The abortion rate in the United States, which had been falling steadily since its high in the early 1980s, has stalled over the past several years, according the Guttmacher Institute, the research arm for America’s leading abortion provider Planned Parenthood. According to Guttmacher’s latest study, the abortion rate remained largely static between 2005 and 2008 at slightly less than 20 abortions per 1,000 women, down from a high in 1981 of more than 29 abortions per 1,000 women.

The U.S. State Department has changed some fundamental terminology on passport applications, reflecting the increasing numbers of same-sex partners who have become parents. Following heavy lobbying on the part of homosexual activist groups, the words “mother” and “father” are being removed from U.S. passport applications and replaced with the terms “parent one” and “parent two.”

A coalition of nearly 50 pro-family groups has sent an appeal to Republican leaders in Congress, asking them to stay true to their campaign promises and do their part to return America to a solid foundation of strong conservative values.

A new study from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) estimates that there are over two million children currently being home schooled in the United States. The author of the study, NHERI’s president Dr. Brian D. Ray, analyzed data from both state and federal education agencies as well as private home-school groups, concluding that there are as many as 2.346 million home-schooled students across the nation.

In its ongoing study of the religious habits and practices of Americans, Gallup has found that seven in ten Americans think faith is losing its influence on the nation, one of the highest findings in Gallup’s history of measuring the religious pulse of the American people, “and significantly higher than in the first half of the past decade,” the pollster reports.

While liberal do-gooders have found it difficult to hide their satisfaction and glee over the priest abuse scandals that have plagued the Catholic Church over the past several years, a similar humiliation is unfolding much closer to their own doorstep. The Presbyterian Church (USA), one of the most liberal of the nation’s mainline denominations, has found itself in the middle of a scandal over sexual abuse of minors that occurred for a number of years at overseas missions facilities run by the church. The most high-profile instance so far involves a California man who is suing the denomination, alleging that he was molested by an older boy in 1988 at a church-operated boarding house in Africa, and that church authorities on site allowed it to occur.

Over the past year and a half the researchers at Gallup have been taking the spiritual pulse of America, and their findings confirm what has been commonly understood for generations: Individuals who embrace a faith in God that inspires their daily behavior and attitudes are healthier, happier, and better adjusted to their environments than their nominally religious or non-religious counterparts.

Planned Parenthood’s annual report for fiscal 2008-09 shows that the nation’s premier abortion provider received a banner $363.2 million in government funding through grants and contracts over its latest reporting period, a $13.6 million increase over the group’s federal take in fiscal 2007-08.

The University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics (UWHC) confirmed that it is giving up its plans to create a clinic in Madison that would provide late-term abortions. In early 2009 the board of UWHC had approved a plan to build a facility that would provide abortions to women in their second trimester of pregnancy (19 to 22 weeks), with projections for around 125 abortions annually.

Inspired by the repeal of the ban on homosexuals serving in the military, “gay” activists are set to redouble their efforts to normalize same-sex marriage in American society. David Brock, founder and CEO of the liberal attack group Media Matters, announced on December 20 the launch of his latest campaign, Equality Matters, a “new media and communications initiative in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender equality.”