A transgender woman won two gold medals and a silver medal at the Pacific Games in Samoa Saturday. Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, won in the snatch lift and combined and finished second in the clean and jerk for women weighing more than 192 pounds.

According to the Washington Times, Hubbard, formerly known as Gavin Hubbard, is 41-years-old and transitioned in the last decade. 18-year-old Feagaiga Stowers of Samoa finished 2^ndbehind Hubbard.

Hubbard’s name had also been in the news recently for a court case related to an October car crash. The athlete’s car “fishtailed” in a curve and hit a vehicle carrying an Australian couple in their 60’s. The driver spent 12 days in the hospital for spinal surgery. A judge discharged Hubbard without charge after ordering the 41-year-old to pay $12,774 to the victims.

According to the New Zealand Herald, the judge also ordered that Hubbard’s name be suppressed in the record until September 30, 2019. The judge in the case believed that the “publication of Hubbard’s name at that point would be likely to cause extreme hardship” in the athlete’s bid to qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

After an appeal by Stuff Ltd., Judge Gerald Nation overturned the suppression order. He said the “Publication of Ms. Hubbard’s name in connection with these proceedings may head to hurtful and…

The defunding of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers has begun. 

With the green light from two federal courts, the Trump administration this week officially began enforcing a new rule that could result in Planned Parenthood losing up to $60 million in annual funds from Title X, a family-planning program, The Hill reported.    

The Department of Health and Human Services told The Hill the rule would take effect immediately following a Thursday decision from an 11-judge panel from the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals, which refused to block the rule while a lawsuit proceeds. Earlier, a three-judge Ninth Circuit panel also said it could go into effect. 

The new HHS rule prohibits Title X funds from being used to “perform, promote, refer for, or support abortion as a method of family planning.” It also requires Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to financially and physically separate their abortion services from their non-abortion services.   

Planned Parenthood said it would pull money from an emergency fund to make up for the shortage, The Hill reported. It previously said it would not follow the new rule.  

“While we are incredibly concerned by this harmful rule, our doors are still open,” said Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen.

Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers call it the “gag rule.” 

Carol…

Esteemed advocate for persons with disabilities, Joni Eareckson Tada announced on Facebook that she is once again, cancer-free.

Tada shared a photo of herself ecstatically holding up a note pad with the words “ALL CLEAR” scrawled across it. 

She captioned the photo with a bible verse and thanked her followers for their prayers. The post reads, “Proverbs 25:25 says, ‘Good news from far away is like cold water to a thirsty soul.’ That perfectly describes Ken and me today.

“We were prepared to gladly take whatever from the hand of God, even if it were from his left hand. But the Lord was gracious and heard the desire of our hearts – last Friday’s PET scan shows that my second tumor that was removed last November… did not metastasize!” 

Tada emphasized the miraculous nature of this finding “given the aggressive nature of that reoccurring cancer.”

She continued, “So, THANK you for lifting us up before the Lord Jesus. For now, we have been spared of more cancer battles.

“We humbly realize that may well change in the future; but for today, for now, we are rejoicing in those wonderful words from my medical oncologist: ‘all clear!’ Onward and upward…,” she concluded.

Tada’s organization Joni and Friends shared the same sentiments on their Facebook page.  

The group wrote, “Last Friday Joni Eareckson Tada went…