Migration Category: Migration Categories

A CBS poll released yesterday indicates that President George Bush now has the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, and approval ratings for Vice-President Dick Cheney and Congress are also remarkably low. Only 34 percent of Americans approve of Bush’s general performance, and 53 percent of Americans have an unfavorable view of Bush himself, also a new low for his presidency. Americans’ views on Cheney have plummeted to an only 18 percent favorable rating.

The poll further found that 61 percent of Americans disapprove of Congress’ job performance. This number is lower than the approval ratings found during either President Clinton’s Lewinsky scandal or the months following September 11. Strikingly, it is most similar to the numbers polled in early 1994, just before Democrats lost control of Congress. This may indicate a public ready to end current Republican dominance in Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.

Octavia Butler, the celebrated feminist science fiction writer, died on Friday at 58. The first African-American woman to break into the male-dominated field of science fiction, Butler used the genre to explore themes of race, politics, poverty, morality, and gender. Writer and friend Tananarive Due told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “What she conveyed in her writing was the deep pain she felt about the injustices around her.”

Butler received a MacArthur “genius” award in 1995, and she remains the only science fiction writer to win the prestigious $295,000 award. Her career also included two Nebula awards, the highest award for science fiction writing. Jane Jewell, executive director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, told the Associated Press, “She was one of the first and one of the best to discuss gender and race in science fiction.”

As the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to stall approval of over-the-counter access for Plan B, a form of emergency contraception (EC), states across the country have begun to legislate the issue for themselves. The Washington Post ran a piece today examining the trend, which includes 60 bills nationwide that aim to affect women’s access to EC. Nine states currently allow pharmacy access to the medication without a prescription, and states such as Illinois require pharmacies to stock the drug or provide referrals. Furthermore, some states have legislated to require hospitals to provide EC as an option to sexual assault survivors. Vivion Maisenbacher of Barr Laboratories (the maker of Plan B) told the Post, “I think it’s a tide that can’t be stopped… I think we’ll see a state or two each year joining the ranks, and will soon have a majority of women having access through pharmacies.”

Other states, however, are attempting to legally protect pharmacists’ right to refuse to dispense the medication, or in the case of New Hampshire, requiring parental notification. Some anti-choice activists and politicians falsely claim that EC, essentially a high dosage of traditional birth control bills, can induce early abortions. In fact, EC is safer than aspirin, meets all of the FDA’s requirements for over-the-counter status, and is up to 95 percent effective if used within the first 24 hours after unprotected sex, birth control failure, or sexual assault.

LEARN MORE Download a fact sheet on emergency contraception for pharmacy access states

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has reached a settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding the abstinence education program known as the Silver Ring Thing, which was receiving government funding despite the religious content of its materials. As part of the settlement, HHS will not fund the current version of the Silver Ring Thing, all possible future grants will require the program become fully compliant with federal law prohibiting the use of federal funds for religious activities, and HHS will closely monitor any future grants to the Silver Ring Thing.

Last August, as a result of the ACLU lawsuit, HHS withheld a $75,000 grant to the program because it “includes both secular and religious components that are not adequately safeguarded,” and the group was told submit a “corrective action plan” before receiving funds. The ACLU considers these actions and the recent settlement to be positive steps toward reevaluating government support of abstinence-only education programs. Daniel Mach, attorney with the ACLU on this case, said, “Today’s settlement should serve as a wake-up call for HHS to better monitor the abstinence-only-until-marriage organizations they fundÉ We will continue to fight any violations we may find.”

The South Dakota Senate yesterday approved (23-12) a bill that would make it a felony for doctors to perform any abortions in the state except those necessary to save the life of the woman. The state House overwhelmingly passed the bill earlier this month. Because the Senate slightly changed the wording of the bill, the House must approve the new language, and the bill will then go to anti-choice Governor Mike Rounds (R) to become law.

Gov. Rounds vetoed a similar bill in 2004 because of concerns that legal challenges to the bill could weaken or eliminate existing state abortion restrictions, but he said in 2005 that he would feel “morally obligated” to sign such a bill banning abortion into law.

If signed into law, the bill is expected to face immediate legal challenges. According to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, an anonymous donor has already pledged $1 million to help defray South Dakota’s legal expenses in defending the law.

DONATE to protect the right to a safe, legal abortion.

Unmarried women hold solidly progressive views and would vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates if they voted regularly, according to a new poll released this week by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. The survey was sponsored by the Women’s Voices. Women Vote. Action Fund (WVWVAF) to explore the reasons that 20 million single women did not vote in the 2004 election. WVWVAF is dedicated to raising awareness among single women, who represent a quarter of all Americans of voting age.

The survey found that single women have significantly lower incomes than men or married women, feel uninformed about politics, and doubt that their votes make a difference. Two-thirds of the women polled disapprove of President Bush, and the Iraq war, health care and the economy are their top concerns. Avis Jones-DeWeever, of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, said, “Unmarried women don’t vote because the government doesn’t pay attention to them,” reports the San Jose Mercury News.

In the 2004 presidential election, both parties attempted to reach out to women voters, and women’s organizations reached out to register more young women. More than 20 million Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 voted in that election, an increase over previous years. Women’s organizations, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, whose Get Out Her Vote campaign increased voter registration and turn-out at campuses nationwide in 2004, are gearing up for the upcoming 2006 elections.

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, who outraged faculty and women around the country with his remarks on women and the sciences, has announced that he will resign at the end of this academic year. Harvard arts and sciences faculty had planned to vote on a motion of no confidence in Summers’ leadership next week, repeating a similar vote taken last spring following Summers’ remarks. The Harvard Corporation, a seven-member board of directors, was also beginning interviews with disgruntled faculty members concerning Summers’ leadership style.

In an open letter to the Harvard community, Summers wrote “I have reluctantly concluded that the rifts between me and segments of the arts and sciences faculty make it infeasible for me to advance the agenda of renewal that I see as crucial to Harvard’s future,” reports the Chicago Tribune. Mary C. Waters, a sociology professor, told the New York Times that “A strong leader is not just someone who can name a goal or force a change, but someone who can bring out the best in people and find ways to encourage teamwork,” which Summers was unable to do. His resignation will be effective June 30, and former President Derek Bok will serve as interim president.

In the past week, there have been several developments related to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) delay in making a decision about over-the-counter status for the emergency contraceptive Plan B. Last Thursday, acting FDA Commissioner Andrew Von Eschenbach testified before the House of Representatives’ Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee to discuss the FDA’s 2007 budget. Democrats on the committee used the time to question Von Eschenbach on Plan B, which has been delayed numerous times over the past two years. Von Eschenbach denied that politics had played a role in any decisions, and said that the FDA would consider the application in the “appropriate fashion,” reports the Associated Press.

Former FDA employees have contended that politics played a role in the decision, and the GAO report given to Congress indicated that there were several irregularities in the FDA’s process concerning the Plan B application. On Saturday, the former Director of the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health, Susan Wood, spoke at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Baltimore. Wood resigned from the FDA over the delays surrounding Plan B last fall, as did Dr. Frank Davidoff. In her speech, which drew a standing ovation, Wood criticized the Bush administration position on regulatory processes, and voiced her fear that more scientists would leave FDA because “social conservatives have extreme undue influence” over scientific findings and agency decisions, reports the New York Times.

LEARN MORE about Plan B in the current issue of Ms. Magazine, on newsstands now, or join Ms..

Today, the Supreme Court announced that it will consider the Justice Department’s appeal of a ruling that a federal ban on abortions was unconstitutional. The case involves the Partial-Birth Abortion Act, passed by Congress in 2003, but never enforced. Circuit courts around the country considered challenges to the law and ruled it to be unconstitutional because of its lack of an exception for cases in which a woman’s health is in danger. The 9th Circuit Court furthermore found the language of the statute too vague to be enforced.

A similar Nebraska state law was struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court with a 5-4 vote in 2000, with Sandra Day O’Connor in the slim majority. Samuel Alito, who has replaced O’Connor on the Supreme Court, has said that the Constitution does not protect a woman’s right to an abortion.

DONATE to protect the right to a safe, legal abortion.

Emergency contraception may soon be available without a prescription in pharmacies in Colorado and New York. A committee in the Colorado House has voted in favor of a bill giving pharmacists the authority to dispense emergency contraception, and New York Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Eliot Spitzer (D) announced his support for pharmacy access in New York.

Following approval by the Health and Human Services Committee, Colorado’s House will now consider a bill allowing pharmacists to dispense EC. The measure is sponsored by Representative Betty Boyd (D), who told the Denver Post that it was “entirely about preventing pregnancy” and pointed to a decline in abortions in Washington since it passed a similar measure.

In New York, the legislature had passed a pharmacy-access bill, which was then vetoed by Governor George Pataki (R). Spitzer announced yesterday that “Better access could cut abortions in half,” and “if elected governor, I would sign it into law,” reports the Associated Press.

In the last eight years, the number of women with policy-making posts in state government has barely budged, says a new study from the Center for Women in Government and Civil Society (CWIG). Between 1998 and 2005, the percentage of women in policy-making positions – such as state legislators, elected officials, high court judges, department heads, and top governor’s advisors – went up only 1.6 percentage points, from 23.1 percent to 24.7 percent. The gender gap is widest and most persistent in state legislatures, where the number of women has hovered around 22 percent since 1998.

Experts say multiple factors may be slowing women’s gains in government. First, political institutions are “formally and informally inhospitable” to women who have childcare and eldercare responsibilities, says Judith Saidel, CWIGÔs director. Meanwhile, leadership opportunities for women opening up in other fields – like philanthropy, business, and higher education – may be drawing women away from government.

Women running for legislative positions face an additional set of challenges. Term limits and redistricting tend to disproportionately punish women legislators, forcing them out of hard-won positions. Moreover, says Saidel, organizations like National Women’s Political Caucus that support women’s campaigns Ñ organizations that were instrumental in making 1992 “the year of the woman” in national government – have dwindled in size and scale since the early 1990’s, as public attention has been diverted to other issues. “One thing is for certain,” says Saidel, “[Gender equity in government] will not happen only by itself, at least in the foreseeable future.”

Slow progress for women in state government has national implications, says Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women in Politics at Rutgers. State and local office serve as a “pipeline” to draw women into national politics. Not to mention, adds Walsh, state legislatures themselves are “making a tremendous amount of policy” — in 2005, 48 state legislatures considered over 500 anti-choice bills.

For more information, see “Wanted: Women in the House (and Senate)” in the Ms. Winter 2006 issue, on newsstands now.

JOIN the Ms. community and receive one year of the premier feminist magazine delivered to your door

School boards and educators across the nation have been notified by Stephanie Monroe, the new Assistant Secretary for the Office for Civil Rights in the US Department of Education, that protecting students from sexual harassment using Title IX sexual harassment guidance must become a top priority. In her “Dear Colleague” letter, Monroe said that “a significant number of students are still subjected to sexual harassment, which can interfere with a student’s education as well as his or her emotional well being.” She also said that the Office for Civil Rights plans to conduct a series of Title IX compliance reviews. A recent AAUW study found that nearly two-thirds of college students in the U.S. have experienced sexual harassment.

“This is a positive start for Monroe,” said Dr. Sue Klein, FMF Education Equity Director. “I hope that she will extend this notification and enforcement follow-up to postsecondary institutions and encourage the active involvement of Title IX coordinators in educating everyone about their rights and responsibilities under all aspects of Title IX”.

FMF is working with other organizations to develop a Title IX Action Network to more adequately use Title IX coordinators and other concerned citizens to educate everyone about Title IX and solutions to end sex discrimination and stereotyping in education. Without the essential Title IX gender equity coordinators in place, educators, parents, and students are frequently left unable to effectively solve or prevent problems.

TAKE ACTION Join the Title IX Action Network

LEARN MORE Read the letter, the 2001 guidelines, and learn about FMF’s Education Equity Program.

The Society for Women’s Health Research (SWHR) and WomenHeart: the National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease, joined by Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues co-chairs Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL) and Hilda Solis (D-CA), released a new report on yesterday examining the ways in which heart disease affects women. The report, The 10 Q Report: Advancing Women’s Heart Health Through Improved Research, Diagnosis and Treatment, is the result of a survey of cardiovascular experts who were asked to identify “the top ten unanswered research questions” regarding women and heart disease. Heart disease is currently the number one cause of death for American women, killing approximately 367,000 women each year.

Some of the questions identified by experts include how to best predict women’s risk of heart disease, how to prevent it, how to eliminate differences in care between white women and women of color, and why women under 50 are more likely to suffer fatal heart attacks than their male peers. The report further recommends a research plan to address these questions and improve medical care for women in all stages of heart disease. Representative Julia Carson (D-IN), who was sworn into office while she was in the hospital recovering from heart disease, stated, “Women’s need for education and sensitivity to the dangers of heart disease cannot be overemphasized; we must have a support structure to prevent the premature death and disability that it causes.”

As is reported in the current issue of Ms. Magazine, as well as recently in the New York Times and Washington Post, new research suggests that women’s diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses differ significantly from those of men with heart disease. Current understanding of the disease is primarily based on research on male subjects and the symptoms can be very different in women, so women often go undiagnosed and then receive inappropriate treatment. The questions asked in The 10 Q Report are meant to “help doctors gain the knowledge they need to provide women optimal care for prevention, diagnosis, and the treatment of heart disease,” says Sharonne N. Hayes, M.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Women’s Heart Clinic.

LEARN MORE Read the 10 Q Report

JOIN the Ms. community and receive one year of the premier feminist magazine delivered to your door

Tuesday, the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy unanimously decided to require Wal-Marts in the state to stock emergency contraception (EC), making it the second state where women can fill EC prescriptions at the retail giant. Illinois already had a state law requiring pharmacies that stock any form of contraception to also stock EC. Wal-Mart spokesperson Dan Fogelman said that the retailer would review its stance on EC on a national basis as well, telling the Boston Globe that “We are actively thinking through this issue.”

The decision came mere weeks after three women sued Wal-Mart for violating state policies that pharmacies stock all “commonly prescribed medications.” Plaintiff Dr. Rebekah Gee told the Associated Press “I’m proud to be able to tell my patients that they now can go anywhere for their prescriptions.” Furthermore, one of the women’s lawyers, Sam Perkins, announced his willingness to file similar suits in other states and push Wal-Mart to stock EC around the country. Planned Parenthood interim president Karen Pearl praised the decision in a statement, saying “No woman should be put at risk for unintended pregnancy. We urge Wal-Mart to reverse its longstanding policy and make EC available in all stores nationwide.”

LEARN MORE about Wal-Mart and the class action gender discrimination case it currently faces.

A study of hair samples from more than 6500 people found that one in five women of childbearing age has mercury levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s recommended limit. Mercury contamination is particularly harmful for women who could become pregnant and very young children, as early exposure to mercury can cause health problems including neurological damage.

The study was conducted by the Environmental Quality Institute (EQI) at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, in cooperation with Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. The report’s co-author, Dr. Steve Patch, pointed to fish consumption as the single greatest factor in elevated mercury levels. Fish absorb mercury pollution from bodies of water contaminated in large part by coal burning power plants. Greenpeace responded to the results by calling for tougher anti-pollution laws, and also offers the hair test used in the study for use by individuals in ascertaining their own levels of mercury.

LEARN MORE Read the report and request a home mercury testing kit at Greenpeace.