Free Republic

The largely pro-life country of Malta, located south of Sicily, has been facing pressure to legalize abortion and euthanasia and abandon its deeply-held principles. Activists are working to make abortion legal in the island nation, though pro-life Maltese citizens are continuing to stand strong — even as police have begun cracking down on pro-life advocacy as “hate speech.” Emma Portelli Bonnici is a candidate running for office with the Nationalist Party (PN). In a press conference, she promised free contraception and morning-after pills within six months if her party is put into power. She’s also openly pro-abortion, and filed a...

EXCLUSIVE The Department of Education is giving morning-after pills and other birth-control drugs to students at 13 high schools, The Post has learned. School nurse offices stocked with the contraceptives can dispense “Plan B” emergency contraception and other oral or injectable birth control to girls without telling their parents — unless parents opt out after getting a school informational letter about the new program. CATCH — Connecting Adolescents To Comprehensive Health — is part of a citywide attack against the epidemic of teen pregnancy, which spurs many girls — most of them poor — to drop out of school. Helayne...

BOSTON -– In a shocking turn-around, Massachusetts’s governor Mitt Romney announced yesterday that Roman Catholic and other private hospitals in the state will be forced to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims under new state legislation, regardless of the hospitals’ moral position on the issue. The Republican governor had earlier defended the right of hospitals to avoid dispensing the “morning-after pill” on the grounds of moral dissent. The Boston Globe reported that Romney’s flip on the issue came after his legal counsel, Mark D. Nielsen, concluded Wednesday that the new law supersedes a preexisting statute related to the abortifacient...

RELATED NEWS: Catholic Church responds massively to Katrina refugees US Bishops issue call to help poorest dioceses affected by Katrina New Orleans Archbishop Hughes survives Katrina; continues to minister to fellow refugees US Bishops announce national collection for Hurricane Katrina relief Pro-life group criticizes Planned Parenthood for hurricane ‘publicity stunt’Stafford, VA, Sep. 02, 2005 (CNA) - Jim Sedlak, president of American Life League’s STOPP International group, heavily criticized Planned Parenthood this week for what he sees as a marketing stunt aimed at victims of Hurricane Katrina. Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas has offered free so-called “emergency contraceptives”...

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington called it "the worst double cross I've ever seen" in 13 years in the United States Senate. Dr. Stephanie Teal, director of family planning at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, called it a blow to women's reproductive rights. Last Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration bowed to anti-abortionists and prudes, delaying a plan that would help American women get emergency contraception for unwanted pregnancies. The irony of the FDA's decision, said Murray, Teal and others, is that access to emergency contraception can reduce abortions. FDA chief Lester Crawford said he wants two...

SEATTLE -- Step right up to the pharmacy counter, answer 23 questions and walk out with birth control pills. That's all it takes for women enrolled in a study that is believed to be the first effort in the nation to offer hormonal contraceptives at drugstores without a doctor's prescription. The University of Washington project aims to find out if women and pharmacists are comfortable with drugstore delivery of birth control pills, patches and vaginal rings. That doesn't mean women should stop going to the doctor for annual checkups to guard against sexually transmitted diseases and other problems. But most...