouse was immediately closed, and remained sealed Friday. Officials have not released details about his death but sources told the local station KCMO that Zahnd took his own life inside the courthouse. Zahnd, who has served as the county’s...

The U.S. Supreme Court again rejected Missouri congressional maps backed by President Donald Trump on Thursday, a loss for Republicans trying to maintain control of the House in the pivotal midterm elections. The decision appears to clear the way for the state to use a map passed in 2022, as the state's highest court ordered. It's part of a pitched legal battle that has created confusion for voters and others shortly before ballots begin going out for the November elections. The Trump administration had urged the court to keep the president's preferred maps, which were aimed at gaining one additional...

A federal judge in St. Louis on Tuesday ordered Missouri to use the gerrymandered congressional map drawn during a 2025 special session, giving a direction to Secretary of State Denny Hoskins and other election officials in conflict with a Missouri Supreme Court order.

The Supreme Court today rejected a last-ditch effort by Missouri Republicans to use a newly drawn congressional map, which was designed to maximize their political power, for this year’s midterm elections. In a brief order issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court left in place a Missouri Supreme Court ruling from last week that said the map could not be used while a ballot initiative moves forward that could lead to the redrawn map being tossed out by voters. Kavanaugh handles emergency requests that arise from Missouri. The 2025 Republican redistricting plan, part of a wave prompted by Trump, was...

ST. LOUIS – A former general manager of Lombardo’s Restaurant in St. Louis has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, saying he was fired after sharing thoughts about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year in a Facebook post. Michael Mormino, an Edwardsville, Illinois resident, formally filed the lawsuit on Monday. He says he worked for Lombardo’s for 15 years and had been promoted to general manager of company’s airport location. According to the lawsuit, on Sept. 10, 2025, the same day that Kirk was fatally shot in Utah, Mormino shared the following remarks on his personal Facebook page:...

A former Planned Parenthood executive says the abortion group fired her after she reported an illegal abortion at about 28 weeks of pregnancy. Jacqueline C. Colyer filed a 26-page complaint against Planned Parenthood Great Rivers on Aug. 21. She filed the case in a Missouri federal court. Colyer was the group’s vice president of human resources. She says Planned Parenthood fired her after she voiced concerns about an abortion at its clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, which is about 15 miles from St. Louis. The abortion happened on a Sunday night in early 2022, the lawsuit says. It occurred before...

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has donated $1.25 million to a campaign working to defeat a November pro-life ballot measure that would restore Missouri’s protections for unborn babies and reinstate limits on abortion. The contribution went to Stop the Ban, the PAC opposing Amendment 3. The group reported the donation Wednesday to the Missouri Ethics Commission and has now raised more than $6.5 million. Bloomberg previously gave $1 million in 2024 to Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, which successfully pushed the amendment that overturned the state’s laws protecting babies. Amendment 3, placed on the November 3 ballot by state...

Missouri voters rejected a ballot measure in Tuesday’s primary election that would’ve abolished state income taxes. While nine states have phased out individual income taxes, Missouri voters apparently feared an increase in other forms of taxation to make up for the revenue loss. The measure, Amendment No. 5, was rejected by an 84%-16% vote, with about a fifth of the ballots tallied. Missouri GOP Gov. Mike Kehoe backed eliminating the income tax. Opponents of the change claimed that the state’s highest earners would’ve benefitted the most, while public areas like schools, prisons and social services would’ve been directly impacted. Concerns...

In the midst of navigating a turbulent divorce last year, Claire learned she was pregnant. “It wasn’t the right time for me to have a child,” said Claire, who lives in Kansas City and agreed to speak on the condition that she be identified by her first name, citing concerns for her privacy and the charged political climate around abortion in Missouri. “But I knew at that point that I did want to have children in the future.” Claire is among about 3,220 Missourians who obtained medication abortions through telehealth from out-of-state clinicians in 2025 — up from roughly 880...