The Weird, Offensive Argument At The Heart Of The Supreme Court Case Against Birth Control

Pro tip: if you’re about to file a brief in the Supreme Court, it’s a good idea to make sure that you haven’t made any arguments that could give the Court’s blessing to race discrimination. Otherwise, you risk falling into the same trap that caught the lawyers behind a major challenge to women’s access to birth control now pending in the Supreme Court...
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/15/3760254/the-weird-offensive-argument-at-the-heart-of-the-supreme-court-case-against-birth-control/

Trump Takes His Fourth Position On Abortion In Three Days. He’ll Need To Change This One Immediately

Trump is having a lot of trouble making up his mind about where he stands on abortion...
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/04/01/3765914/trump-abortion-four-positions-three-days/

Mississippi could now legalize discrimination against people who have premarital sex

...But as this bill is actually written, though, a whole lot of people in Mississippi besides sexual minorities could face discrimination, too — like the vast numbers of people who have had sex outside of marriage...
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/mississippi-could-now-legalize-discrimination-against-people-who-have-premarital-sex/

Spoiler Alert: Women Are Already Being Punished For Having Abortions | ThinkProgress

Multiple U.S. women -- with few options to get themselves to one of their state's dwindling legal clinics -- have been arrested for illegal abortions after they bought abortion-inducing medication online. And thanks to the growing number of laws aimed at protecting “fetal rights,” other women have been punished for doing activities that allegedly harmed their pregnancies. Americans have been charged with murder for allegedly seeking to harm their fetuses by attempting suicide, using illicit drugs, or even falling down the stairs...
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/30/3765073/women-punished-abortion/

Zika Is Headed For States With Harsh Abortion Restrictions. What Happens When It Gets There?

Zika’s Spread Across The U.S. May Change The Narrative Around Abortion.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/03/30/3764270/zika-comes-to-anti-abortion-states/

Transparent Trickery: Claims Of ‘Persecution’ In Idaho Fail To Sway Court

ADF’s stunt was extremely transparent. It had two goals: One, exempt the Hitching Post from having to perform same-sex marriages and two, try to create a case in which a Christian ministry was being persecuted for its beliefs.
https://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/transparent-trickery-claims-of-persecution-in-idaho-fail-to-sway-court

Ted Cruz Just Gave an Unbelievably Hypocritical Answer to a Question About Church/State Separation

Earlier tonight, during a Town Hall with CNN, student Thomas Dougherty asked Ted Cruz about his stance on church/state separation (13:00 mark)...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/29/ted-cruz-just-gave-an-unbelievably-hypocritical-answer-to-a-question-about-churchstate-separation/

Denied contraception, Catholic mother of disabled child questions church teachings — at her peril

Sonia Guizar used to attend mass regularly and teach at a Catholic school. But her Catholic employer’s refusal to cover birth control brought her an ill-timed pregnancy and a child with developmental challenges that stretch her family thin. When she publically shared her experience and questioned Church teachings in a Washington Post story, what she got from fellow Catholics was a heap of abuse from people whose urge to defend religious dogma and authority trumped their kindness and compassion...
http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/denied-contraception-catholic-mother-of-disabled-child-questions-church-teachings-at-her-peril/

Water Works & Indiana Death Threats (Freedom From Religion Foundation, Forethought Radio)

FFRF staff attorney Sam Grover updates us on our amended complaint adding more plaintiffs to our lawsuit (filed along with the ACLU) challenging the live nativity scene performed by Concord High School in Elkhart, Indiana, and the accompanying harassment and death threats. Then Abigail Cantor, an award-winning national water management expert (as well as musician) tells us about the science behind what needs to be done in Flint, Michigan (and other cities) to improve water quality.
Interview:
https://ffrf.org/news/radio/show-items/item/25767-freethought-radio-february-13-2016

Freedom From Religion: Rethinking Article 18 (Freedom From Religion Foundation, Forethought Radio)

FFRF attorney Andrew Seidel tells us about our exciting new federal court victory stopping school-board prayer in California. We announce FFRF’s newest lawsuit challenging Texas Governor Gregg Abbot’s censorship of our “Bill of Rights” nativity display. After hearing Lena Horne sing the irreverent Yip Harburg song, “Ain’t It The Truth?”, we talk with Australian author Meg Wallace about hew new book, Freedom From Religion: Rethinking Article 18, suggesting how the U.N. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” can be improved to strengthen secular government.
Interview:
http://ffrf.org/news/radio/shows/#sthash.JCcZLdzv.dpuf
http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/4/3/e/43e2e376f90e8104/FTradio_513_022716.mp3?c_id=11020920&expiration=1456761679&hwt=2f7e634745209a84cb36b386aeee7b16

Can Religious Groups Ignore All Laws They Don’t Like?

Or just those related to women’s health?
http://www.thenation.com/article/can-religious-groups-ignore-laws-they-dont-like/

CruzCare for nonbelievers

"Just like you have antidepressants that serve to cheer up a person and make them feel better about themselves and their life, CruzCare will make it legal, and even mandatory later on, to prescribe similar medication to atheists, so that they forget about the “I don’t believe in God” or “I am not religious” crap, and come back to their faith and church as normal people do. And all of that will be done completely free of charge." (Rafael Cruz, father of presidential candidate Ted Cruz)

https://ffrf.org/images/uploads/fttoday/2016/FT_April_2016.pdf , page 23

A Once-Devout Catholic Woman Says She’s “Disillusioned” by the Church’s Anti-Contraception Stance

"The extreme measures the church is taking to block women’s access to common health care — including the 98 percent of Catholic women of reproductive age who have used a method of contraception other than natural family planning — is turning me away from the Catholic Church. I no longer celebrate Mass. They are out of touch with the people they claim to represent, and this time they’ve gone too far. I hope the Supreme Court recognizes that and protects my right to access the care that we’re promised under the law."

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/03/23/a-once-devout-catholic-woman-says-shes-disillusioned-by-the-churchs-anti-contraception-stance/

“Little Sisters” Being Sold As Face Of Contraception Case

The effort to make the Little Sisters the public face of the case has been so extensive, in fact, that you could be forgiven if you didn’t know that the actual name of the case that the Supreme Court is hearing Wednesday is Zubik v. Burwell, which is a consolidated case that includes the Little Sisters’ challenge to the mandate as well as the challenges of six other plaintiffs, including the anti-abortion group Priests for Life and two Catholic dioceses...
http://religiondispatches.org/little-sisters-being-sold-as-face-of-contraception-case/

Birth control is back at the Supreme Court

WASHINGTON – The anti-birth control coverage camp is returning to the Supreme Court Wednesday, and they’re feeling under siege.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/birth-control-back-the-supreme-court

10 Things to Know About the Supreme Court Showdown Over Contraception and Religious Freedom

Nonprofit religious groups have refused to provide birth control under Obamacare.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/10-things-you-need-know-about-supreme-court-contraception-showdown

A Post-Scalia Court On Abortion (Tom Ashbrook, On Point)

Texas passed a law it says was for women’s health and half the state’s abortion clinics closed. Abortions rights supporters say that was the whole point – laws so burdensome that a lot of abortion and clinics would go away. Now, it’s before the Supreme Court. The biggest abortion decision in decades. And the court is down a judge. Yesterday it heard the arguments. This hour On Point, high stakes as the court, without Justice Antonin Scalia, takes on abortion – and a lot more. — Tom Ashbrook
Interview:
http://onpoint.wbur.org/2016/03/03/scalia-scotus-abortion-texas

Christian Group Trying to Take Over Public Schools

Katherine Stewart, writer for The New York Times, The Nation, the Guardian and others; and the author of The Good News Club: The Christian Right's Stealth Assault on America's Children, joins David to discuss the Christian group The Good News Club has successfully infiltrated America's public schools.
https://youtu.be/4uNrehrqbWo

Senate Republicans Are Reminded: ‘Banning Abortion Doesn’t Make It Go Away’

Anti-choice activists testified at a U.S. Senate hearing on Tuesday that a fetus feels pain at 20 weeks' gestation, although an exhaustive scientific review says that's simply not the case... ...“Banning abortion doesn’t make it go away, it makes it more likely that women will have an illegal abortion,” Greene Foster said...
https://rewire.news/article/2016/03/15/senate-republicans-reminded-banning-abortion-doesnt-make-go-away/

DOJ Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into New Jersey Town's Denial Of Mosque

The suit alleges that Bernard Township planning board members were swayed by a swell of local opposition to the mosque, which masked anti-Islam sentiment.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/doj-ciil-rights-investigation-bernard-township-mosque