Free Republic

In June 2022, the Supreme Court's ruling that the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision establishing a nationwide right to abortion was invalid and that the power to legislate on this issue was reserved to the states. This decision generated a cascade of caterwauling over the "suppression of reproductive rights." Yet, the number of abortions surged to its highest level in a decade during calendar 2023. Dissatisfied that "access to abortion is still not as convenient as it should be," Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) are seeking federal legislation "that will provide a...

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania legislature unanimously voted Wednesday to extend dozens of regulatory waivers put into place last year to help health-care providers fight COVID-19. Without action, the waivers would have expired Thursday, potentially exacerbating ongoing staffing crises in hospitals and long-term care institutions, which are again facing rising COVID-19 cases. Health-care workers and their advocates had warned any lapse in the relaxed rules would have renewed administrative burdens and made fighting the ongoing pandemic more difficult. Wednesday’s action will keep the waivers in place until March 2022 while the legislature considers a number of bills that would make the...

Looking for references or links to sources of independent or concierge type doctors or medical services.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have expanded telemedicine services during the coronavirus outbreak because it excluded access to at-home, drug-induced abortions. Wolf, who has typically rejected pro-life legislation, vetoed Senate Bill 857, a measure that would have expanded virtual medical services for those unable to see their doctors in person, because the bill prohibited access to drugs to induce at-home abortions. In a veto message, the governor said a Pennsylvania House amendment to the legislation that banned telemedicine services that are not approved under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Risk Evaluation and Mitigation...

WITH VIDEO - The first pro-life bill to clear the House and Senate in a dozen years was personally walked down to Governor Matt Bevin by members of the GOP on Tuesday for his signature. Senate Bill 4, which allows real-time telemedicine consultations between doctors and women seeking an abortion, was signed on the spot by Kentucky's governor. GOP members of the Senate decided to walk the bill down to the governor's office where bill sponsor Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, personally handed the legislation to Bevin. Bevin gave the group the option to move the signing date to February...

The Republican-led Iowa House passed a ban on telemed, or webcam, abortions on Tuesday. 52 Republicans and three Democrats voted in favor of House File 2175. Rep. Tom Shaw of Laurens was the lone Republican not to vote in favor of the bill. He did so primarily because it does not ban all abortions.The bill was authored by Rep. Matt Windschiltl of Missouri Valley and Rep. Kevin Koester of Ankeny led the floor debate. Koester cited federal Food and Drug Administration reports that 14 women have died from taking the abortion-inducing drugs used in webcam abortions.“A huge thanks to my...

The Mississippi State Senate, under the leadership of pro-life Lt. Governor Tate Reeves and Public Health Committee Chairman Dean Kirby, has passed Senate Bill 2795 with only eight Senators opposing final passage. Senate Bill 2795 requires that a physician be physically present during a chemical abortion; thus, it bans chemical abortions via an Internet webcam in which the abortionist could be many states away. Senate Bill 2795 has followed a long and winding path through the legislative process. After passing the House and Senate chambers initially, the legislation went to conference committee. After its conference committee approval, the legislation was...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-national-broadband-plan Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release March 16, 2010 Statement from the President on the National Broadband Plan America today is on the verge of a broadband-driven Internet era that will unleash innovation, create new jobs and industries, provide consumers with new powerful sources of information, enhance American safety and security, and connect communities in ways that strengthen our democracy. Just as past generations of Americans met the great infrastructure challenges of the day, such as building the Transcontinental...

Telemedicine is the practice of health care delivery, diagnosis, consultation, treatment and the transfer of medical data through interactive audio, video or data communications that occur in the physical presence of the patient, including audio or video communications sent to a health care provider for diagnostic or treatment consultation, according to Telemed.org. Thanks to factors including a looming physician shortage, the health care reform debate and the increasing willingness of insurance companies to pay for the practice, telehealth is on the verge of becoming routine, according to the Baltimore Sun. Remote consultation and diagnosis are ways for medicine to become...

SAN DIEGO — Physicians in rural Georgia are achieving the optimal window for administration of tissue plasminogen activator, tPA, to stroke patients thanks to a telemedicine network spearheaded by the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta. Known as the Georgia REACH Telestroke Network, the setup involves the use of phone consultations, videoconferencing, audio recording, review of images, and other aspects of telemedicine delivered by a neurologist to physicians in rural hospitals who don't have the benefit of a neurologist on staff or on call when a stroke patient presents to the emergency department. “The idea is that you're getting tPA [tissue...