Free Republic

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- As news of the pregnancy of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol makes the headlines, she is coming under attack from backers of pro-abortion candidate Barack Obama. But few have gone as far as former Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt, who suggested Palin is making her daughter keep the baby. "She probably feels powerless right now," Feldt said on Tuesday responding to the news about Bristol Palin. Feldt said Governor Palin’s pro-life views may have made it so she and her husband Todd prevented Bristol from getting an abortion. "Because of her family's attitude she...

Not Every Woman Supports Women's Rights August 29, 2008 Statement of NOW PAC Chair Kim Gandy on the Selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain's Vice Presidential Pick Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest. Gov. Palin may be the second woman vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, but she is not the right woman. Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women's rights, just like John McCain. The fact that Palin...

Billings, MT (LifeNews.com) -- Girls Inc. is back in the news over abortion and now the group for young women is teaming up with Planned Parenthood. The organization, which has come under fire for adopting a pro-abortion position, is conducting workshops in Montana with the nation's largest abortion business. The girls group came under fire in 2005 for adopting a statement saying it backs abortion and supports the Roe v. Wade decision that ushered in an era of approximately 50 million abortions.At the time, pro-life groups called for a boycott of the American Girl doll because the company making...

Long before Sen. Barack Obama secured the Democratic presidential nomination, the candidate mused about the first thing he would do as president. At a Planned Parenthood gathering in Washington, D.C., last July, Obama told supporters of America's largest abortion network: "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." The purpose of the pro-abortion legislation—first introduced in the Senate in 1989—is clear: "To prohibit, consistent with Roe v. Wade, the interference by the government with a woman's right to choose to bear a child or terminate a pregnancy." The bill has never passed Congress, but...

According to Barack Obama, Gianna Jessen shouldn't exist. Miss Jessen is an exquisite example of what antiabortion advocates call a "survivor." Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, Gianna's biological mother was injected with a saline solution intended to induce a chemical abortion at a Los Angeles County abortion center. Eighteen hours later, and precious minutes before the abortionist's arrival, Gianna emerged. Premature and with severe injuries that resulted in cerebral palsy. But alive. Had the abortionist been present at her birth, Gianna would have been killed, perhaps by suffocation. As it was, a startled nurse called an ambulance, and...

An Alaska woman, accused of killing her newborn baby boy at her parents’ Grand Junction home, gave birth at a neighbor’s home, wrapped him in a plastic garbage bag and left him in a tote bag in a closet that her parents found more than two months later, according to her arrest affidavit. Morgan Hite, 22, of Wasilla, Alaska, is in custody on a no-bond warrant, but she refused extradition to Grand Junction during a court hearing Wednesday in Palmer, Alaska. Hite has retained an attorney, and her next court appearance is June 6.

The Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments today over subpoenaed medical records of notorious abortionist George Tiller, who is accused of performing late-term abortions — which are illegal in Kansas — at his Wichita clinic. In January, the Sedgwick County grand jury subpoenaed about 2,000 late-term abortion records from Tiller’s clinic; the judge reduced that to 250. Tiller is refusing to turn over the records, claiming it would violate his patients’ privacy. However, the grand jury requested that all patient-identifying information be redacted from the subpoenaed records before the jury receives them. Tiller's attorneys argued the grand jury investigation constitutes harassment,...

TITLE: "Maya." (AP) - LENGTH: 30 seconds AIRING: Pennsylvania. SCRIPT: Obama: "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message." Maya Soetoro-Ng (Obama's half sister): "People recognize themselves in Barack, and they feel understood by him. In part, that's because he listens so well." Madelyn Dunham (Obama's grandmother): "Well, I think it's given him a lot of depth and a broadness of view." Michelle Obama (Obama's wife): "Barack and I talk all the time about making sure that our girls can imagine any kind of world for themselves, with no barriers." Soetoro-Ng: "He wants to make sure that everybody's children have...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A further examination of the new annual report Planned Parenthood recently released finds the abortion business is still the largest in the United States. As in previous years, the number of abortions it does has gone up and roughly 25 percent of all abortions in the United States are done at Planned Parenthood centers. The report shows that Planned Parenthood did 289,750 abortions, an increase over the 264,943 abortions it did during the 2005-2006 fiscal year. That's a whopping nine percent increase even though the number of abortions nationally are on the decline. "It claims to...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama is drawing gasps from pro-life advocates today over comments he made during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania over the weekend. The leading Democratic presidential candidate appeared to back a potential decision by his daughters to seek an abortion saying he wouldn't "punish" them with a baby. Obama's remarks are likely to add another reason to the list pro-life advocates are developing as to why he won't get their vote this November.

LATHRUP VILLAGE, MI, March 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Citizens for a Pro-Life Society claim to have found medical records and the remains of at least 18 aborted fetuses in the dumpsters behind the Lathrup Village Woman Care clinic operated by Alberto Hodari. Both the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Lathrup Village Police Department are investigating Hodari's Southfield Road clinic. Dr. Monica Miller, director of the CPLS, organized the dumpster investigations from February 8-March 2. Describing the fetuses found, Miller stated, "Each one was wrapped in a bloody gauze, tied at the end. Once you turned these inside...

Report: Planned Parenthood Apologizes for Encouraging Donation Aimed at Aborting Black Babies Monday , March 17, 2008 Planned Parenthood of Idaho has apologized after an employee encouraged a telephone donation aimed at aborting black babies. Officials for the group said last month that the employee made a "serious mistake" encouraging the donation, the Idaho Statesman reports. But Planned Parenthood criticized the publication that made the call — The Advocate, a student anti-abortion magazine at the University of California-Los Angeles — for trying to discredit the organization by having an actor pose as a donor, the Idaho Statesman reports. "A fundraising...

STOCKHOLM,Sweden: A Swedish court of appeal on Tuesday sentenced a 27-year-old man to 18 months in prison for trying to make his girlfriend miscarry by mixing abortion pills in her food. The man, who was not named for legal reasons, had his jail term increased from a previous one-year sentence set by a district court in June. In its ruling, the Court of Appeal for Western Sweden found the man guilty of aggravated assault for attempting to make his girlfriend of eight years miscarry by giving her a yoghurt containing three ground-up pills. The sentence also included a more minor...

Protect Women's Health Virginia legislators have started their work on the 2008-2010 Biennial Budget, which includes funding for transportation, education, health care, and many other necessities the Commonwealth depends on. However, Del. Bob Marshall (R-13, Manassas) has introduced a budget amendment to limit access to health care for the Commonwealth's most vulnerable women - those relying on Medicaid for treatment. This budget amendment would affect women who depend on the state for their health care and would put severe limitations on a woman’s ability to preserve her health when faced with a potentially dangerous pregnancy. Send a letter to the...

BEIJING — A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two officials, including the head of the plant, had been detained. The drug maker, Shanghai...

DeHenre found guilty By Steve Sanders, countyreporter@laurelleadercall.com A Jones County Circuit Court jury convicted former Laurel physician Malachy DeHenre of manslaughter following a 45-minute deliberation Wednesday. The jury received the case at 3:05 p.m. and returned with a unanimous verdict at 3:50 p.m. Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum ordered a pre-sentence investigation and set DeHenre’s sentencing for Thursday, March 13. A conviction on manslaughter carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. DeHenre was convicted of killing his wife, Dr. Nyasah DeHenre, at their Laurel residence on Jan. 23, 1997. DeHenre’s first trial ten years ago ended in a mistrial, with...

The leader of a black pro-life organization is blasting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for "applauding the efforts" of those who are aborting unborn African-Americans. Day Gardner is president of the National Black Pro-Life Union, which helps to coordinate the efforts of black pro-life groups. "Senator Obama doesn't care that abortion has obliterated the rights of more than 15 million black children since 1973," Gardner said in a statement. "He doesn't care that abortion is the No. 1 killer of African-Americans surpassing deaths caused by accidents, heart disease, stroke, crimes, HIV-AIDS and all other deaths – combined! "He won't make...

SCHENECTADY -- To commemorate Tuesday's 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that affirmed a woman's right to an abortion, clergy blessed this city's new Planned Parenthood clinic in a ceremony dubbed "On Sacred Ground.""Today is more than about the building and about bricks and mortar," Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Linda Scharf said. "It's a blessing to demonstrate the support of the clergy." Since Jan. 22, 1973, when the high court handed down the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, two sides of the issue have squared off. Opponents have campaigned to overturn unrestricted abortion laws, while proponents have stood firm for...

DERRY, N.H. -- Toward the conclusion of a town hall meeting here, Rudy Giuliani called on a woman to ask the last question when a man stood up and screamed, "What about the 50 million?" He continued to scream at Rudy about his pro-choice views while Rudy smiled and urged the woman to continue her question and ignore the protester. The woman screamed at the protester, "You are out of line. Sit down." Then the crowd started chanting, "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!..." Security came and escorted the screaming man out. As he was being dragged offf, he was yelling, "All these...

Less than a week before the neck-and-neck race to finish first in the Iowa caucuses, Planned Parenthood has launched a line of “multiple choice Mitt” clothing including bibs, baby onesies and T-shirts that blast GOP candidate Mitt Romney’s “flip-flop” on abortion rights.

(edited by me)(So, murder is freedom?)

The homicide terror bomb used in an assassination attempt on former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto last month may have been strapped to a 1-year-old child who was being carried by his jihadist father, The Australian newspaper reported Thursday. The bomb, which killed 170 people and injured hundreds more, detonated during a crowded procession for Bhutto as she returned from exile. Investigators from Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party said the homicide bomber tried repeatedly to carry the baby to Bhutto's vehicle as it proceeded through the streets of Karachi. "At the point where the bombs exploded, Benazir Bhutto herself saw the...

As I said at the GOE rally, the Iraq Veterans Against The War are out to smear this generation of military as "babykillers" the way their mentors the Vietnam Veterans Against the War did during the Vietnam era. But I never expected that they'd give away their intent by calling it "Winter Soldier" just like their mentors. Winter Soldier was a series of 109 interviews that were turned into a book and film. According to B.G. Burkett's investigation of Winter Soldier in his book Stolen Valor, many were phony soldiers that never served, others like VVAW leader Al Hubbard served...

Christian conservatives want more respect. They were instrumental in propelling George W. Bush to power—twice—and now they're feeling neglected. At a "Values Voters" summit in Washington last week, leading evangelicals gathered to speak out and take a straw poll. The survey showed how unhappy they are with the twice-divorced, pro-choice Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination, Rudy Giuliani. He got less than two percent of the overall vote. (Some Christian activists have threatened to back a third-party candidate if Giuliani wins the GOP nomination.) Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney won the straw poll of 5,775 conservatives, which included voters who...

Few issues generate as much heat in the United States as the debate over abortion -- the subject of a powerful and graphic new documentary by controversial British filmmaker Tony Kaye. "Lake of Fire," currently on limited release in the United States, unwinds over more than two and a half hours of interviews with some of the leading figures from the pro-life and pro-choice camps. But it is the graphic and disturbing depiction of termination procedures, filmed like the rest of the movie in black and white, that marks the film out. "From the moment I started making the film...

In soldiers' shoes Temple theater students, acting out the recollections of U.S. troops in Iraq, learn some uncomfortable truths. By Stephan SalisburyInquirer Culture WriterThey are, for the most part, in their early 20s, and by turns passionate, impulsive, idealistic, serious, funny, inquisitive.What could distinguish these Temple University theater students - humping from class to class, hanging out, diving into bull sessions - from their doubles hunkered down in Baghdad, staring down a blasted Fallujah street, gulping a Coke on a shadeless day?The answer could be as brief as a gunshot, as long as a memoir, as cryptic as fate. But...

Planned Parenthood supporters vandalized and stole a pro-life billboard at a pro-life banquet. Contact: Leslie Hanks, Vice-President, Colorado Right to Life, 720-394-8946DENVER, Sept. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Colorado Right to Life has joined an effort to thwart a mega-sized Planned Parenthood Abortion facility being constructed in North East Denver, Colorado. During the annual "Light On Life" Banquet Dinner for Colorado Right To Life on Saturday evening, supposed Planned Parenthood supporters stole a mobile billboard sign from the Truth Truck that CRTL uses. The sign that was stolen stated that "Planned Parenthood Kills Babies" and had a quote from the founder of...

Argentine Legislators Seek to Establish Abortion as Protected "Right" Constitution prohibits all abortions but penal code does not punish abortions for rape, health or life of mother By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman ARGENTINA, September 18, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Hearings were conducted yesterday in the Argentine Congress on several measures that would protect the practice of abortion in a broad number of cases, including the "health" or life of the mother, fetal deformities, and pregnancies caused by rape. The Penal Legislation Commission of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of the Congress), heard testimony from four legal experts yesterday, two pro-abortion...

Last Thursday, 16 of the 25 Catholics in the U. S. Senate voted to overturn the "Mexico City Policy" to allow funding to overseas health clinics providing abortions. One of the 16 was freshman Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-PA) who ran against, and defeated, Sen. Rick Santorum as a "pro-life" candidate. It's doubtful whether Casey, son of the legendary pro-life Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey, will ever be able to convince voters of his pro-life label again.

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorAugust 31, 2007New York, NY (LifeNews.com) -- The International Planned Parenthood Federation, one of the largest abortion businesses in the world, has released its annul report about abortions in the Western Hemisphere. The report claims that millions of illegal abortions are done annually in these Latin American and Caribbean nations that prohibit abortion.The report begins with a very telling revealing of the strategy IPPF seeks to employ in the region in over to overturn the pro-life cultural values reflected in the abortion laws there."Since political conditions will not change dramatically in the region in the short-term, we...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorAugust 31, 2007McMinnville, OR (LifeNews.com) -- Planned Parenthood has caused a national stir with a new abortion center in Aurora, Illinois that it built under the table without the public knowing until the last minute. The abortion business is preparing a new center in Oregon that is already drawing significant opposition because it will target college students.Planned Parenthood has already upset pro-life advocates and African Americans in Portland by choosing to build an abortion center in a predominantly black community.Now the abortion business is headed for McMinnville, a city southwest of Portland that is the home to...

Over 1,300 Illinois Citizens Protest Largest Planned Parenthood Abortion Clinic By Elizabeth O'Brien AURORA, Illinois, August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Saturday over one thousand pro-lifers met to protest before the recently erected facilities or what is said to be the nation's largest Planned Parenthood center in Aurora, Illinois, just outside Chicago. Pro-Life Action League Communications Director Eric Schiedler told LifeSiteNews.com that at least 1,300 pro-lifers participated in the protest. About 900 formed two large picket lines on York Street and another 250 were at a prayer vigil sight next to the new Planned Parenthood center. Another 75 people participated...

Bishops to Amnesty International: We work with orgs who "do not oppose the fundamental right to life" By John-Henry Westen WASHINGTON, D.C., August 27, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has decried Amnesty International's recent decision to - as the bishops put it - "promote worldwide access to abortion," telling the organization that the Bishops' Conference will work with other organizations rather than with Amnesty International (AI) to carry out the good ends which AI was traditionally associated with. Bishop William S. Skylstad, the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released a statement to...

Proving once again that foolish ideas don't die or fade away -- they walk the earth eternally, preying on the brains of the living -- scientists at a UK think tank have determined that the greatest threat to the planet is more human beings. "The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights," explains Professor John Guillebaud, co-chairman of the Optimum Population Trust (OPT). "The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would...

STOP PLANNED PARENTHOOD IN AURORA, ILLINOIS NOW! PLANNED PARENTHOOD = PLANNED BARRENHOOD Planned Parenthood is not a benign organization. Their name would be more correct in fact, if it were changed to: Planned BARRENHOOD. That's because if they stand for anything, it's definitely not for women having children. Oh no. Babies are are not in their agenda or vocabulary. But instead they call their services "Reproductive Health Services". Again, a misnomer, because they have no intention of helping women to conceive and bear children. They only want to prevent children from being born, aka, "birth control". And they will try...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Barack Obama is a rising star within the Democratic Party and has a legitimate shot at becoming its nominee in the 2008 presidential race. Obama has a long record of supporting unlimited abortion but, in a recent interview with CBN News, he claims he has a strong Christian belief system. For most Christians, abortion is diametrically opposed to Biblical values. Leading Christian churches such as the Catholic Church, Southern Baptist Church, and many others strongly condemn abortion because it involves the destruction of human life made in God's image. But Obama, who has a 0 percent...

AURORA -- A lack of women's health services in the region, particularly abortion providers, prompted a full-service Planned Parenthood medical office on Aurora's far northeast side. Scheduled to open the middle of September, the medical complex will offer reproductive and women's health-care services, with an estimated 10 percent of that coming from abortions. If women need abortion services now, many have to travel to Chicago's North Side, where Planned Parenthood operates a clinic, said Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area. "Because of the limited number of providers unfortunately women have to travel long distances," he said. An...

"U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stands on stage with New Yorker Laura Rios of Harlem, during an event sponsored by planned parenthood in Washington""Planned Parenthood teen peer advocates Sade' Barber, 14, of Washington, left, and Jasmine Barber-DeCosta, 14, of Groton, Conn., listen as Presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., partially visible right, delivers remarks at the Planned Parenthood Action Fund annual public affairs conference in Washington."

A city court in Erlangen, Bavaria gave Lutheran Pastor Johannes Lerle a one year jail sentence for the "crime" of comparing abortion to the Nazi holocaust. In response, Jim Hughes, Vice-President of International Right to Life Federation has called on pro-life activists internationally to take action on the matter by contacting German authorities to demand freedom of speech and freedom of religion for the pastor (see contact information below the story). Pastor Johannes Lerle compared the annual murder of 150,000 babies through abortion in Germany to the murder of thousands of innocent Jews in Auschwitz. The court, which consisted of...

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Forty-one Manchester middle school students were taken to Planned Parenthood as part of a field trip. On Wednesday, students in the STAY program, created for at-risk children, took a tour of nonprofit agencies. STAY, in collaboration with the Greater Manchester YMCA, took the students on the trip.

Received taxpayer funds totaling $305.3 million — a whopping $32.6 million (12 percent) more than last year By John Jalsevac WASHINGTON, June 8, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On June 6 Planned Parenthood (PP) released its official 2005-2006 annual report. The report details the activities and financial situation of the organization at length. During the year of 2005-06, besides reporting that 264,943 children were killed by medical and surgical abortions performed by its clinics, it also reported a record income, including a record amount of taxpayer funding. Planned Parenthood’s total income for the year was $902.8 million, with a $55.8 million profit.Jim...

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Many adults in the United States appear satisfied with their country’s pregnancy termination guidelines, according to a poll by the New York Times and CBS News. 41 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be generally available to those who want it, up five points since March. Conversely, 37 per cent of respondents believe abortion should be available but under stricter limits than it is now, while 21 per cent think the procedure should not be permitted. A Supreme Court ruling in 1973 gave American women the right to an abortion in the first trimester...

It has become pretty reliable for conservative voters. Dailykos.com speaks the thought process of the liberal nearly as good as the droning pathologicals at Media Matters For America. The 'Kos' always puts its thought process right out there on the front page for all to see. Its daily readers, who follow like the good robots they are, should be joined by conservatives in reading what the liberals believe in. And yes, it is all about what they believe in. They believe there is no such issue as 'life'. That issue is about 'choice'. (And here the founding fathers are easily...

Thousands of villagers in south-west China have attacked family planning officials, overturned cars and set fire to government buildings in a riot sparked by the state's "one-child" policy. Riot police have been dispatched to at least four townships in the Guanxi autonomous region after a weekend of disturbances that led to multiple injuries and unconfirmed reports of two fatalities, witnesses and Hong Kong media reported today. The unrest comes in the wake of a new crackdown by the Bobai county government against families that break birth control regulations. Financial penalties have increased and parents who fail to pay are being...

NOTE: I just spoke for a moment to Lila Rose on the phone and will do an interview with her for FR when she has some time to talk. She was out the door heading to another studio for an interview. She told me that she now has legal representation. ========================================== Planned Parenthood Threatens UCLA Pro-Life Advocate on Abortion Coverup    div> Wednesday, May 16, 2007From LifeNews.com: Planned Parenthood is upset that a pro-life student at UCLA posed as a pregnant teenager and exposed it for advising her to disguise statutory rape. In an undercover investigative story for a student-run newspaper,...

MIDI - CABARET If you're a predator who likes young girls...your baby's on the way No need to worry anymore...go to PPLA It does not matter that she's underage...they'll say change her birthday No need to worry anymore...go to PPLA If she's thirteen, don't make a scene Create a story and they'll buy it...they will keep it very quiet Yes, at Planned Parenthood they understand...they'll tell you things you should say No need to worry anymore...go to PPLA If she's thirteen, don't make a scene Create a story and they'll buy it...they will keep it very quiet Mary-Jane Waglé...

Howard Dean: Democrats Should Reach Out To Young Evangelicals May 11, 2007 6:28 a.m. EST Christopher Rizo - AHN Staff Writer San Francisco, CA (AHN) - Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee chairman, said Thursday that his party should welcome into the political fold young evangelical Christian voters who feel disenfranchised from the Grand Ole Party. "We ought to reach out to those folks ... and not be afraid,'' Dean told an audience of about 125 at a DNC fundraiser Wednesday night, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Dean told the group gathered at the swank Palace Hotel that in the...

LONDON, April 27 (UPI) -- Two British couples want to use an embryo selection technique to eradicate a breast cancer gene that runs in their families. Scientists say screening for the defective BCRA1 gene would reduce the likelihood of cancer, The (London) Guardian reported Friday. The London Times said an application to test for the breast cancer gene was submitted Thursday by a doctor at University College Hospital. The newspaper said Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority has already agreed to it in principle. The application is expected to be approved within four months. The couples will have in vitro...

A coalition of religious leaders took on the Catholic Church, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Bush administration on Tuesday with a plea to take religion out of health care in the United States. They said last week's Supreme Court decision outlawing a certain type of abortion demonstrated that religious belief was interfering with personal rights and the U.S. health care system in general. The group, calling itself the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, said it planned to submit its proposals to other church groups and lobby Congress and state legislators. [Snip] "They are imposing their points of view," Barbara...

A closely divided U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the first nationwide ban on a specific abortion procedure, restricting abortion rights in a ruling on one of the nation's most divisive and politically charged issues. By a 5-4 vote, the high court rejected two challenges to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act that President George W. Bush signed into law in 2003 after its approval by the Republican-led U.S. Congress.