A House Republican leader says the only way his party can find its "way out of the wilderness" is to renew its commitment to a strong defense, limited government, and traditional moral values.

The new chairman of the House Republican Conference says the GOP has been on the losing end of the last two elections because it abandoned the principles that put Ronald Reagan in the White House in 1980 and led to a Republican Majority in 1994. Congressman Mike Pence (R-Indiana) says Republicans need to take advantage of a golden opportunity to reach out to an increasingly diverse group of Americans with conservative ideals...

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit to challenge a new Arkansas law that prevents unmarried couples who live together from being adoptive or foster parents.

Act 1 -- approved by Arkansas voters in November -- limits adoptions to married couples, effectively barring singles, unmarried heterosexual partners, and homosexuals from adopting children. Jerry Cox of the Family Council Action Committee of Arkansas expected the lawsuit but believes the amendment is in the best interest of the children...

Abortion foes in the Legislature have sown the seeds of what could develop into another battle over regulating abortion in South Carolina.

Seven S.C. House lawmakers have prefiled a bill that would require women seeking abortions to be given a list of clinics and other facilities that provide free ultrasounds. That list could include pregnancy crisis centers — many run by antiabortion groups — that actively discourage abortion and encourage women to choose other alternatives...

Washington, DC -- Incoming president Barack Obama appears to be expanding on the steady stream of abortion advocates he is appointing to top administration posts. His latest choice appears to be pro-abortion CNN medical reporter Sanjay Gupta to become the next Surgeon General.

Gupta is a practicing neurosurgeon and considered a media celebrity of sorts for his role in reporting on medical matters for the massive cable news network...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of Congress will cast their first vote related to incoming president Barack Obama's pro-abortion agenda on Thursday. A Senate committee will vote on confirming pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle as Obama's Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

As the health secretary, Daschle will likely play a role in shaping Obama's health care plan, which could possibly include abortion coverage or mandating that hospitals or insurance companies cover abortions.

Daschle would also be in a key position to rescind the protections the Bush administration put in place for pro-life doctors and medical centers...

Tallahassee, Fla. (AP) - Former Gov. Jeb Bush announced Tuesday that he won't run for the U.S. Senate in 2010 to replace the retiring Mel Martinez, saying that it was not the right time to return to elected office.
 
"I can play a role in helping to reshape the Republican Party's message and focus on 21st century solutions to 21st century problems," Bush told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "Not running does not preclude me from being involved in these things and I will be"...

The former director of education and training for Ohio Planned Parenthood clinics is now in Boise, Idaho, and is being monitored closely by pro-life groups.

Julia Piercey is named in a lawsuit where 16-year-old Denise Fairbanks became pregnant by her own father, told the Planned Parenthood staff, and received an abortion at their facility. Yet the crimes of incest and statutory rape were never reported to authorities. The father, who according to an Idaho Values Alliance (IVA) press release had abused his daughter since she was 13 years old, was eventually sent to prison, "no thanks to Planned Parenthood"...

Two California homosexuals have won a federal lawsuit, allowing both their names to be on their adopted son's Louisiana birth certificate.

According to Chron.com, the state of Louisiana initially refused the request because homosexual adoption and same-sex "marriage" are illegal in that state. Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith then filed a lawsuit, which stated that leaving their names off the birth certificate "singles out unmarried same-sex couples and their adoptive children for the improper use of making them unequal to every one else"...

More than two months after the election, the undecided Minnesota Senate race appears headed for the courtroom.

Democrat Al Franken currently has a slight lead over Norm Coleman, the Republican incumbent, with nearly all of the counting in Minnesota's Senate race done. If the State Canvassing Board officially declares Franken the winner on Tuesday, Coleman's campaign is likely to challenge the outcome in court...

Mount Laurel, N.J. - A church group that owns beachfront property discriminated against a lesbian couple by not allowing them to rent the locale for their civil union ceremony, a New Jersey department ruled last Monday in a case that has become a flash point in the nation's gay rights battle.

The New Jersey Division on Civil Rights said its investigation found that the refusal of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association to rent the oceanfront spot to the couple for their same-sex union in March 2007 violated the public accommodation provisions of the state's Law Against Discrimination...