Migration Category: Feminist Newswire

Stories from the Feminist News Wire.

Saudi Arabian Feminist Movement Celebrates Lifting of Driving Ban

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In a historic win for the Saudi Arabian feminist movement, women in Saudi Arabia have won the right to drive.

In a royal decree issued Tuesday, the Saudi Arabian monarchy announced that the ban preventing women from driving will be lifted.  A committee has been assembled to determine how the lifting of the ban will be introduced and enforced within the next 30 days, and have until June of 2018 to fully implement the decree.

The royal decree issued is believed to be part of a plan to improve the Saudi Arabian economy by increasing women’s participation in the work force. In a statement, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described the lifting of the driving ban as a “huge step toward a brighter future.”

Prior to the announcement on Tuesday, Saudi Arabian women’s freedom and independence has been crippled by the driving ban. Women could only travel if they were with a chaperone or chauffeur prevents them from fully participating in Saudi Arabian society and economy.

This monumental step forward for women would not have been possible without the brave feminist activists in Saudi Arabia who have been driving illegally for years to protest the driving ban. As early as 1990, women in Saudi Arabia have risked arrest by driving to bring attention to the ban and its effect on women’s lives.

Women such as Manal al-Sharif, who posted a viral video of herself driving in 2011, have brought Western media attention to the strict limitation on women’s freedom in Saudi Arabia. Al Sharif was arrested shortly after the video went viral.

Al Sharif, who now lives in Australia, went on to start the Women2Drive campaign which fought to end the driving ban on women, among other initiatives for gender equality in Saudi Arabia. In a tweet after the announcement was made, al-Sharif stated “Saudi Arabia will never be the same again. The rain begins with a single drop.”

Media Resources: The New York Times 9/26/17; CNN 9/27/17; BBC 9/27/17; Feminist Campus 6/22/17

House to Hold Vote on 20 Week Abortion Ban

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On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced that a vote on the “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” would take place next week.

Sponsored by Republican Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ-8), bill H.R.36 would criminalize abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy in all 50 states. Anyone who violates the 20 week abortion ban would be subject to criminal penalties in the form of a fine and up to 5 years in prison.

The bill allows exceptions in circumstances such as danger to the mother’s life, rape, or incest, but not without adding additional obstacles. In cases of rape, a woman is only permitted to seek a post-20 week abortion if she has sought counselling and reported the assault to police. In the case of minors who are victims of incest or rape, they must go through law enforcement to qualify for a post-20 week abortion.

The bill has 158 cosponsors and is expected to pass the house, where Republicans have a majority. According to a letter written on the campaign trail in 2016, President Trump has stated that he would sign such a bill if it reaches his desk.

An earlier version of the bill passed the House but failed to pass the Senate in 2015 due to a lack of support by Democrats.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 24 states in the U.S. have restrictions on later term abortions with 17 states banning abortions after 20-weeks. Most of the individuals who seek to obtain a late term abortion do so due to logistical challenges that include travel, finding an abortion provider, or raising the funds for the procedure. Women are also more likely to obtain a late term abortion if they have had disruptive life events such as unemployment or separation from a partner. Additionally, many serious or life-threatening fetal abnormalities do not become evident until the 20 week mark, making it a stressful and dangerous cut-off period for many pregnant women.

A poll recently released by the Center for Reproductive Rights found that 61 percent of adults in the United States support the federal government passing legislation to protect women’s access to abortion and prevent state’s from passing laws meant to restrict that access. When informed of the 369 abortion restrictions that have been passed by state legislatures in the last six years, 59 percent of respondents felt that to be the wrong direction for the country to head in. 81 percent of respondents stated that they want Congress to make women’s healthcare a priority.

 

Media Resources: The Hill 9/26/17; CBS News 9/26/17; Guttmacher Institute; Feminist Newswire 8/23/17

Remembering the Little Rock Nine

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Sixty years ago, on September 25, 1957, nine black students entered a previously all-white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, marking the end of de jure school segregation after the United States Supreme Court struck down Plessy v. Ferguson and declared “separate but equal” unconstitutional.

The nine students faced down white protesters and the Arkansas National Guard who were ordered by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus to block the students from entering Central High School. President Eisenhower called upon the federal troops to safely escort the students into the school. Today, the “Little Rock Nine,” are considered a major part of civil rights history in the United States.

Eight of the Little Rock Nine met with former President Bill Clinton in Arkansas on Monday to commemorate the day and reflect on the hate they received for simply taking part in the desegregation of education.

Although it has been 60 years since the Little Rock Nine entered Central High School, civil rights are still under attack. Police brutality against and the extra-judicial killings of black people continues to go largely unpunished in the United States. Demonstrators assembled in St. Louis last week after a white police officer was acquitted for the murder of Lamar Smith, an unarmed man who was fatally shot after a car chase in 2011. Lamar Smith is among a long list of black people indiscriminately killed by white people without any kind of criminal consequences.

Just last month, neo-nazis and members of the Ku Klux Klan marched openly in Charlottesville, Virginia dispelling racist sentiments and violence. Thousands of armed white supremacists began violently clashing with counter-protesters hours before the rally was scheduled to begin. By the middle of the day, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe was forced to declare a state of emergency and call in the national guard, saying “Please go home and never come back. Take your hatred, and take your bigotry.” The rally turned deadly when a 20 year old member of the so-called alt-right, James Alex Fields Jr, intentionally drove his car into a group of peaceful counter protesters, injuring 19 people and murdering 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

On September 30, people across the country will participate in the March for Black Women to elevate the voices of Black women and denounce the abuse Black women face from society and the state, from sexual violence to mass incarceration to the systematic failures to investigate missing black girls.

Media Resources: Washington Post 9/16/17; Feminist Newswire 8/14/17; Vice News 9/25/17; NPR 9/25/17; CBS 9/25/17; March for Racial Justice

Trump Administration Issues Indefinite Travel Ban

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On September 24, the Trump administration announced its latest version of the travel ban. In the newest form of the administration’s already controversial travel ban, there are new constraints on travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen on entering the United States.

The announcement came on the same day that Trump’s temporary ban on citizens from six Muslim-majority countries was set to expire. The particular regulations on immigration from these eight countries will most likely vary depending on the country. The travel ban will go into effect at the start of next month.

President Trump’s new order is more far-reaching than his original travel ban that he announced in January of 2017. The original executive order that was issued by Trump banned the entry of citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for no longer than a 90-day period. The order also indefinitely halted the acceptance of Syrian refugees.

The newest version of the travel ban imposes permanent restrictions on travel from eight countries, rather than the 90-day suspension that he previously authorized. Although there are eight predominantly Muslim countries that the travel ban prominently focuses on, most of the nation’s covered by his original ban are still cited as threats to the national security of the United States.

Although it is being widely criticized by immigrant and civil rights groups, experts are saying that this version could have a stronger chance of being implemented than the last version of the travel ban. This travel ban, which set to go into effect on October 18th, could be less vulnerable to legal attack. The nature of the most current travel ban is now being deemed as more “politically correct,” despite it still being just as discriminatory to Muslim travelers as the last version.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments over the original travel ban and the latest version on October 10th.

Media Resources: USA Today, 6/5/2017, CNN 9/25/17, New York Times 9/24/17; Feminist Newswire 9/13/17, 7/3/17

Women & Girls Comprise 71% of Those Impacted by Modern Slavery

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In the past year, an estimated 40 million people were victims of modern slavery, according to a report published last week by The Walk Free Foundation, International Labour Organization, and International Organization for Migration. The report estimates that of these 40 million individuals 71% of those enslaved are women.

According to the Global Estimates of Modern Slavery report, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific have the highest rates of slavery worldwide. In the past five years alone, 89 million people were forced to endure practices relating to modern slavery. Modern slavery occurs when individuals are forced to engage in practices such as forced labor, forced marriage, domestic servitude, sex trafficking, and child labor.

Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by modern slavery. Women make up the majority of those enslaved for the purposes of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, and forced marriage. Men and boys comprise the majority of those who experience state-imposed forced labor.

Of those who were victims of forced marriage within the last year, 84.2 percent were women and girls. Nearly one third of this percentage is made up of girls under the age of eighteen. Forced marriage often involves a loss of sexual freedom and forced-labor imposed upon those who are enslaved. In 2016, an estimated 15.4 million people were facing situations involving forced marriage. Since it is still difficult to measure the exact number of individuals forced into marriage, this report emphasizes that this is a conservative estimate.

99.4 percent of people forced into sexual exploitation are women and girls. An estimated 4.8 million people were victims of involuntary sexual exploitation in 2016. The studies of sexual exploitation include both adults and children who have been forced to take part in commercial sexual exploitation, as well as those who have entered into it freely and are forced to stay.

According to Andrew Forrest of the Walk Free Foundation, “We now have the largest number of slaves on Earth than we’ve had in human history.” Modern slavery takes many forms, and Forrest emphasizes the importance of educating the public about the existence and prevalence of enslavement happening on a global scale.

These estimates have prompted further consideration of methods to reduce the number of individuals experiencing modern slavery. The Global Estimates report outlines three primary steps that aim to end modern slavery and human trafficking by 2030.

In addition to reducing the number of individuals who are currently enslaved, implementing methods of prevention is key to achieving this goal. The report emphasizes the importance of protecting vulnerable populations who are most likely to enter into modern slavery. Methods of gathering data about these vulnerable populations remains difficult. However, the collaboration between countries may be the most effective way to curb the epidemic.

While there are still many barriers to overcome before slavery becomes a thing of the past, Forrest states, “There’s real hope in the world that slavery can come to an end with the united action of business and government.”

 

Media Sources: Independent 9/19/17, Los Angeles Times 9/19/17, Thompson Reuters Foundation 9/19/17, Global Estimates of Modern Slavery 2017

Today is National Voter Registration Day

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Today, September 26, is National Voter Registration Day. First celebrated in 2012, National Voter Registration Day serves to raise awareness about voter registration deadlines so that all eligible voters are able to participate in upcoming elections.

Volunteers will set out on voter registration drives in their communities and encourage people to register online if that cannot make it to a nearby drive. Last year, approximately 750,000 voters registered on National Voter Registration Day.

In the United States, voter turnout is affected by state voter suppression that takes the form of strict voter ID laws, purging of voter rolls, and a general lack of education about important voter registration deadlines.

Just before the 2016 presidential election, 31 states had voter ID laws that affected 21 million Americans. The majority of these people are low-income, people of color, and the elderly, who are hindered for a number of reasons, including lacking the necessary funds needed to obtain the documents required to secure an ID.

Voter registration is further limited by efforts to mitigate voter fraud, which ultimately blocks eligible voters from registering due to unnecessary and overly complicated voting procedures. Recently, the Trump Administration launched the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to address President Trump’s suspicions that fraudulent votes were cast against him in the 2016 presidential election. The Commission is led by Vice President Mike Pence, along with Kansas Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach, and other right wing officials. Many voting rights advocates have called into question the mission of the commission, whether or not it is truly a bipartisan effort, and whether it will ultimately make voting more difficult. Bob Bauer, co-chair of the presidential election commission under the Obama administration, stated that the Commission on Election integrity “was destined to be a calamitous failure” and that “it was simply affected from the very beginning by partisan design and partisan leadership.”

Despite the controversy over the Commission on Election Integrity, there have been several wins regarding increased voter registration. This summer in Texas, a state with some of the harshest voter ID laws in the country, a US District judge struck down Texas’s revised voter ID law (Senate Bill 5) on the basis that it continues to discriminate against African American and Latino voters. The law would have required individuals to show one of a limited selection of six government issued photo identifications when they went to vote.

Some states, including Illinois and Oregon, have passed bills to implement automatic voter registration in the hopes that it will increase voter turnout. In 2017, over twenty states have introduced legislation advocating for implementation of automatic voter registration.

To see what you need to do to register to vote in your state, click here.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 8/24/17, 6/5/17, 11/03/16; National Voter Registration Day; The Washington Post 9/16/17; Politico 9/18/17

Afghan President Welcomes US Troop Increase

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During his statement to the United Nations General Assembly, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan welcomed President Trump’s plan to increase United States involvement and presence in the country.

President Ghani anticipates that the U.S. presence and collaboration with the Afghan National Army will cause marked improvements in the fight to combat Taliban influence, as well as protect and advance the social progress that the Afghan people have achieved in the last 16 years.

In his statements to the U.N. General Assembly, President Ghani outlined the progress that Afghanistan has made in countering the violence caused by terrorist groups. He emphasized the importance of building relationships between countries and utilizing the potential of all Afghan citizens, who make up the overwhelming bulk of the fighting forces in the country.

At the close of his statement, President Ghani said that, “While the threat of international terrorism playing out on our soil has dominated the narrative of our country and driven the fate of our people for far too long, we also have enormous potential to be the regional brokers of peace, a hub for economic prosperity, and a beacon of democratic values.”

Last month, President Trump announced to the country that the war in Afghanistan would move forward and that he would increase troop levels. Defense Secretary James Mattis announced that the United States now intends to send at least 3,000 troops to Afghanistan. This is in addition to the 11,000 U.S. troops who are currently serving there.

Initially, President Trump had made campaign pledges to reduce the U.S. troop presence, decrying the situation in Afghanistan as a failure. Before running for office, he had continuously criticized U.S. involvement, posting on Twitter that, instead of focusing on Afghanistan, “We must rebuild our country first.”

President Trump’s decision to reverse his stance and send additional troops to Afghanistan has received support, as the growing activity of terrorist groups continues to be a heightened concern. The Taliban currently control over 40% of Afghanistan, and there are more than twenty international terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan.

Though portrayals of Afghanistan in the American media are dominated by images of war, women in burqas, and extreme violence, women and girls now have much more opportunity to attend schools and universities, as well as access health facilities. Rates of infant, child and maternal mortality continue to fall and there are more women being trained as midwives. There are also growing numbers of women participating in STEM industries, free media, music groups, advocacy, athletics, the military and the electorate.

Despite the challenges that Afghanistan is facing, President Ghani has an optimistic outlook for the future of the country. He stated, “I am confident that our plans and programs for self-reliance and reform, bolstered by the commitment of our international partners, will chart us on the path toward realizing our full potential.”

 

Media Sources: Feminist Majority Foundation 8/22/17, New York Times 8/30/17, Vox 9/19/17, RFE/RL 9/19/17, Bakhtar News 9/20/17

Abortion Clinics in 3 Cities Invaded by Anti-Abortion Extremists

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Anti-abortion extremists invaded three reproductive health clinics in Sterling Heights, Michigan; Alexandria, Virginia; and Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday September 15, by entering the facilities and refusing to leave.

Four people were arrested at the Michigan clinic and six people were arrested in Virginia. No arrests were made at the New Mexico clinic.

Anti-choice extremist group CreatedEqual issued a press release concerning the invasions. The storming of the clinics appeared to be a coordinated effort with other anti-choice groups. Life Site News reported that a total of ten protesters were arrested in the invasions on Friday and listed the names of the individuals who were arrested in Virginia and in Michigan,  included two priests, one of whom works for Priests of Life, and several long time anti-abortion extremists.

Over the summer, Operation Rescue/Operation Save America (OR/OSA) organized a blockade of EMW Women’s Surgical Center, the sole clinic providing abortion services in the state of Kentucky. In May, 10 people were arrested after blocking the entrance to the clinic. Among those arrested was Rusty Thomas, leader of OSA, who has publicly advocated for punishing women who obtain abortions by charging them with murder. Anti-choice protesters hurled insults and inflammatory images at the women who walked by on a daily basis. OSA escalated their protests in July by organizing a mass blockade with plans to bring hundreds of protesters.

Tara and Bud Shaver, who are listed on the CreatedEqual press release as contacts for Albuquerque, New Mexico, are campaigning to make New Mexico an abortion free state. They were commissioned by Operation Rescue in 2010 to move to Albuquerque, where one of the targeted clinics is located. The Shavers are now working with Project Defending Life, which works in cooperation with Operation Rescue.

Media Resources: Huffington Post 9/15/17; Feminist Newswire 7/20/17,7/17/17; Created Equal 9/15/17; Life Site News 9/15/17

North Carolina Labor Federation Elects First Woman President

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Last week, MaryBe McMillian became the first woman to be elected President of North Carolina’s Labor Federation (NC AFL-CIO).

McMillian, who served as the Federation’s first woman Secretary-Treasurer for over 10 years, began at the NC AFL-CIO after earning her PhD in Sociology. She began working closely with former president of NC AFL-CIO, James Andrew, who was the first African American to be elected President of the Federation. Andrew recently retired after being President of the NC AFL-CIO for 20 years and participating in the labor movement for over 40.

McMillian was unanimously elected at the NC AFL-CIO’s 60th Annual Convention last week.

According to an interview with Indy Week, McMillian joined the labor movement as a graduate student at North Carolina State University, where she helped the university’s housekeeping staff organize. “And it’s those women that are really why I’m in the labor movement,” McMillan said in the Indy Week interview. She continued, “It’s why I care so much about organizing in North Carolina and around the South, because those women are public employees of North Carolina.”.

Tefere Gebre, Executive Vice President of NC AFL-CIO, said in the federation’s statement that “MaryBe is a champion of working people in North Carolina, and we will stand with her in the fight to ensure we all have the freedom to join together and negotiate. We will march with her to end discrimination at the polls in North Carolina and across America. And we will organize and mobilize across the state and the South.”

Media Resources: Indy Week 9/18/17; WRAL 9/15/17; NC State AFL-CIO 9/15/17

Republicans Race Again to Repeal Affordable Care Act and Cut Medicaid

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The House and Senate intend to vote on a repeal and replace of the Affordable Care Act before the end of September, renewing the fight to defend Medicaid and affordable, comprehensive healthcare access for people across the country.

The Graham-Cassidy-Heller proposal would kick at least 32 million people off of health insurance, bar Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid reimbursements, gut the Essential Health Benefits that protect women’s access to reproductive healthcare and prescription drugs, and once again allow insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.

The bill would also end Medicaid as we know it by block granting funding instead of guaranteeing it while cutting hundreds of billions from the program. This proposal would kick millions of poor, disabled, and elderly people off of health insurance and leave millions more with inadequate coverage.

While the bill is almost identical to the other version of “Trumpcare” previously proposed in the House and Senate, it contains one major change: an all-encompassing block grant for each state. Between 2020 and 2026 each state would receive a fixed amount of money that they could spend as they saw fit on the Medicaid-expansion, premium tax credits or tax subsidies. The goal of this provision is to lay the groundwork for an eventual full repeal of the Affordable Care Act, including the Medicaid expansion and the private insurance marketplace, by slowly draining both initiatives of necessary funding.

Advocates argue that demolishing Medicaid piece by piece is a dangerous and deadly proposition that disproportionately impacts women. One-in-five women of reproductive age rely on Medicaid and half of all births in the United States are paid for with Medicaid. Medicaid also pays for two-thirds of all nursing home patients, a vast majority of whom are women. In addition, 42 percent of all Medicaid spending benefits children and adults with disabilities.

If Senate Republicans want to force through a healthcare bill with only 50 votes they will need to pass it by the end of September, when the procedural rule that allows for budget reconciliation expires. However, in order for the bill to comply with budget reconciliation rules it will need to be scored by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) before it is brought up for a vote. If the bill is not passed by October 1, the Senate will be forced to reach 60 votes in order to pass a healthcare bill, which would require Republicans to earn at least eight Democratic votes.

The CBO is reporting that it will not be able to provide more than a “preliminary assessment” by next week, meaning they will be able to report Graham-Cassidy plan’s impact on the budget, but not exactly how many people will lose health insurance or how much the bill would raise insurance premiums.

After Senate Republicans failed to pass any version of their healthcare bills in July, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised to move on to other business and to work with Democrats to come up with a bi-partisan solution to the problems within the healthcare system, especially stabilizing the insurance market. As of now, Republicans have abandoned that initiative.

The bill will be the subject of a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee on September 25.

Click here to tell your Senators what the Affordable Care Act has meant to you and those you love.

 

Media Resources: Feminist Majority Foundation 7/28/17; The Hill 9/18/17; Feminists Fight Back 06/2017; Washington Post 9/18/17; New York Times 9/18/17

County of Durham, NC Unanimously Endorses CEDAW

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In a general meeting on September 11, the Durham County Board of Commissioners voted to adopt a resolution that endorses the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The resolution was approved unanimously by the Durham County Board of Commissioners and Durham is the first county or city in the state of North Carolina to adopt CEDAW.

CEDAW was first introduced and adopted by the United Nations in 1979 as a means to advance the status of women by eliminating child marriage, improving reproductive and maternity care, increasing opportunities for equal education, and working towards reducing violence against women. The US was instrumental in drafting CEDAW, and President Jimmy Carter signed the treaty on July 17, 1980. However, the US has never ratified the treaty which is the most comprehensive and detailed international agreement which seeks the advancement of women. The US is one of only 7 countries that still have not ratified the treaty.

Since the late 1990s the campaign for cities and counties to endorse CEDAW has grown. Cities such as Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, among others, have adopted CEDAW resolutions. Adopting CEDAW provides a framework and mechanisms for local governments to end discrimination against women and promote gender equality within their communities.

The Durham resolution states “although women have made major gains in the struggle for equality in most fields, much more needs to be accomplished to fully eradicate discrimination based on gender and race and to achieve one of the most basic human rights; women generally earn less than men in Durham County, women and girls are victims and survivors of intimate partner violence, and women face inequities in access to comprehensive healthcare.”

Activists from the North Carolina Coalition for CEDAW and Women NC led the campaign for the county of Durham to adopt the resolution. Beth Dehghan, Women NC President, said in a statement that the “passage of this resolution reflects a strong commitment to improving human rights in this community.”

Resources: Feminist Newswire 7/17/14, 11/24/14; Women NC 9/12/17

Senators Urge DeVos and Department of Education to Maintain Title IX Guidelines

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Twenty-nine U.S. Senators have signed onto an open letter urging Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education to keep the current Title IX guidelines on campus sexual assault.

On September 7, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that she is working to replace the current Title IX guidelines that address campus sexual assault and gender-based violence. The existing guidelines were outlined the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter, which serves as a guidance document on how schools must address the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses.

The letter, sent on September 14, states that DeVos’s promise to rescind the current guidelines “shows neither a dedication to a fully transparent process including robust stakeholder engagement, nor a commitment to supporting survivors in obtaining justice and ensuring they are safe on campus.

The letter also states that “the current guidance is critical to ensuring that schools understand and take seriously their responsibilities under the law, and we urge you to leave the current guidance in place. Rescinding the guidance would be a step in the wrong direction in addressing the national epidemic of campus sexual assault.”

The letter was signed by twenty-eight Democrats and one Independent.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 9/8/17, 9/12/17; Huffington Post 9/15/17

Repeal of Global Gag Rule Included in Senate FY 2018 Foreign Relations Budget Bill

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Last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a 2018 foreign relations budget bill which includes an amendment that would increase funding for family planning worldwide and repeal Trump’s Global Gag Rule which prohibits any non-governmental organization that receives U.S. family planning funding from offering abortion services or referrals. The amendment received bipartisan support, with Senators Collins (R-Maine) and Murkowski (R-Alaska) voting with panel Democrats, and was added to the appropriations bill.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) added an amendment to amendment to the 2018 Fiscal Year State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs budget bill that would increase the funding for family planning to $622.5 million. The amendment contains language that would also effectively repeal the Mexico City Policy, commonly known as the Global Gag Rule which was reinstated by Donald Trump in January as one of his first acts as President.

The bill will proceed to vote by the full Senate and  must reconcile with the House State and Foreign Operations budget bill for the 2018 fiscal year.

In a press release, Senator Shaheen stated, “My amendment will preserve and restore funding levels for international organizations that help to prevent over fifty million unintended pregnancies around the world, and reduce the number of maternal deaths we see from those accessing unsafe abortions when the lack of family planning leaves them without options. I’m very pleased that this amendment was approved on a bipartisan basis and hope that Congress can continue to make progress to repeal this disastrous policy.”

The original Global Gag Rule, first implemented in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan,  bans any overseas NGO that receives US family planning and reproductive health funding from providing or distributing information about abortions, even using funding from non-US government sources, forcing NGOs to choose between accepting vital US funding or offering information, referrals, or services for abortion.

Trump expanded the Global Gag Rule in January to include global health programs across all agencies, meaning that Global Gag now not only applies to family planning organizations, but also NGOs that work to combat public health epidemics such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, Zika, and much more.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 2/22/17, 1/24/17; Politico 9/7/17; Kaiser Family Foundation 9/8/17

Prominent North Carolina Civil Rights Center Banned from Engaging in Civil Rights Litigation

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In a 24-3 vote last week, the University of North Carolina Board of Governors (BOG), which determines the rules and regulations for the University of North Carolina (UNC) system, barred the UNC Chapel Hill School of Law’s Center for Civil Rights from engaging in civil rights litigation for minority and low-income communities.

The UNC Center for Civil Rights, founded in 2001 by Julius Chambers, was in part founded to “ensure that future generations of attorneys are equipped to continue the ongoing campaign to secure fair and equal opportunities for minority and low-income people,” according to the Center’s website. The Center for Civil Rights offers fellowships, internships, and externships in addition to pro bono opportunities for students who are interesting in pursuing civil rights law and social justice.

Director of the Center for Civil Rights Ted Shaw stated the vote “is an ideological attack on those who train and provide representation in civil rights matters, full stop.” Before joining the UNC Center for Civil Rights, Shaw served as the President of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and litigated civil rights cases in appellate courts and the United States Supreme Court. Shaw taught Constitutional and Civil Rights law at the University of Michigan Law School. He was instrumental in the Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger, which upheld affirmative action admissions policies at the University of Michigan.

Shaw went on to say that in the wake of the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, VA, now “is not the time – if there ever is one – to cut back on mechanisms to enforce civil rights and fight against discrimination.”

The UNC Center for Civil Rights has represented low-income and minorities communities in civil rights proceedings and is widely considered to be a major contributor to civil rights advocacy work in North Carolina. The Center has ligated on school segregation, equal housing, and environmental hazards. The Center is funded exclusively through grants and other private sources and therefore does not using tax-payer money to pursue civil rights litigation.

The UNC Board of Governors is comprised of 30 members who were elected by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature. In 2015, the UNC Board of Governors voted to close the UNC Center on Poverty, Work, and Community which conducted research and advocated for policies that would lessen poverty in the state of North Carolina. The Center on Poverty, Work, and Community was exclusively funded by grants and received no state funding. After the BOG voted to close the Center on Poverty, the UNC School of Law opened the NC Poverty Research Fund to continue this critical and much needed work.

Members of the Board of Governors struggled to justify their vote to bar the Center for Civl Rights from litigating by claiming the Center failed to provide education benefits and should not be permitted to litigate against government bodies. Comments made by UNC System President and Board of Governors Chairman demonstrated minimal knowledge of the center and how it operates. The vote effectively prohibits all entities within the UNC system from litigating, but the Center for Civil Rights is the only UNC center that participates in litigation.

Media Resources: Inside Higher Ed 9/11/17, The Nation 9/11/17; Washington Post 2/19/15

California Lawmakers Pass Bill to Protect Rights of LGBT Seniors

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The LGBT Senior Bill of Rights, introduced by California State Senator Scott Wiener, was approved by the California State Assembly on Tuesday and will now move onto the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.

SB 219, also referred to as the LGBT Seniors Bill of Rights,  will protect seniors in nursing facilities from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and HIV status.

The text of the bill states that “the purpose of this act is to accelerate the process of freeing LGBT residents and patients from discrimination, by both specifying prohibited discriminatory acts in the long-term care setting and by providing additional information and remedies to ensure that LGBT residents know their rights and have the means to vindicate them.”

Nursing facilities will no longer be permitted to deny admission to individuals who identify as LGBT, nor wwill they be able to transfer patients to other facilities based solely on their sexual orientation or gender identity. In addition, this will require the use of preferred names and gender pronouns for all seniors within these facilities. Under this new bill, transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals will be assigned rooms based on their gender identities.

This bill has received support from many human rights and LGBT organizations in California.

In a statement about SB 219, Senator Wiener stated, “these LGBT seniors are the pioneers who fought for and won the rights and freedoms so many of us enjoy today. Supporting these heroes is a moral imperative, especially as they face discrimination, invisibility, unique health challenges, and frequent lack of family support. The LGBT Seniors Bill of Rights will help our elders age with the dignity and respect they have earned a hundreds times over.”

Sources: SFist 5/31/17, Equality California, Scott Wiener 9/12/17, California Legislative Information

Writer and Afghan Scholar Nancy Hatch Dupree dies at 89

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Described as the “Grandmother of Afghanistan,” Nancy Hatch Dupree dedicated decades of her life to preserving the history and culture of Afghanistan. Her death, on September 10, has sparked reflection on the impactful work that Dupree and her husband engaged in over their decades spent in Afghanistan.

Over the course of her life, Dupree published five books focused on the history and culture of Afghanistan. Among these, Afghanistan Over a Cup of Tea, a collection of essays discussing topics such as women’s rights, healthcare, education, the Taliban, and Afghan culture. Within this book, she outlines her own unique experiences in Afghanistan. This book, and Dupree’s other literary contributions, are considered “must reads” for those interested in learning about Afghanistan.

Dupree was involved in writing countless articles and informational guides based on her travels and experiences. In addition to this, she regularly contributed to a number of publications including Sweden’s Afghanistan Nytt. Dupree was considered by many to be one of the leading experts on Afghan culture and history. When asked about her passion for preserving Afghan heritage, Dupree has been quoted saying that “A nation stays alive if its culture stays alive.”

In addition to her contributions to the literature on Afghanistan, Dupree and her husband established the Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree Foundation. This foundation is dedicated to the continued preservation of the historical records and documentation of Afghanistan. During the years of Taliban rule, Dupree continued her work to ensure that the historical artifacts of Afghanistan were protected. She helped to amass a large collection of photographs that can now be viewed on the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University (ACKU) website. Dupree also served as Director and Executive Coordinator at ACKU beginning in 2006.

Dupree first travelled to Kabul, Afghanistan in 1962. Since this time, she was committed to her goal of preserving Afghan culture and artifacts. Even during her time outside of Afghanistan, she did not waver in her determination to protect Afghan history. Her death leaves many Afghans mourning her loss and celebrating her countless contributions to Afghanistan and the preservation of Afghan history.

Media Sources: The National 9/10/17, Louis and Nancy Hatch Dupree Foundation, The New York Times 9/10/17, U.S. News 9/10/17, Aljazeera 9/10/17

Supreme Court Upholds Trump Administration’s Travel Ban by Blocking Court of Appeals Decision

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On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court blocked a lower court’s decision that exempted refugees from the Trump Administration’s travel ban. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that refugees who currently have contracts with resettlement sponsors or refugee organizations would be permitted to enter the country while the legality of travel ban is considered by the Supreme Court, who will hear the case in October.

Last week’s decision of the Court of Appeals would have limited the scope of President Trump’s travel ban and exempted approximately 24,000 refugees. The Justice Department requested the Supreme Court review and block the decision made by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court announced their decision in a one paragraph statement, but offered no comment on the ruling to block the Court of Appeals’ decision.

President Trump’s ban on people traveling from six majority Muslim countries, as allowed by the Supreme Court, went into effect in July. Travelers from Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and Sudan will be banned for 90 days if unable to provide a “bona fide relationship” connection to the United States. The Supreme Court ruled to allow the ban until the Court can hear the case in October and make a final ruling.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 7/3/17; LA Times 9/7/17; Washington Post 9/12/17; Huffington Post 9/13/17; CNN 9/12/17

Marriage Equality Activist Edith Windsor Dies at 88

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Edith Windsor, LGBTQ and civil rights activist, dies at 88 in Manhattan on Tuesday.

After the death of her wife, Thea Spyer, in 2009, Windsor attempted to claim federal tax exemptions on her wife’s estate tax. Since same-sex marriage was not recognized by the federal government under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Windsor was denied the federal tax exemptions.

The Defense of Marriage Act legally defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman. At the time, the decision to allow same-sex couples the right to marry was determined on a state-by-state basis. However, even while some states recognized same-sex marriage, the federal government did not. As a result, same-sex couples were not eligible to receive the same federal benefits as heterosexual married couples.

Windsor and her wife had a relationship lasting more than 40 years. While they were married in Canada in 2007, their marriage was still not recognized by the U.S. federal government. Windsor argued that because the state of New York recognized her marriage, discrimination by the federal government was unconstitutional. Her case, United States v. Windsor, went to the Supreme Court.

On June 26, 2013, the Supreme Court ruled that DOMA was unconstitutional. Windsor was recognized as the executor of her wife’s estate. As a result of this ruling, the federal government can no longer discriminate against same-sex couples by denying them the federal benefits granted to heterosexual married couples.

Windsor remained heavily involved with advocacy work after the ruling.

The LGBT+ community mourns the loss of Edith Windsor. She is widely considered to be a champion of the LGBT+ community. President Obama said of Windsor, “Few were as small in stature as Edie Windsor, and few made as big a difference to America.”

Windsor is survived by her wife, Judith Kasen, whom she married in 2016.

Media Sources: ACLU 4/25/14, CNN 9/12/17, Washington Post 9/13/17, New York Times 9/30/16, 9/12/17

Deadline Extended to Submit Comments to Department of Education

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In June, the Department of Education opened a comment period for the public to provide input on whether the Department of Education should keep, modify, or eliminate rules that protect the civil rights of students of color, women, students with disabilities, pregnant or parenting students, immigrant students, LGBTQ students, and other groups affected by civil rights laws. The deadline to submit a comment to the Department of Education is September 20, 2017.

All of the Departments of Education’s civil rights regulations and many of its guidance documents are being considered during the comment period, including guidance related to campus sexual assault. The Department of Education plays an important role in enforcing civil rights laws that protect students from discrimination on the basis of sex (Title IX); race, color and national origin (Title VI); and disability (Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). To be effective, however, the federal government must enforce the law, provide oversight, and proactively work to ensure that students’ rights are realized. All of the rules that carry out those roles are being threatened.

Just last week, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that the Department of Education plans to undo the Title IX guidelines put into place in the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter which protects survivors of sexual violence. In a statement, Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal said that DeVos’s remarks, which attacked the Obama Administration’s effort to hold schools accountable for neglecting to appropriately address the epidemic of sexual assault on college campuses, demonstrated “a complete lack of understanding of Title IX as well as blatant contempt and disregard for survivors of sexual violence.”

Click here to submit your comment today and tell the Department of Education that they must defend civil rights for all students.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 9/8/17, 9/7/17; CNN 9/7/17

Yale University Changes College Name to Honor Grace Murray Hopper

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Yale University recently announced that Calhoun College, named after Yale graduate  John C. Calhoun, a fierce defender of slavery throughout his lifetime, will be renamed for the fall 2017 semester. The University intends to rename the college in honor of Yale graduate Grace Murray Hopper, an American computer scientist, mathematician, professor, and United States Navy rear admiral.

The decision comes off the heels of a reexamination of Calhoun’s legacy and its conflict with Yale’s values. “It is now clear to me, too, that the name of Calhoun College must change. Yale has changed magnificently over the past 300 years and will continue to evolve long after our time; today we have the opportunity to move the university forward in a way that reinforces our mission and core values,” said Peter Salovey, Yale University’s President.

As a Senator and later as Vice President, John C. Calhoun defended white supremacist views. After broad community outrage and suggestions from alumni, faculty, students, and staff, Hopper’s name was most recommended as the new namesake for the college. Students returning this fall saw signs bearing the name of Grace Hopper College.

Hopper graduated from Yale University with her master’s degree in mathematics in 1930 and received her PhD from Yale in 1934, also in mathematics. Hopper was a professor at Vassar College before enlisting in the United States Navy, serving in the Navy Reserve during World War II. However, her biggest contribution was in software. She is known to have developed the first word-based computer language, COBOL (COmmon Business-Oriented Language), which allowed for programming using English words. Her contribution in the software field made computers easier to use and more accessible to people. Hopper was awarded Yale’s Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, the National Medal of Technology, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her great impact in computer science and her service to her country.

Media Sources: Yale News 2/11/17, Washington Post 2/12/17, The Atlantic 10/5/2015

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