Migration Category: Feminist Newswire

Stories from the Feminist News Wire.

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein Indicted on Charges of Sex Trafficking

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

This week, federal prosecutors charged Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire financier, on sex crimes, including allegation that he ran a sex-trafficking ring that involved underage girls as young as 14.

Multiple women have come forward accusing Epstein of sexual assault and abuse. Prosecutors say that “thousands of sexually suggestive pictures of young women and girls seized in his Manhattan home demonstrate the predatory attitude that Mr. Epstein continues to have towards young women.”

Recent accusations of sexual assault have revived the decade old case of sex trafficking against him that was settled in 2008 after a plea deal was struck. Epstein was accused of assembling a massive cult-like network of underage girls with the help of female recruiters that coerced young women into sexual acts almost three times a day. The extraordinary plea deal struck between Epstein’s lawyers and the defense in 2007 registered him as a sex offender, gave him only 13 months in jail, and concealed the deal from the victims. This rendered the abuse inflicted on the victims invisible, ensuring that Epstein’s future would be protected.

Epstein’s victims are still fighting for justice to this day. About 80 women came forward to say that they were molested or sexually abused by Epstein from 2001 to 2006. Courtney Wild, who was 14 when she met Epstein, explains how “Jeffrey preyed on girls who were in a bad way, girls who were basically homeless. He went after girls who he thought no one would listen to and he was right.” Not only did he abuse young girls but he also forced them to go out and recruit other young girls.

Human trafficking is considered a form of modern-day slavery. It is ranked as the third greatest revenue source of organized crime after narcotics and arms, according to the UN. The people who are trafficked tend to be those who are already victims of war, poverty, discrimination and/or violence.

 

Media Resources: Feminist NewsWire 06/31/2014, Miami Herald 10/28/2018, 06/08/2019 NYT, 06/09/2019 NYT

U.S. Women’s Soccer Team Wins World Cup Title

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

The U.S. women’s national soccer team defeated the Netherlands on Sunday in an impressive and exciting match, securing its fourth Women’s World Cup title. Star players Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle both scored a goal in the second-half, giving the U.S. a comfortable lead that it successfully sustained for the remainder of the match.

At the end of the game, fans in the Lyon, France stadium were shouting “Equal Pay,” a clear reference to the team’s involvement in international debates on gender discrimination and disparities in soccer. Rapinoe, who was labeled most valuable player at this year’s Cup, has been particularly vocal on this front. She has spoken out about FIFA’s mistreatment of female players, pointing to pay and prize money gaps between men’s and women’s teams as well as the unfair scheduling of the Women’s World Cup final on the same day as the Copa America and Golden Cup finals.

In a press conference just before the final, Rapinoe told reporters “I don’t think that we feel the same level of respect certainly that FIFA has for the men and just in general,” adding, “If you really care, are you letting the gap grow, are you scheduling three finals on the same day? No, you’re not.”

In March, the team filed a federal gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). The plaintiffs–28 members of the women’s team–allege that the USSF pays them significantly less than players on the men’s national team, even though the women’s team plays more matches and wins more games. The players also argue that the USSF has subjected them to unequal treatment and working conditions, forcing the women to play on inferior fields, failing to advertise them as much as their male counterparts, and refusing to offer them amenities, like chartered flights, that the men’s team enjoys.

Many of the issues with the USSF identified in the brief echo those in a federal 2016 complaint filed by five women’s national team players. The five players–Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Hope Solo–filed the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of their entire team. They charged that even with the women’s team success, including being the reigning World Cup and Olympic champions, they have been paid almost four times less than the men’s team. According to the fillings, despite bringing in nearly $20 million more in revenue than their male counterparts, the women were paid nearly four times less.

 

Media Resources: New York Times 3/8/19, Feminist Newswire 3/31/19, Time 7/6/19, USA Today 7/7/19, New York Times 7/7/19

Virginia Governor Calls Special Session on Guns

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Tuesday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam called a special session on guns in response to the May 31 Virginia Beach shooting; however, Republicans adjourned the legislature until November after 90 minutes in session.

The Governor hoped to pass bills on gun control to prevent further mass shootings in a state with some of the weakest gun laws in the country. When guns are bought and sold between Virginians, there is no permit, background check, or registration requirement. The session was supported by gun control activists such as the major group “Giffords” that praised the Governor for declaring that “we must never accept gun violence as normal.”

Throughout Virginia’s 2019 legislative session, Democratic legislators in support of common-sense gun reform repeatedly attempted to pass laws addressing gun violence, introducing over a dozen bills to the legislature. Speaker of the House Republican Kirk Cox sent each of these bills to a subcommittee dominated by pro-gun delegates that voted them down in committee votes that were split down party lines.

Polling has clearly demonstrated that Virginians overwhelmingly support some form of gun control legislation. 84% of people polled supported mandatory background checks for all sales of guns, including over 75% of Republicans. In addition, 65% of voters supported a ban on assault-style weapons. These results are a clear indication of the state’s desire to implement stricter gun laws to some degree.

Gun legislation is only one of many divisive issues that consume Virginian politics, especially now under a Democratic governor and a 51-49 Republican majority in the House of Delegates. There has also been a clear partisan divide on women’s rights. Since 1972, when the Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification, the Virginia House has never been able to vote on its ratification. The Virginia Senate has passed the ERA six times but the House has repeatedly shut it down including this January when it lost by one vote in a starkly partisan result.

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 1/17/19; U.S. Concealed Carry 5/24/19; Washington Post 6/4/19; The Virginian Pilot 7/3/19; Washington Post 7/8/19;

Black Teenager Murdered for Playing Rap Music

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

The hashtag “#JusticeforElijah” has been trending across social media platforms following the murder of the 17 year old black teenager Elijah Al-Amin by 27 year old Michael Adams, a white man, at a Circle K in Peoria, Arizona. Adams remains in jail for pre-meditated murder and is being held on a $1 million bond, but as of right now, the case is not being treated as a hate crime.

At 1:42 am on July 4th, Adams—who had been released from prison just two days prior—stabbed the Al-Amin and slit his throat after he was playing rap music in his car. As reported by the Arizona central, Adams claims that he murdered Elijah Al-Amin because rap music makes him feel “unsafe” and that people who listen to rap are a threat to him and the community.

Adams’ attorney has argued that this was not an act of violent racism, but rather, the attack was a result of inadequate access to mental healthcare following Adam’s release from state prison.

Elijah Al-Amin is not the first black teenager to be murdered for playing rap music. In 2012, Jordan Davis was murdered in a gas station parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida by Michael Dunn for playing rap music in his car.

 

Sources: Feminist Newswire 8/19/14, Arizona Central 7/5/19, Vox 7/8/19, NBC News 7/9/19

First Black Miss Tennessee Crowned last Weekend

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

History was made last weekend when Brianna Mason was crowned Miss Tennessee, becoming the first African-American woman to win the title in the pageant’s eight-decade history. By winning Miss Tennessee she will now get the chance to compete in the Miss America pageant later this year.

This win is part of a larger trend of African American women making history in the Pageant system. The reigning Miss America, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA are all black women, a notable achievement because in the pageant system’s almost 100 year history, there have only been a few winners who were African-American. However, this year all three winners were African-American American, challenging conventional beauty standards and racial discrimination in the pageant system.

Most beauty pageants used to ban women of color from participating in the event. Later organizations would start to change their rules to accept women of all races, yet there was still a lingering opposition. Expanding true access to the beauty pageant system has been a long fight and this win shows that women are still paving the way for different types of people to be allowed to compete fairly in the pageant system. It was only a couple of years ago that the Miss Universe Pageant changed its rules to allow transgender women to compete. The fight to expand access still continues.

 

Media sources: CNN 07/01/2019; Feminist Newswire 04/11/2012

Hawaii Establishes Third Non-Binary Gender Classification for State IDs

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Governor Ige of Hawaii signed HB1165 into law, establishing a non-binary gender option on applications for state-issued IDs and driver’s licenses. The law, which will go into effect on July 1, 2020, allows applicants to select “F,” “M,” or “X” as their gender on government ID applications and does not require applicants to provide documentation affirming their desired gender designation.

A non-binary gender designation option on IDs is necessary because binary gender classifications exclude a number of groups, including but not limited to, transgender, intersex, and gender nonconforming individuals. By not requiring applicants to produce documentation confirming their gender identity, HB1165 also eliminates many of the bureaucratic obstacles transgender individuals face when applying for IDs, since many struggle to obtain federal documentation reflecting their true gender identity. HB1165 is particularly relevant in the state of Hawaii, as it has the largest percentage of transgender individuals in the country, according to the Williams Institute of UCLA Law School.

In an Instagram post celebrating the bill’s passage, Khara Jabola-Carolus, the executive director of the Hawai’i State Commission on the Status of Women, commented that “this wasn’t just about simple recognition of transgender folks by the mainstream. It was about decolonization of the status of gender minorities and women, and taking a step to honor the inclusive society of Native Hawaiians.”

Governor Ige signed two other pieces of landmark legislation on Wednesday. One outlaws the use of the “panic defense,” commonly used in violence cases, in which the defendant attempts to explain their behavior by arguing that they experienced emotional distress after discovering a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The other law makes conversion therapy for minors illegal.

Hawaii is the latest state to pass legislation introducing a non-binary gender option for IDs; however, it is not the only state to have done so. Oregon, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maine, Colorado, as well as 12 other jurisdictions, have passed similar legislation as well.

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 10/3/16, Hawaii State Legislation 6/26/19, Instagram 6/27/19, Huffington Post 6/27/19, The Hill 6/27/19

Taliban Car Bomb Shakes Kabul as “Peace” Talks with U.S. Continue

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Today, after a relatively peaceful period in Afghanistan, the Taliban detonated a car bomb during morning rush hour in Kabul. The car bomb is said to have rocked the entire city, killing at least 16 people and injuring 105 people, including 51 children and five women. The United Nations, NGOs working in Afghanistan, and the Afghan government have all denounced the Taliban for causing civilian casualties. This attack came just two days after the Taliban began a seventh round of “peace” talks with the U.S in Qatar.

Taliban insurgents also shot a 25-year old woman along with her three-year old son on the charge of cheating on her husband in a remote village in Faryab province, in the north of country. The husband filed a complaint to the Taliban, and members of the group snatched the woman from her parents’ house. The provincial branch of the Human Rights Commission reported that violence against women has increased by 20% over the last two years in this province due to combat between government forces and Taliban fighters in Faryab.

As “peace” talks continue, women’s groups have warned that a Taliban return to power could pose a large threat to women’s rights. Robina Hamdard of the Afghan Women’s Network believes that “we are now not the same women of 20 years ago. We know our rights and will fight not to lose them.” Wherever the Taliban controls to this day in Afghanistan, women and girls access to education and health services, for example, are either limited or completely taken away.

 

Media resources: Washington Post 3/13/19, Tolo News 6/26/19, BBC News 7/1/19, Afghanistan Times 7/1/19

Suit has been Filed against Georgia’s Six-Week Abortion ban

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Last Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights filed suit against Georgia’s restrictive six-week abortion ban in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. The legal challenge states that the Georgia law is “an attack on low-income Georgians, Georgians of color, and rural Georgians, who are least able to access medical care and least able to overcome the cruelties of this law.”

The lawsuit also argues that the new Georgia law violates the right to privacy and liberty guaranteed in the 14th Amendment, stating that new definitions of “person” and “human being” are too vague to be enforced.

If the law is not blocked, clinics and physicians will be forced to turn away patients seeking critical medical care, in a state that already faces a shortage of reproductive health care providers. The bill would result in worse health outcomes, particularly for black women, who are three times as likely to die from a pregnancy related cause.

Earlier in May, Governor Kemp signed the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, which outlaws all abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically around 6 weeks into pregnancy—before many women even know they are pregnant. It is set to go into effect in January of 2020.

Georgia’s law is part of a wave of abortion restrictions and bans passed by states such as Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana and Ohio. However, Nancy Northup, CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, maintained that “none of these laws are in effect, and we are fighting to keep it that way. For nearly half a century, the Supreme Court has protected the right to abortion, and we know the majority of Americans continue to support abortion access.”

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 5/7/19, LA Times 6/28/19, NBC News 6/28/19, CNN 6/28/19, NPR 6/28/19

Study Proves that Global Gag Rule Increases Unplanned Pregnancies

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

The medical journal The Lancet released a study on Thursday examining the impact of the global gag rule, officially known as the Mexico City Policy, on the rate of abortions in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers discovered that rather than decrease the amount of abortions as anti-choice advocates advertised, the policy increased abortion rates by approximately forty percent when the gag rule was in place.

The study compared the periods when the global gag rule was not in place under Presidents Clinton and Obama to the period when the rule was in place under President Bush. It discovered that providers of family planning services would often not be able to comply with the United States’ standards and thus, would lose their funding. This would cause them to be unable to provide other necessary services such as contraception. Contraception use decreased by 14 percent and the amount of pregnancies increased by 12 percent. Due to the increased number of unplanned pregnancies, many individuals had to get abortions, leading to the 40 percent increase.

As a response to the increased attempts to enforce the anti-choice agenda, the House passed a spending bill this June that included a repeal of both the domestic gag rule and the global gag rule. This is a part of a widespread effort by the pro-choice movement to expand access to reproductive services domestically and worldwide.

The Trump administration has implemented the global gag rule as a method to further their control over people’s bodies through banning international aid for any services that provide abortion care or any information about abortion services. This administration has expanded the scope of the rule: the funding ban will now not just apply to international non-governmental organizations (NGO) that provide or refer patients to abortion; it will also ban U.S. global health funding to any NGO that uses non-U.S. assistance to support any foreign partners who separately engage in abortion-related work with their own funding.

 

Media resources: Feminist Newswire 3/27/19; Refinery 29 6/19/19; NPR 6/27/19; The Lancet 6/27/19

Supreme Court Rules against Citizenship Question on 2020 Census for now

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

This Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the stated reasoning behind the citizenship question that the Trump Administration wanted to add to the 2020 Census, setting the efforts of the Trump administration further back. In the 5-4 ruling, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the reason behind the citizenship question which was provided by the White House “appears to have been contrived.”

The Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court insinuating that there is a possibility for the administration to provide an adequate justification for adding the question. President Trump responded to the decision by announcing on twitter that he will be working with the lawyers to delay the 2020 Census. The administration has argued that the citizenship question is essential to their efforts to strengthen the voting rights of minority residents.

In April, evidence compiled from the computer files of Republican strategist, Thomas Hofeller, suggested that the Trump administration wanted to collect citizenship information so that states could draw voting district based only on eligible voters rather than all residents. Mr. Hofeller wrote that this “would be advantageous to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites.”

The citizenship questioned hasn’t been on the census since the 1950s. Various civil rights groups are claiming that this is an attack on people of color especially migrants fleeing to find refuge in the states. In the atmosphere of heightened ICE raids, the Trump administration’s zero tolerance approach to immigration and jarring conditions of detention facilities, the fear attached with the citizenship question is valid.

 

Media Resources: BBC 6/27/2019, NYT 6/27/2019, NYT 6/27/2019

Supreme Court Declines to Rule Partisan Gerrymandering Unconstitutional

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Today, the Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision declaring that partisan gerrymandering, the redrawing of legislative districts to favor one political party over another, presents a political question that federal courts cannot review.

In his opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by four conservative members of the Court, concluded that “partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts.” Roberts added that “excessive partisanship in districting leads to results that reasonably seem unjust. But the fact that such gerrymandering is ‘incompatible with democratic principles’…does not mean the solution lies with the federal judiciary.”

In her passionate dissent, Justice Kagan criticized the majority, stating that “of all the times to abandon the Court’s duty to declare the law, this was not one.” “If left unchecked, gerrymanders like the ones here may irreparably damage our system of government,” she wrote. Her dissent emphasizes that partisan gerrymandering threatens every American’s right to participate in free and fair elections, as it allows powerful legislators of both parties to draw districts in their favor.

The case reached the Supreme Court in March this year on appeal from the District Courts of North Carolina and Maryland. The District Courts ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, declaring that partisan gerrymandering was justiciable. The North Carolina case involved plaintiffs who alleged that North Carolina’s 2016 congressional districts were drawn to disadvantage Democrats, and the Maryland plaintiffs argued that their 2011 congressional districts discriminated against Republicans. The plaintiffs believed that partisan gerrymandering clearly violated the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Elections Clause.

Just last year, the Supreme Court heard a similar case arising in Wisconsin on the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. The Court, however, avoided the question by declaring that the plaintiffs did not have legal standing to sue.

 

Media Resources: Supreme Court 6/27/19, The New York Times 6/27/19, Feminist Newswire 6/26/18

400 Complaints Of Sexual Assault Against Student Health Center Gynecologist

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Wednesday Dr. George Tyndall, gynecologist at the student health center of University of Southern California, was finally arrested amidst countless claims of sexual assault after an 18 month investigation. CBS Los Angeles asserts that over 400 female patients have accused Dr. Tyndall of molestation through his occupation. Tyndall was seized at his apartment adjacent to the University of Southern California while he was armed with a loaded .38-caliber revolver. In the process of his arrest he claimed ‘chest pains’ and is now being held in the hospital.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney said Tyndall is charged with “18 counts of sexual penetration and 11 counts of sexual battery by fraud, in cases involving 16 young women.” Dr. Tyndall has denied all the allegations and his lawyers will attempt exonerate him. In December, LAPD found naked photographs and videos in Tyndall’s personal storage unit some of which appear to have been made at the health center of USC.

The LA police chief states that they have had 12 full-time detectives working this case over the last year, in which they have traveled across the country to conduct interviews of 350 plus women. USC only reported the sexual assault to the public after an article was published by The Los Angeles Times in May 2018. They uncovered complaints against Tyndall dating back to the 1990s, “co-workers alleged that he was improperly photographing students’ genitals during medical exams. Over the years, patients and nursing staff repeatedly accused him of “creepy” behavior, including touching women inappropriately during pelvic exams and making sexually suggestive remarks about their bodies.”

This investigation demonstrates the larger culture of abuse of power in the medical profession on unknowing patients. The American Medical Association states that any sexual contact between a patient and their physician constitutes sexual misconduct, yet many medical boards have permitted a large number of doctors to continue practicing after being found guilty of sexual abuse. David Clohessy, executive director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, tells The Atlantic Journal-Constitution “We are so reliant on [doctors], we are so helpless and vulnerable and literally in pain often times [when] we go in there… We just do not want to believe, first of all, that a doctor is capable of this, and secondly that their colleagues and supervisors will not address this immediately and effectively when we report it.”

Senate and House Introduction of the Gender Equity Education Act of 2019

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

In celebration of the 47th anniversary of Title IX, Senator Mazie Hirono and Representative Doris Matsui have introduced the Patsy T. Mink and Louise M. Slaughter Gender Equity in Education Act of 2019, S. 1964 and H.R. 3513.

This 2019 version of the initial 2016 Gender Equity Education Act, (GEEA) honors former Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink (D-HI) who was a key author of the 1972 Title IX that prohibits sex discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance. Patsy Mink also authored the former Women’s Educational Equity Act of 1974 (WEEA) that provided US Department of Education funding for innovative education programs to help implement Title IX from 1976 to 2006.  Along with Senator Hirono, Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) co-sponsored the 2016, and 2017 versions of GEEA before she died.

While both WEEA and GEEA were designed to facilitate the implementation of Title IX to prohibit sex discrimination in all education levels and topics, GEEA addresses needed infrastructure support from the US Department of Education and other agencies on the important roles of Title IX Coordinators in state education agencies, school districts, pre-K-12 schools, postsecondary and other institutions that receive federal support for education programs and activities.

The GEEA of 2019 has many important purposes and features to fully implement Title IX and promote gender equity in education. In highlighting the need to increase general awareness about the rights and obligations of individuals and entities covered by Title IX, GEEA attends to ending sex discrimination based on multiple characteristics in addition to sex or gender such as race, ethnicity, national origin, disability status, religion, age, or actual or perceived sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity).

A major way that GEEA focuses on improving the U.S. gender equity infrastructure is to provide for the identification, coordination, training, technical assistance, and support of  over 100,000 Title IX Coordinators at all levels of education from State Education Agencies to pre K-12 local schools and postsecondary institutions who cover all topic areas from athletics and academics to ending sex-based harassment and violence.

GEEA features include the establishment of an Office for Gender Equity in the U.S. Department of Education which will coordinate with other relevant Federal offices and agencies. The Office Director will report directly to the Secretary of Education and support research, development, and dissemination activities focusing on best practices to implement Title IX.  For example, this GEEA office is to establish a Gender Equity Resource Center Website and related dissemination activities. GEEA also calls for the revival of previous Title IX provisions for Title IX Compliance Self-Evaluations to guide Title IX training and the use of best practices to identify and prevent implicit and explicit sex discrimination in all areas of education. GEEA also calls for a report to Congress every two years on the success in accomplishing the purposes of the Gender Equity Education Act.

However, the most well-funded part of the Office for Gender Equity is to be its Gender Equity Competitive Grants Program for eligible entities ranging from state education agencies to schools and national organizations with relevant gender equity expertise. There are also extensive annual evaluation requirements for the grants which in total are to receive no less than $70,000,000 each year of the $80,000,000 total annual GEEA authorization, each federal year year from 2020 to 2025.

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 7/18/2016; Senator Hirono 6/25/19

Man Shoots 10-month-old Baby after Mother Rejects him

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

In Fresno, California, a 10-month-old baby is recovering in the hospital after being shot in the head by a man after her mother rejected his unwanted sexual advances. The mother, Deziree Menagh, 18, was at a social gathering with her daughter when she met Marcos Echartea, 23, and he started to make advances towards her. Uncomfortable with the advances, Menagh left the party with a friend to drive around hoping that Echartea would be gone. When they headed back to the party and were parking, Menagh and her friend noticed Echertea headed towards their car. When he arrived, he fired three rounds into the driver’s window, one hitting Menagh’s daughter in the head.

While horrifying, the story of a man turning violent after a rejection is nothing new. Every day there are cases in which rejection turns into violence.

Last year, Elizabeth May, an activist, took to Twitter to ask women to share their experiences of rejecting unwanted sexual advances, and thousands of women replied sharing terrifying experiences of violence and threats from men who felt they were owed something.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released a report in 2018 that found that more than half of all female homicides were caused by intimate partners or relatives, depicting the home as one of the most dangerous places for women.

Sexual violence also harms trans women, who face higher rates of intimate partner violence than cisgender women. According to the Human Rights Campaign, fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, and that the intersections of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia conspire to deprive trans women of employment, housing, healthcare and other necessities.

Media Resources: NBC News 06/25/19; iNews UK 05/22/18; Feminist News Wire 11/30/18.

Candidates Announce their Bids to Unseat Senator Susan Collins

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Democrat Sara Gideon, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives, has announced that she is officially running to unseat Republican Senator Susan Collins in 2020. Gideon has declared her bid amid a wave of several other Democratic, Republican, and Independent candidates announcing their campaigns. There are two other Democrats who have also launched their campaigns for the seat: Betsy Sweet, who recently ran to be the Governor of Maine, and attorney Bre Kidman, the first openly non-binary candidate for the United States Senate. Danielle VanHelsing and Tiffany Bond are currently running as independent candidates. As of right now, the only person to challenge Collins from the Republican party is Derek Levasseur.

Senator Collins, who has not yet formally announced her plans to run again, faces opposition from the left of the aisle due to her controversial vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court despite sexual assault allegations and fears that he would harm Roe v. Wade. President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, Eleanor Smeal, released a statement prior to Collins’ vote and claimed, “Looking at his record, Brett Kavanaugh should not be given the benefit of the doubt: too much is at stake for women with this confirmation. Women’s lives depend on Senator Collins voting no on Brett Kavanaugh.”

Following her nomination of Kavanaugh, a crowdpac was created to raise money for the campaign of the future Democratic challenger of Collins. It has currently accumulated a total of $4,082,183 in donations.

 

Sources: Washington Post 6/24/19, The Cut 6/24/19, Feminist Newswire 8/21/18, ActBlue

Pakistan will create more than 1,000 Courts Dedicated to Tackling Violence Against Women

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Friday June 21st, Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa announced that Pakistan will set up more than 1,000 courts dedicated to tackling violence against women in the country. Each court will deal specifically with cases of violence against women in the country to cultivate an environment where women can speak up without fear of repercussions.

The decision to create these courts comes after multiple high profile cases of violence against women in Pakistan and recent laws to combat violence against women. One of these laws is a mandated minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for those convicted of honor killings. This law closed a dangerous legal loophole that previously allowed killers to go free if they were forgiven by the family of the victim. Honor killings are largely carried out by family members of the victim, so murderers were often guaranteed a pardon for their crimes, leaving women and girls vulnerable to abusive patriarchal family structures.

One of the highest profiled case of violence against women was the honor killing of a Pakistani celebrity, Qandeel Baloch, who was violently strangled to death by her brother. Baloch considered herself a feminist, and had nearly 750,000 followers on Facebook and 46,000 on Twitter. She used her social media fame to speak out against societal and political discrimination against women and was often seen on Pakistani television debating religious leaders about politics.

Although the new courts will operate in existing courthouses, domestic violence cases will be heard separately so that victims can testify in confidence. Shaista Bukhari, executive director of Pakistan’s Women’s Rights Association hopes that “if we initiate 1,000 courts to address and handle the affairs specifically related to violence on women, women will get the confidence and strength to speak up against exploitation and they will also be able to stand against it.”

 

Media sources: CNN 06/21/2019; Feminist Newswire 10/06/2016; Feminist Newswire 07/18/2016

Appeals Court Rules that Trump’s Family Planning Restrictions can take Effect Immediately

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Last week, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a family planning “gag rule,” which would strip federal Title X funding from any clinic that provides abortions or abortion referrals, could go into effect immediately. The new rules ban Title X funded-clinics—which serve approximately 4 million low-income Americans—from both making abortion referrals and sharing office space with abortion providers, effectively forcing numerous clinics to find new locations, undergo expensive remodels, or shut-down all together.

The court ruled that parts of the new rule, such as no longer being able to provide abortion referrals, could go into effect immediately. Other requirements, such as the physical separation of abortion services from non-abortion services must be completed by March 4, 2020.

Provider groups such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have labeled these rules as a “gag rule”, warning that it will undermine the patient-provider relationship and interfere with sensitive conversations between doctors and patients.

President of Planned Parenthood Dr. Leana Wen argued in a written statement that this rule is “unethical, illegal, and harmful to public health.” She additionally stated that the news is “devasting for the millions of people who rely on Title X health centers for cancer screenings, HIV tests, affordable birth control, and other critical primary and preventative care.”

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, nearly 60% of women across the U.S rely on Title X supported organizations for vital health services. Emily Nestler, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights argued that “clinics will be forced to stop providing abortion services…and that will make it nearly impossible for thousands of women, especially in lower-income, scarcely populated areas, to get any care at all.”

However, state attorneys general from California, Oregon, and Washington say they’ll continue to fight these rules. Dr. Wen further stated that “Planned Parenthood will not let the government censor our doctors and nurses from informing patients where and how they can access health care.”

 

Media Resources: Politico 6/20/19; Buzzfeed News 6/20/19; Washington Post 6/20/19; CBS News 6/20/19

New York Strengthens Sexual Harassment Laws

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

On Wednesday, the New York state legislature passed landmark legislation that provide stronger protections for survivors of sexual harassment, making it easier to bring sexual harassment claims forward. Governor Cuomo has promised to sign both bills into law.

The first of the two bills removes the standard that harassment in the workplace must be “severe or pervasive” in order for an individual to take legal action. Those lobbying for the bill explained that eliminating this standard will require judges to hear all types of sexual harassment claims, including those involving inappropriate language and groping, which judges have overwhelmingly dismissed under the established standard.

The bill also bans the use of nondisclosure agreements, extends the statute of limitations for sexual harassment claims to three years, requires that sexual harassment training be available in any employee’s primary language, and directs the commissioner of labor to study existing labor law and identify where improvements can be made to combat workplace harassment and discrimination.

The second bill passed on Wednesday prolongs the statute of limitations for second and third-degree rape from five years to twenty and ten years, respectively. Members of the Time’s Up movement have been particularly vocal on the passage of this bill as it was this statute of limitations that prevented many women from pressing charges against Hollywood movie executive Harvey Weinstein.

The Sexual Harassment Working Group was another passionate group advocating for the passage of both bills. The Group consists of seven women who have worked in the New York legislature and who experienced workplace sexual harassment themselves. They were instrumental in pushing for a public hearing on sexual harassment in the legislature in February. They were ultimately successful as New York held its first public hearing on sexual harassment in over thirty years.

 

Media Resources: The New York Times 6/20/19, The Hill 6/20/19, New York Senate 6/19/19, The Huffington Post 6/19/19, The New York Times 2/12/19, Feminist Newswire 10/11/17

Last Remaining Abortion Clinic in Missouri Denied License Renewal

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

The sole remaining abortion clinic in the state of Missouri is waiting on a further decision from the circuit court after the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) declined to renew their license last Friday, citing concerns for patients and perceived regulatory violations that were not fixed after an inspection.

With the license renewal came another announcement by the DHSS on pelvic exams. The clinic will no longer be required to conduct the medically unnecessary exams as a part of the process of informed consent in which physicians are required to read prepared literature and discuss the possible dangers of the abortion procedure.

Last week, the Planned Parenthood clinic sent the DHSS a plan to correct the perceived violations. The alleged concerns were described in a statement provided by the Department earlier that week depicting thirty issues they found at the clinic. The violations surrounded “failed” abortion procedures that were not reported correctly.

The clinic will continue to be able to provide abortion care pending a further decision by the court. The denial is mostly symbolic at this time due to a preliminary injunction issued by the circuit court on June 11. The ruling stated that the Department of Health and Senior Services had to either deny or renew the clinic’s license and could not let it run out without taking any specific actions. The injunction will continue to remain in effect until another ruling from the court is issued in response to the license denial.

Surrounding states have been preparing for the possible closing of this clinic since May when Governor Mike Parson signed a bill criminalizing abortion after eight weeks of pregnancy. A nearby clinic in Granite, Illinois has been hiring more staff and readying their services for an influx of patients coming in if the Missouri clinic is fully shut down. There are currently six states with only one clinic remaining.

 

Media Resources: Newswire 6/11/19; New York Times 6/21/19; The Wall Street Journal 6/21/19; Feminist The Hill 6/22/19;

The Safety of Refugee Girls in Lebanon is in Crisis

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

A recent survey of 400 refugee girls at the age of 10-19 in Lebanon showed that 70% of them feel frighten traveling during the day by themselves, whereas 90% of them reported that they feel unsafe at night. These young girls talked about how men are attacking them, and how they fear being raped.

“We’re afraid [to go out alone]. There are always drunk men who harass us and even the ones who aren’t drunk harass us,” said an 18 year old refugee from Burj al-Barajneh, in Beirut suburbs.

Parents are forcing their daughters marry young, because of poverty and concerns for their daughters’ safety. Child marriage is four times higher for Syrian refugees than it was for Syrian girls before the war. Many young girls marry to financially support their single mothers.

However, these young girls are still hopeful for their futures. They want to continue their education; become lawyers, teachers, and doctors; and support the next generation of women.

Media Resources: Aljazeera 06/18/2019, United Nations Population Fund, 01/31/2017, Feminist Newswire 06/30/2016

>