Free Republic

In March 2020, the Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of Louisiana's new abortion law, which requires that physicians doing abortions have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. Under the leadership of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, an amicus -- "friend of the court" -- brief supporting the law was just filed, signed by 207 members of Congress, 39 senators and 168 House members. A press release from Scalise summarizes the arguments made and lists a number of conservative organizations supporting the brief, one of which is my organization -- the Center for Urban...

Last week, The New York Times covered a recent abortion study by Caitlin Myers of Middlebury College and two reproductive health researchers. This study analyzes how a future reversal of Roe v. Wade would impact abortion rates in various parts of the country. The study looked at how recent abortion facility closures in Texas affected abortion rates in different regions of the state. They use this data to predict abortion rates in different parts of the country if Roe is overturned and conservative states outlawed abortion. Overall, the researchers predict that a reversal of Roe v. Wade would prevent over...

Abortion. The Second American Civil War, as was the First Civil War, will not be about economics and cultural differences. The ultimate dividing issue, as was slavery, will be abortion. Obama knows this and he is, with increasing desperation, trying to provoke a Second Civil War while he is still President of the United States. While he can still play the Abraham Lincoln role that Time Magazine gave him, while Tea Partiers such as Sarah Palin look like a rag-tag bag of rural "Rebs". There is "Liberal Fascism" as Jonah Goldberg has defined the Progressively Marxist American Left. Then there...

The conservosphere is up in arms over John Fund's report in the Wall Street Journal that John McCain would be squishy on conservative appointments to the Supreme Court: More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because "he wore his conservatism on his sleeve." Over at The Corner, Kathryn Jean Lopez has Fund's back: For what it's worth, I've been told the same thing John F. reported — that at a private...

Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty recently endorsed fellow Law & Order star Fred Thompson for President of the United States. During a telephone conversation with this writer, Moriarty said: "Whoever does occupy the White House will not overturn Roe v. Wade, nor will he or she put the dictatorial Supreme Court in its place. "However, I will personally vote for Mr. Fred Thompson and help his campaign as best I can, but I don't believe his entrance into this campaign ever carried enough pro-life commitment to do the job that has to be done. In addition, since...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today that he wept with relief when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons, announced a 1978 revelation that the priesthood would no longer be denied to persons of African descent. Romney’s eyes appeared to fill with tears as he discussed the emotional subject during a high-stakes appearance that he handled with no major blunders. “I was anxious to see a change in my church,” said the Republican presidential candidate, appearing for the full hour just two weeks ahead of the crucial Iowa caucuses. “I can...

I enjoyed watching Chris Wallace’s recent interview with Fred Thompson — and I share Thompson’s bewilderment at Fox’s nitpicking negativity, so far, about his budding campaign. In general, I agree with Matthew Dallman’s assessment of Thompson; he feels to me like the most presidential and even-minded of the candidates. While I could support Giuliani, something about him often strikes me as ... dark and edgy. Maybe I just don’t have enough East Coast in me to take to him right away. Thompson is the first (and, so far, only) leading candidate reminding us that social security still needs reform, and...

FLIP FLOP ALERT! FLIP FLOP ALERT! CALLING ROMNEY OPPO TEAM! Earlier today, we linked coverage of The Huckster on Fox News, where he couldn't have been clearer that he opposes a state-by-state solution to abortion. This is to differentiate himself from Fred Thompson, who's taken that approach and thus, in effect, would permit abortion to remain legal in at least some states, regardless of how the Bush court might rule someday on Roe v. Wade. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee rejects letting states decide whether to allow abortions, claiming the right to life is a moral issue not subject to...

Make no mistake about it - when the nation's largest pro-life group endorsed Fred Thompson on Tuesday its goal was to shake up the Republican contest for the presidency. The National Right to Life's endorsement is the gold standard coveted by those Republicans seeking the White House because it bestows a legitimacy and authenticity on the candidate who receives it as the standard-bearer for those who want to end abortion on demand. The Thompson endorsement not only signals how the organization representing 3,000 pro-life groups has grown up, but it shows just how close the country is to seeing Roe...

As I have said in months past, the reports of the death of social conservatism within the Republican Party are greatly exaggerated. There isn't a candidate in the Republican Primaries that doesn't dream of the opportunity to get key endorsements from the social Right. Rudy Guiliani would even like to get a few more than just Pat Robertson-after all, Robertson has been discredited within the conservative movement for a very long time. On the other hand, the idea that pro-family social conservatives are in total control of the GOP is something that both the press and the Democrats have attempted...

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson today defended his opposition to a federal constitutional amendment to ban abortion and contended it was more realistic to appoint conservative judges to outlaw abortion or let the states decide whether the procedure should be legal. Thompson's comments, made during a swing through Iowa, where his campaign has languished in its early stages, also came on the eve of his candidacy's expected endorsement by the National Right to Life Committee. "What I have concentrated on is a way to get to the same goal (to ban abortion) that's achievable. We could not...

Fred Thompson took his acid bath this morning on Meet the Press. Measured by the traditional standards of Sunday morning political theater, it was an uneven performance. Fred did well on international affairs and "stumbled" on domestic policy. His answer on abortion in particular will come as an uncomfortable revelation to some of his more conservative supporters. I have a team of Jesuits attempting to unravel the yarn-balled logic of Fred's rambling answer, but it appears to boil down to this: "I'm 100 percent pro-life and have voted 100 percent pro-life. I hope one day Roe will be overturned and...

MCLEAN, Va., Nov. 5 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today the Fred Thompson campaign announced the addition of Shannon Royce, an experienced social conservative coalitions director and former Executive Director of The Arlington Group, who will be joining the Thompson Campaign to serve as Grassroots and Special Projects Director. Shannon Royce most recently served as Executive Director of the Arlington Group where she managed a coalition of over 70 organizations advocating on numerous pro-family initiatives. In that capacity, she coordinated coalition efforts on behalf of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. A former Legislative Assistant to Senator Slade Gorton and...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Former Tennessee senator and actor Fred Thompson didn't participate in the Republican presidential debate last night. However, he appeared on a national television show and made his views on abortion known again as he repeated his desire to see the Supreme Court's landmark abortion case overturned. Appearing on the "Hannity and Colmes" show on the Fox News channel, co-host Sean Hannity asked Thompson about his views on the key pro-life issue. Thompson has come under some criticism from pro-life circles because he took an official pro-abortion position in 1994 when he looked to represent Tennessee in...

Most people following politics already read a lot about last night's GOP debate, so I'll try to keep my comments short here, with maybe just a few words about the candidates. First, the front-runners: Mitt Romney was quite good, and clearly was the best of the front-runners. He didn't make any obvious errors, handled the question about his apparent flip-flop on abortion well, and generally seemed polished and impressive. He went out of his way to emphasize that Americans should care about the character of people (and whether they are people of faith) rather than specifically what church or synagogue...

04/20/03 - Posted 11:52:10 PM from the Daily Record newsroom Laci Peterson case tied to Roe debate By Rob Jennings, Daily Record The head of the National Organization for Women's Morris County chapter is opposing a double-murder charge in the Laci Peterson case, saying it could provide ammunition to the pro-life lobby. "If this is murder, well, then any time a late-term fetus is aborted, they could call it murder," Morris County NOW President Mavra Stark said on Saturday. Prosecutors in California announced Friday their intention to charge Scott Peterson, 30, of Modesto, both with killing his wife and their...