David Crary

Year after year, several thousand women in the U. S. carry an unintended pregnancy to term and then offer the baby for adoption. It's a choice commended by many foes of abortion. Yet despite a huge demand for babies from Americans yearning to adopt, perhaps 40 times more women opt for an abortion, and a large majority of those who proceed to give birth make the choice to keep the child.

Year after year, several thousand women in the U. S. carry an unintended pregnancy to term and then offer the baby for adoption. It's a choice commended by many foes of abortion. Yet despite a huge demand for babies from Americans yearning to adopt, perhaps 40 times more women opt for an abortion, and a large majority of those who proceed to give birth make the choice to keep the child.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Craig Duke has been a Methodist minister for three decades, building a reputation as a staunch advocate of LGBTQ inclusion. His pastoral duties have now been terminated — the result of a bitter rift surfacing in his Indiana church after he sought to demonstrate solidarity by appearing in drag alongside prominent drag queens in the HBO reality series "We're Here. "

It's Pride Month, and gay Americans should have a lot to celebrate: A new president who has pledged to advocate for LGBTQ people, an easing of a pandemic that has disrupted their communal activism, and increasing public acceptance of their basic rights, including record-high support for same-sex marriage. Instead, the mood is somewhat bleak. Congress has so far failed to extend federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people.

It's Pride Month, and gay Americans should have a lot to celebrate: A new president who has pledged to advocate for LGBTQ people, an easing of a pandemic that has disrupted their communal activism, and increasing public acceptance of their basic rights, including record-high support for same-sex marriage. Instead, the mood is somewhat bleak. Congress has so far failed to extend federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people.

Five states have passed laws or implemented executive orders this year limiting the ability of transgender youths to play sports or receive certain medical treatment. There's been a vehement outcry from supporters of transgender rights – but little in the way of tangible repercussions for those states. It's a striking contrast to the fate of North Carolina a few years ago.

Voting mostly along party lines, the U. S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed former Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine to be the nation's assistant secretary of health. She is the first openly transgender federal official to win Senate confirmation. The final vote was 52-48. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine joined all Democrats in supporting Levine.

The Vatican's declaration that same-sex unions are a sin the Roman Catholic Church cannot bless was no surprise for LGBTQ Catholics in the United States — yet it stung deeply nonetheless. Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, said her organization's membership includes same-sex couples who have been together for decades, persevering in their love for one another in the face of bias and family rejection.

Legislators in more than 20 states have introduced bills this year that would ban transgender girlsfrom competing on girls’ sports teams in public high schools. Yet in almost every case, sponsors cannot cite a single instance in their own state or region where such participation has caused problems.

Legislators in more than 20 states have introduced bills this year that would ban transgender girlsfrom competing on girls’ sports teams in public high schools. Yet in almost every case, sponsors cannot cite a single instance in their own state or region where such participation has caused problems.

Donald Trump's departure from the White House and the start of Joe Biden's presidency have stirred new hopes among many religious leaders in the United States, while causing dismay among others. Here's a look at some of the issues that major faiths will be grappling with as the new administration takes shape. ABORTION. For leaders of the two largest Christian denominations in the U. S.

NEW YORK (AP) — Coronavirus deaths are rising in nearly two-thirds of American states as a winter surge pushes the overall toll toward 400,000 amid warnings that a new, highly contagious variant is taking hold. As Americans observed a national holiday Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo pleaded with federal authorities to curtail travel from countries where new variants are spreading.

Organizers of the March for Life, the anti-abortion movement’s preeminent annual event, are asking their supporters nationwide not to gather in Washington this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic and political unrest. Instead, a small group of invited anti-abortion leaders will march Jan. 29, and the event will be livestreamed, March for Life’s president, Jeanne Mancini, announced Friday.

Catholics split almost evenly in supporting Donald Trump or Joe Biden in the presidential election. Now they’re sharply divided over a declaration by the head of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops that the president-elect's support for abortion rights presents the church with a “difficult and complex situation.

NEW YORK (AP) — The day after Donald Trump's election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: "See you in court. " As president, Trump hasn't personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories.

NEW YORK (AP) — The day after Donald Trump's election in November 2016, the American Civil Liberties Union posted a message to him on its website: "See you in court. " As president, Trump hasn't personally squared off against the ACLU from the witness stand, but the broader warning has been borne out. As of this week, the ACLU has filed nearly 400 lawsuits and other legal actions against the Trump administration, some meeting with setbacks but many resulting in important victories.

NEW YORK (AP) — Even as President Donald Trump urges getting people back to work and reopening the economy, an Associated Press analysis shows thousands of people are getting sick from COVID-19 on the job. Recent figures show a surge of infections in meatpacking and poultry-processing plants. There's been a spike of new cases among construction workers in Austin, Texas, where that sector recently returned to work.

Stranded in Nigeria for months, a Colorado couple had a rare chance to catch an evacuation flight to the U. S. recently during the coronavirus outbreak. But they refused because they would have had to leave behind their adopted daughter, who has yet to get a U. S. visa. "After we found our daughter and our daughter found us, it was out of the question to leave her," Robin Gallite said. This Nov.

Even as the anti-abortion movement celebrates the sweeping bans passed in several states, it's divided by a widening rift over whether those prohibitions should apply to victims of rape and incest. The debate pits those who believe any abortion is immoral against those who worry that a no-exception stance could be harmful to some Republican candidates in upcoming elections. A Gallup poll last year found that 77% of Americans support exceptions in cases of rape and incest.

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump's call for a ban on late-term abortions is unlikely to prevail in Congress, but Republican legislators in several states are pushing ahead with their own tough anti-abortion bills that they hope can pass muster with the Supreme Court. Two bills proposing to outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, advanced out of House and Senate committees in the Mississippi Legislature this week. GOP Gov.