Free Republic

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Charlie Crist today vetoed a highly controversial bill that would have required women seeking abortions to pay for ultrasounds before undergoing the procedure, saying it would "violate a woman's right to privacy." The veto sparked a firestorm of criticism from the Republican legislators, members of the governor's former party, who accused him of abandoning principle for political gain. Crist, though, said that while people hold strong opinions on abortion, "personal views should not result in laws that unwisely expand the role of government and coerce people to obtain medical tests or procedures that are not medically necessary."...

Most mothers-to-be expect hospital staff to give them a few words of reassurance when they go for a routine scan. But Marie Boswell got all the encouragement she needed from her unborn baby boy himself. As these amazing pictures show, he gave Miss Boswell the thumbs-up when she went for her 20-week check.

Wednesday, Lori Ziganto (one of my favorite bloggers) wrote a brilliant piece in response to an article Jessica Valenti wrote on Feministing. Another Feministing author, Lori, had heard about the ad campaign called “Abortion Changes You” last month that was putting ads on the New York subway (snip) Considering feminists cannot abide anything that might paint abortion in a negative light, this made Lori VERY angry. She explained that somehow, this ignores the experiences and reactions women have had with and from abortion.

OMAHA, Nebraska, April 13, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Nebraska legislature has given final approval to a new law banning abortion after 20 weeks gestation on the basis that an unborn child feels pain at that age. The new law is the first of its kind in the United States and pro-life advocates believe it could pose a direct and historic challenge to the 1973 Roe v. Wade case, which deprived the states the power to regulate or restrict abortion.The “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (LB 1103), authored by Speaker Mike Flood, passed Tuesday on the third and final reading...

On May14, 2009 Pope Benedict XVI visited the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel. Here is an excerpt from his homily: “What happened here in Nazareth, far from the gaze of the world, was a singular act of God, a powerful intervention in history, through which a child was conceived who was to bring salvation to the whole world. The wonder of the Incarnation continues to challenge us to open up our understanding to the limitless possibilities of God’s transforming power, of his love for us, his desire to be united with us…. The Spirit who “came upon Mary”...

The Obama administration last week week attempted to argue that Catholic bishops didn’t oppose the Senate version of the ObamaCare bill as a way of “proving” that the bill won’t fund abortions. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has responded by asking parishes to post and/or read aloud a statement that clarifies their position on the bill, which is adamant opposition. In the statement that many Catholic parishioners will find greeting them as they attend Mass, the USCCB not only declares its opposition but also urges Catholics to contact their elected representatives in Washington to stop it:

Without so much as a press release, Embryonic Stem Cell research is being slowly defunded by the State of California. Remember Proposition 71, the California initiative that pledged $3 billion dollars of public funds to this dubious research? Back in 2004 voters in that state bet that embryonic stem cells held the key to untold cures and therapies. Six years later, after destroying innumerable embryos and devaluing human life, they have nothing to show for their investment. Only adult stem cell research has shown any promise. By reprogramming adult stem cells, researchers have produced astounding results; curing everything from type...

As the new year began, The New York Times offered a 780-word article to a protest for illegal immigrants – with four marchers walking from Miami to Washington. But on Saturday, tens of thousands of Americans gathering in Washington for Friday's annual March for Life received – part of a sentence. In the Saturday paper on January 23, an article on the trial facing the killer of late-term abortionist George Tiller on page A-11 featured this note in paragraph 9 of a 12-paragraph dispatch by Monica Davey: Testimony began the same day that abortion rights groups celebrated, and abortion opponents...

As usual, ABC, CBS, and NBC ignored Friday’s March for Life protest. (Even the Associated Press skipped over the tens of thousands marching.) But the PBS NewsHour at least offered a brief from news anchor Hari Sreenivasan: Thousands rallied in Washington in the annual March For Life. It was the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion. The anti-abortion crowd rallied at the White House, and then moved on to the Supreme Court. A handful of abortion rights supporters were also present. NPR covered the trial on the murder of late-term abortionist George...

Bioethics: Five years after a budget-busting $3 billion was allocated to embryonic stem cell research, there have been no cures, no therapies and little progress. So supporters are embracing research they once opposed. California's Proposition 71 was intended to create a $3 billion West Coast counterpart to the National Institutes of Health, empowered to go where the NIH could not — either because of federal policy or funding restraints on biomedical research centered on human embryonic stem cells. Supporters of the California Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative, passed in 2004, held out hopes of imminent medical miracles that were...

Three counts of murder were filed Thursday against 22-year-old Boneetio Washington. The Culver City man also is charged with rape and is jailed without bail. Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty. Washington is accused of raping and stabbing 39-year-old Eun Kang in her Venice home Tuesday night. Police believe he randomly targeted Kang, who was four months pregnant. Washington is on probation after pleading no contest to burglary in September. Court records show that case was delayed after he was declared mentally unfit and spent several months in a state mental hospital.

The Best Videos in the world of our Unborn Neighbors   Fr. Frank Pavone       It's light years beyond ultrasound and will make you practically fall off your chair when you see it.We at Priests for Life are now promoting and distributing to every sector of the Church and the pro-life movement the most vivid, powerful, and striking videography of the unborn child that exists. Obtained through a rarely used technique called embryoscopy, in which a video camera the size of a pen-point is inserted abdominally or cervically, this video footage has been incorporated into a 42-minute...

Military prosecutors have charged Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan with 13 counts of premeditated murder in last week’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Tex., a spokesman for the Army criminal investigation division said Thursday. Major Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist, is accused of opening fire with two handguns in a Soldier Medical Readiness Center, where troops receive medical attention before being deployed or after returning from overseas. Of the 13 people who were killed, , four were officers, 8 were enlisted soldiers and one was a civilian. Major Hasan was eventually subdued by civilian police. The 13 charges against Major Hasan...

Earth: An environmental writer mainstreams an idea floating around the green fringe — save the earth by population control and give carbon credits to one-child families. Are we threatened by the patter of little carbon footprints? New York Times environmental writer Andrew Revkin participated in an Oct. 14 panel discussion on climate change with other media pundits titled "Covering Climate: What's Population Got To Do With It?" People who need people they are not. In a recently rediscovered book, "Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment," co-authored with Malthus fans Paul and Anne Ehrlich, Holdren wrote that families "contribute to general social deterioration...

Archbishop Donald Wuerl talks with Chief Justice John Roberts after the Red Mass Washington D.C., Oct 5, 2009 / 10:40 am (CNA).- One day before the opening of the Supreme Court's next term, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, issued a plea for the rights of the unborn at the 56th Annual "Red Mass," celebrated yesterday at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington D.C. The Mass was attended by six Supreme Court justices.The Mass is an initiative of the John Carroll Society, a group of Catholic legal professionals, and has been held at the cathedral since...

40 Days for Life consists of 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion, 40 days of constant, peaceful vigil outside abortion centers and Planned Parenthood offices and 40 days of active pro-life community outreach. Your community may be participating in this prayerful vigil. If so, please join others in your area or unite with thousands across America during these 40 days in Autumn as we pray for an end to abortion in this nation.

40 Days for Life consists of 40 days of prayer and fasting for an end to abortion, 40 days of constant, peaceful vigil outside abortion centers and Planned Parenthood offices and 40 days of active pro-life community outreach. Your community may be participating in this prayerful vigil. If so, please join others in your area or unite with thousands across America during these 40 days in Autumn as we pray for an end to abortion in this nation.

ROCKAWAY--The niece of the nation's most famous civil rights activist, who has taken up the pro-life cause as her own civil rights crusade, plans to champion the rights of the unborn when she speaks at a church in Rockaway Friday.

A Michigan police chief says a 63-year-old anti-abortion activist who was protesting outside a high school was shot and killed in front of horrified students and parents. Owosso police chief Michael Compeau said the activist, Jim Pouillon, was outside the school this morning with a sign when a man drove by and shot him. No one else was injured. Compeau says a 33-year-old Owosso man was later arrested in the school shooting and he then told police he was involved in the gravel-pit shooting.(continued)

We already knew this, thanks to Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Barack Obama himself, but it’s nice to get confirmation from those fine folks at Factcheck.org — an Annenberg project, no less. After Obama tried to paint it as a lie, the National Right to Life Committee insisted that ObamaCare would use taxpayer money to fund abortions. It turns out that they were right: The truth is that bills now before Congress don’t require federal money to be used for supporting abortion coverage. So the president is right to that limited extent. But it’s equally true that House and Senate legislation...