Free Republic

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), during Pam Bondi's attorney general confirmation hearing, highlighted an often overlooked aspect of the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to prosecute political opponents. Democrats grilled Bondi over suspicions that she would use her position to target President-elect Donald Trump’s enemies. Republicans smartly countered this by pointing out how the current administration has used the state to target Trump and his allies. However, Hawley focused on how Biden’s White House prosecuted Christians based on their religious beliefs. In the last four years, this administration has carried out an unprecedented attack and campaign against people of faith. If you look...

Yesterday, Thomas More Society attorneys submitted to the incoming Trump administration formal requests for presidential pardons on behalf of 21 pro-life advocates who have been unjustly prosecuted, convicted, and in several cases, imprisoned, by the Biden Department of Justice. In their letter submitted to President Donald J. Trump, Thomas More Society attorneys “urge that these pro-life Americans are deserving of full and unconditional pardons.” The pardon request package includes 21 individual pardon requests, one for each pro-life advocate, outlining the specific facts of each case, their upstanding personal and moral character, and the reasons why President Trump should grant a...

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in a Texas case that could have major ramifications across the country—including, perhaps, the end of anonymity online.A Texas law requiring people to provide proof of age before viewing online porn comes before the U.S. Supreme Court today. With similar laws already at play in 18 states besides Texas, and other states considering such measures, it's fair to say that the future of online porn in this country depends on what the justices decide in this case. The Texas law (House Bill 1181) is being challenged by multiple plaintiffs, including the Free Speech...

A San Antonio woman is in custody after giving birth in a Whataburger bathroom and attempting to push and flush her newborn baby girl down the toilet, authorities say. Police report that two hours after Mallori Strait entered the Whataburger lobby, she went into the bathroom for a few hours. The restaurant’s manager checked on Strait several times after hearing noises from the stall and even offered her water. When concern for Strait’s well-being grew, the manager called the police, according to KSAT. When authorities arrived on the scene, they were met with a tragic situation. Reports on the incident...

A pizza delivery worker has been charged with pushing her way into a motel room with an accomplice and stabbing a pregnant woman in front of her five-year-old daughter after a dispute over a lousy tip. Brianna Alvelo, 22, was charged with stabbing the woman in her motel room in Kissimmee, Florida, a short time after delivering a pizza to her on Sunday, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. The woman gave Alvelo $50 on a $33.10 bill, expecting to receive $16.90 in change back. When Alvelo started walking away, the woman asked for money back, but the pizza...

The medical director of the Texas Medical Board has retired, less than two weeks after conservative lawmakers publicized his employment with a Planned Parenthood laboratory. Dr. Robert Bredt has worked as medical director for the state medical licensing agency since 2012, earning $185,000 a year. While the members of the licensing board are appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott, the medical director role is hired by agency leadership. According to his resumé, Bredt also worked at Planned Parenthood South Texas Laboratory since 2011, as well as Genics Laboratory in Las Vegas and San Antonio since 2022. Bredt, 62, is also a...

Americans United for Life is pleased to announce its Life List 2025 State Rankings. Each year, AUL releases its Life List, which ranks states from most to least pro-life based on their existing life-affirming policies. AUL looks at each state’s protections for life from conception to natural death. This includes laws on abortion, legal recognition of preborn children, bioethics, assisted suicide and end-of-life patient care, and healthcare rights of conscience. Additionally, states are awarded points for their life-affirming cultural and political landscape and momentum. Arkansas, the Most Pro-life State in AmericaThis past legislative session, the pro-life movement faced many challenges...

Mission-driven organizations often fight laws and policies that require them to accept individuals at odds with their mission, notably those in same-sex relationships for leadership and employment within Christian organizations.Pro-life individuals and pregnancy centers routinely face limits on their advocacy and even threats to their existence from so-called buffer zone laws outside abortion facilities and Democratic attorneys general who see them as inherently deceptive.New York took the unusual step in 2019 of combining these restrictions into a single law, signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, that prohibits "discrimination based on an individual's or a dependent's reproductive health decision making," depriving religious...

Michael Knowles dives into the bizarre world of 'Woke Religion' as seen on TikTok. From cringeworthy performances to eye-opening moments, Michael reacts to the most shocking, absurd, and thought-provoking TikToks showcasing how modern ideology is shaping cultural norms. Don’t miss this hilarious and insightful breakdown of woke culture gone too far! Let us know your favorite (or least favorite) TikTok moment in the comments.

Note the heartless obliviousness on display in this Sunday front-page Washington Post article by Molly Hennessy-Fiske. The headline: ‘Baby in a dumpster.’ A spate of abandoned newborns unsettles Texas. Yes, what a tragedy. If only abortion were readily available in Texas, then ALL of these babies might have died, rather than just some of them. But it's the sub-headline that gives away the paper's cruel cluelessness [emphasis added]: "Critics say these cases are no coincidence in a state with one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans and near-bottom rankings on women’s health care." Get the rest of the story...

Liberal pastors have taken to “blessing” abortion clinics to signal support for women who choose to abort their babies according to a Friday report from The New York Times. At an abortion clinic in Maryland, a Presbyterian pastor, Baptist minister and Jewish cantor burned incense as part of a “ritual blessing” in order “to show that religion could be a source of support for abortion rights,” according to the New York Times. The women wanted to counter religious opposition to the procedure. “For decades the Left has been downright hostile to expressions of religious faith — except apparently when it...

The shocking rise in the number of newborn babies found abandoned in Texas has unnerved communities, raising urgent questions about women's reproductive health. At least 18 babies have been abandoned in the Lone Star state this year, with the latest found just before Christmas at a Whataburger fast food chain in San Antonio, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. A decade ago, the number of abandoned babies per year sat at just seven. It is not clear whether or not there is a common link between the increasingly common tragedies. However, the alarming rate of abandonment...

The Church of England could be forced to create a new archbishop to cater to conservatives if efforts to prevent a split over the blessing of same-sex partnership fails. The Rev Canon John Dunnett, director of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), an influential conservative group, is among those calling for a “de facto parallel province” to be created within the church, grouping together parishes that oppose last year’s move to allow priests to bless the unions of gay couples. If it were legally enshrined as an official province, it “would have to have an archbishop” to oversee it,...

After an Arizona constitutional amendment allowing abortion past 15 weeks was recently certified, abortion businesses in the state announced they can’t wait to kill preborn children later in pregnancy, with at least one admitting that it is already committing abortions up to about 24 weeks, even though the 15-week law is still in effect until overturned by the courts. Dr. Atsuko Koyama, an abortionist at Camelback Family Planning in Phoenix, told The Copper Courier that her facility is now committing abortions up to the point of “fetal viability” because they are “confident” the current law restricting abortions after 15 weeks...

A federal district court Sunday granted a Texas doctor an injunction against Biden administration regulations that illegally restrict how doctors can protect patients from the harms of abortion and “gender transition” while a lawsuit proceeds. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed suit on behalf of a Texas physician in October to challenge rule changes by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The changes to regulations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act added unprecedented restrictions on doctors’ ability to report abuse and states’ ability to protect children from abortion and harmful drugs and surgeries related to gender confusion....

“The Golden Age of America Has Dawned” was President Trump’s message to some 20,000 patriots – conservative, pro-life, and deeply committed to God – who gathered in Phoenix from Thursday, December 19th through Sunday, December 22nd – for the Turning Point USA “America Fest.” It was a gathering that mingled the joy of the recent election victories with the joy of Christmas. The numerous speakers, along with President Trump, constituted a who’s who of conservative American politics. But more importantly, the attendees represented the heart of America – faith, family, freedom, hard work, and morality, including pro-life conviction. And that...

For the first time, a multi-medical society panel has developed and endorsed a uniform lexicon for describing the observations seen on US during the first trimester of pregnancy. The lexicon addresses terms frequently used in first trimester US reports, such as ‘ectopic pregnancy,’ ‘heartbeat,’ ‘living’ and ‘viable.' The panel was convened by the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound (SRU). Other societies participating in the development of the lexicon included the Society of Abdominal Radiology, the American College of Radiology, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American...

People often joke that if they’d known becoming a grandparent was so much fun, they would have done it before having kids. Having grandchildren is widely considered one of life’s great joys, one which, historically, most adults experienced. Today, however, a growing number of people will never have this experience. Grandparents in America are becoming rarer. In 2014, 60% of people over 50 had at least one grandchild. By 2021, that had fallen to just over half. The historic decline in birth rates means that many who devoted their early lives to raising families will spend their later years watching...

I am a follower of Jesus, a father, and also a Scot. I don’t claim to know Northern Ireland like most of the contributors on this blog, but I’ll bring what I can. What does following Jesus bring to the discussion of valuing mothers and their unborn children in Northern Ireland today? Let me tell you a story. One of the New Testament authors was a doctor. His name was Luke. It is no shock to discover then that he showed great interest in finding out many details of the pregnancy of Jesus’ mother Mary to record them in his...

For the third consecutive year, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed a budget amendment that would eliminate taxpayer-funded abortions for fetal anomalies. According to Virginia Mercury, current state law allows state insurance to cover abortions for cases in which a doctor has diagnosed “gross and totally incapacitating physical deformity or with a gross and totally incapacitating mental deficiency.” Youngkin’s proposed budget amendment would explicitly remove this, with language saying “no expenditures from general or non-general fund sources may be made out of any appropriation by the General Assembly for providing abortion services, except otherwise as required by federal law or...