Migration Category: National Old Site

Today, the 91st anniversary of the 19th amendment, which gave women the right to vote, is Women’s Equality Day. In recognition of Women’s Equality Day on August 26, the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and the anniversary of the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, the women’s groups have launched the HERvotes effort with the release of a list of the top ten historic advances for women that are now at risk of being weakened, cut, or eliminated, including the Social Security Act, Medicare, Medicaid, Title X (the National Family Planning Program), and the Equal Pay Act. President Obama urged the nation to “celebrate the achievements of women and recommit ourselves to the goal of gender equality in this country.”

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis remarked in a statement, “It has been a long journey, but each day brings America closer to the kind of true equality that our heroines like Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul imagined for us when they led the fight for women’s suffrage generations ago.Our accomplishments are undeniable, but the fight for full equality endures.”

Currently, 23.5 percent of state legislators are women, but women are more likely to earn college degrees than men. Women are essential half of the US paid workforce. Moreover, according to the Department of Labor, the number of women in the workforce has more than doubled in the past four decades and businesses that are owned by women are growing at a rate of four times that of their male counterparts.

The Virginia Department of Health will post draft regulations for abortion clinics by 5pm this evening, which will impose unnecessary and onerous regulations on abortion providers and restrict women’s access to reproductive health services. In March, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell signed a bill requiring that clinics that perform first trimester abortions meet the Board of Health regulations on hospitals and comply with the regulations for ambulatory surgery centers, which are far more stringent than the current regulations on clinics and physician’s offices. The Virginia Senate and House voted to pass the bill in February.

The Virginia Board of Health is scheduled to vote on the regulations on September 15. Governor McDonnell, an opponent of abortion rights, has appointed eight of the fifteen-member Board of Health. Elizabeth Nash, public policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, stated, “These really have nothing to do with patients and everything to do with making it harder to provide abortion services.”

The new regulations may cause as many as 17 of the state’s 21 women’s health clinics that perform abortions and provide necessary women’s reproductive health services, such as STI testing, cancer screenings, and family planning, to shut down as a result of the cost to implement the required changes. Reproductive rights groups, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Center for Reproductive Rights, the National Organization for Women, and the American Civil Liberties Union are opposing the law.

At an audio news conference yesterday afternoon, a coalition of some 20 women’s organizations announced a new effort, HERvotes, to mobilize women voters in 2012 around preserving women’s Health and Economic Rights (HER rights). In recognition of Women’s Equality Day on August 26, the anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, and the anniversary of the 1963 civil rights march on Washington, the women’s groups have launched this effort with the release of a list of the top ten historic advances for women that are now at risk of being weakened, cut, or eliminated, including the Social Security Act, Medicare, Medicaid, Title X (the National Family Planning Program), and the Equal Pay Act.

Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal moderated the audio news conference and speakers included Joan Entmacher, Vice President of Family Economic Security at the National Women’s Law Center, Dr. Avis Jones De-Weever, Executive Director of the National Council of Negro Women, and Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and Co-Founder of MomsRising.

Smeal stated, “Current attacks against Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act and Title X are attacks against women, plain and simple. It’s unjust for leaders to prioritize Wall Street corporations over Main Street women and families.”

De-Weever remarked during the conference, “It could not be more clear, that access to healthcare for women is blatantly under attack in America, whether that attack comes in the form of the continuing all-out assault against Title X, which would eliminate reproductive health care and other preventive health care services to more than 5 million low income women across this country, or if that attack comes in the form of efforts to end Medicare as we know it.”

Entmacher stated, “Women have yet to achieve economic equality. That’s especially true for women of color, single mothers, and elderly women. But the long and continuing fight for women’s rights has produced real gains – and they’re now under attack.”

Rowe-Finkbeiner also added, “We will be urging women and mothers across the nation to vote…it’s time to stop attacks on women’s economic and health security.”

The Census Bureau released a report entitled Marital Events of Americans: 2009, the first-ever detailed analysis of the marriage and divorce patterns of Americans 15 years and older, which found that southern and western states have both higher rates of marriage and divorce. In 2009, the divorce rate was 10.2 per 1,000 for men and 11.1 per 1,000 for women in the South, compared to the national average, which for men is 9.2 and for women is 9.7.

The southern states with the highest rate of divorce included Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and West Virginia. By contrast, states in the Northeast have the lowest overall rates of divorce in the US, which the Census Bureau indicated was partially a result of a delayed age of marriage. Dr. Andrew Cherlin, professor of sociology and public policy at Johns Hopkins University, stated, “The reason is that young adults in the South and West tend to have less education and marry earlier, both of which lead to a higher risk of divorce. The South and West also have many migrants from other parts of the region who have left their social support networks behind. When they have marital problems, they have fewer people to turn to for help.”

Women who got a divorce within the last year had lower reported household incomes than recently divorced men and were more likely to be recipients of public assistance. Moreover, recently divorced women were more likely to be living in multigenerational households.

The Guttmacher Institute released a new study indicating that while the overall rate of unintended in the US pregnancies has remained steady since 1994, with approximately 5 percent of woman experiencing an unintended pregnancy each year, the rate of unintended pregnancies has actually increased dramatically, while the rate for higher-income women has steadily declined. According to “Unintended Pregnancy in the United States: Incidence and Disparities” by Lawrence Finer and Mia Zolna, the rate of unintended pregnancies was higher for women between the ages of 18 and 24, those who cohabitate, and minority women.

In 1994, the rate of unintended pregnancies for lower-income women ages 15 to 44 was 88 per 1,000 women; whereas in 2006 the rate was 132 for every 1,000 women, which represents a 50 percent increase. By contrast, the rate of higher-income women who experienced unintended pregnancies decreased by 29 percent in that time frame.

Sharon Camp, President and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute stated, “The growing disparity in unplanned pregnancy rates between poor and higher-income-which reflects persistent, similar disparities across a range of health and social indicators-is deeply troubling. Addressing them all requires not only improved access to reproductive health care, but also looking to broader social and economic inequities. At a minimum, however, we must ensure that all women and particularly those who are most vulnerable, have access to the education and range of reproductive health services and counseling they need.”

United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin announced that over the next five years, UNFPA will donate $70 million to Bangladesh to be used for maternal and reproductive health and to end violence against women. Osotimehin stated, “Healthy and educated people are human capital that helps nations fight poverty and promote development. Leaders should help them invest their energies in their nations’ progress.”

UNFPA declared Bangladesh one if its eight priority countries, where the agency will focus on improving maternal, infant, and child health. Since the 1970s, fertility rates in Bangladesh have dropped dramatically from 6.3 children per woman to approximately 2.5. Moreover, maternal mortality in Bangladesh has decreased by 61 percent in the past 20 years. Although Bangladesh is making the progress necessary to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for health, Osotimehin noted that improvements are still necessary to increase health and midwife services for pregnant women, end child marriage, and promote family planning.

The law firm of Katz, Marshall & Banks filed a lawsuit on behalf of Dr. Margo Fitzpatrick, a former Booz partner, in the District of Columbia Superior Court against Booz Allen Hamilton for allegedly discriminating against its female employees and engaging in retaliatory firing. Booz Allen is being charged with maintaining a “‘glass ceiling’ barring women from top leadership positions and oust[ing] female executives who object to sex discrimination.”

Debra Katz, an attorney representing the plaintiff, stated, “Contrary to Booz Allen’s self-claimed and much-hyped commitment to a diverse workforce, the highest circle of its corporate leadership is off-limits to women and is maintained that way by its male executives. No matter how accomplished or successful you are at Booz Allen Hamilton, if you’re a woman, you will hit a glass ceiling. And when you raise concerns about the exclusion of women from leadership positions at the Firm or other blatant acts of sex discrimination, you will find yourself, as Dr. Fitzpatrick did, out of a job.”

The lawsuit alleges that Booz Allen used sex stereotyping and discriminatory language in its promotion evaluation system and prevented women executives from entering into high ranking positions. When women executives inquired about the absence of women in top leadership positions, they were told by senior male employees that such questions would lead to the women’s termination.

This is the second sex discrimination suit filed against Booz Allen this month. The first suit was filed by Molly Finn, formerly the company’s highest ranking woman employee. Currently none of Booz Allen’s top 45 leadership positions, including its board of directors and executive vice presidents, is occupied by a woman.

President Obama issued an executive order to increase diversity in the federal government through the recruiting, hiring, and promotion process. According to a White House statement, the federal government must “endeavor to achieve a work force from all segments of society.” Within 90 days of the order, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Deputy Director for Management of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in conjunction with the President’s Management Council and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, must develop an initiative to increase diversity and inclusivity in the federal government’s workplace.

President Obama stated, “By this order, I am directing executive departments and agencies to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of their human resource strategies. This approach should include a continuing effort to identify and adopt best practices, implemented in an integrated manner, to promote diversity and remove barriers to equal employment opportunity, consistent with merit system principles and applicable law. According to the Washington Post, “Latinos were only 4.1 percent of the employees in the senior pay levels in fiscal 2010; African Americans, 6.7 percent; and women, 31.2 percent.” Moreover, Caucasians currently make up 81 percent of senior level workers.

Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor and former administration official for the Obama Administration, is considering running for a Republican Scott Brown’s seat in the US Senate in Massachusetts. Warren filed late last week to establish an exploratory committee.

Stephanie Schriok, president of Emily’s List, expressed her support for Warren: “Elizabeth is poised to make a run in this critical race, and she’s just the candidate to take on Scott Brown, a bait-and-switch tea-partying Republican whose pockets are lined with millions.” Warren is a supporter of consumer rights and is a strong advocate for women’s rights, who formed a new government agency to protect families from corporate abuses, according to Emily’s List. Last week, she traveled throughout Massachusetts conducting what she described as a listening tour.

Senator Brown has indicated his support for Roe v. Wade, but supports the Stupak-Pitts amendment to Health Care Reform. He also supports the Defense of Marriage Amendment (DOMA). He also voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act last November.

Beginning tomorrow morning, hundreds of farmworkers, organized by the United Farm Workers, will embark on a 167 mile pilgrimage from the Central Valley to Sacramento, CA to urge Governor Jerry Brown (D) to sign the Fair Treatment for Farm Workers Act, which would allow farmworkers to privately fill out state-issued ballots for union elections. The march will conclude on Labor Day at the State Capitol.

The bill has passed both houses of the California Legislature; however, Governor Brown has indicated that he is “not yet convinced” that he should sign the bill. United Farm Workers said in its statement, “For California’s more than 400,000 farm workers, most of whom are not in unions, ‘not yet’ means most of them do not have basic justice enjoyed by other workers, including fair wages and protection from abuse. ‘Not yet’ it’s been 73 years and counting since agribusiness successfully lobbied Congress to exclude agricultural workers from overtime-pay rules under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.”

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), a division of the National Institutes of Health, released the results of its study this week indicating that cigarette smokers face a greater risk of bladder cancer than previously reported. Moreover, the findings, which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that smoking caused approximately 50 percent of the cases of bladder cancer in women, and women’s risk of contracting bladder cancer is now equal to that of men.

According to previous studies, only 20 to 30 percent of cases of bladder cancer in women were caused by smoking. Neal Freedman, one of the authors of the study told PBS, “Ours is the first study to indicate the proportion of bladder cancer linked to smoking is, in fact, the same” for men and women. The researchers suggested that the this may be because the number of women smokers has increased to equal the number of men who smoke.

Christian Abnet PhD, senior author of the study, stated, “Our findings provide additional evidence of the importance of preventing smoking initiation and promoting cessation for both men and women.”

The White House, with an unprecedented number of blocked judicial appointments, has released a new blog post, which reveals that the Republican blocking maneuvers are costing the government $1.4 billion detaining prisoners awaiting trial alone. Moreover, the average wait time of a civil litigant’s jury trial is approximately 25 months and 15.9 percent of civil cases in 2010 experienced a wait of 3 years for a revolution.

Despite President Obama’s dedication to increasing the gender, racial and ethnographic diversity of those serving as federal judges, his judicial nominations have been blocked more than any other president. Republican Senators are either putting holds on appointments or threatening to or are filibustering. Only 97 of President Obama’s 155 judicial nominees have been confirmed. President Obama’s rate of judicial confirmations is only 62.6 percent, compared with George W. Bush’s rate of 86.8 percent and Bill Clinton’s rate of 84.2 percent.

Stephen Zack, president of the American Bar Association, stated that the failure of the Senate to confirm President Obama’s nominations “create[s] strains that will inevitably reduce the quality of our justice system and erode public confidence in the ability of the courts to vindicate constitutional rights or render fair and timely decisions.” The American Bar Association has determined that all of the President’s nominees are qualified for confirmation.

Twenty-one percent of President Obama’s nominees are African Americans and nearly 50 percent are women. By contrast, only 7 percent of President George W. Bush’s nominees were African American and 23 percent were women, and President Clinton’s nominees were 16 percent African American and 29 percent women. President Obama has doubled the number of Asian Americans working as federal judges. Under Obama, the first Latina, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, was sworn into the Supreme Court. Moreover, four of President Obama’s nominees are openly gay; nevertheless, only one has been confirmed.

See Infographic: Record Judicial Diversity, Record Judicial Delays

Yesterday, the Virginia Department of Corrections announced that it will adopt regulations banning restraints on pregnant inmates during labor, delivery, and a recovery period following the delivery. The regulations specify that handcuffs may only be used during transport and additional restraints may be used in cases where the woman may harm herself or others, but in these cases, the woman must still be able to stand, walk, and roll over.

The American Medical Association, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Virginia Chapter of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Legal Aid Justice Center, ACLU of Virginia, NARAL Pro-Choice-Virginia, Planned Parenthood-Virginia, VA CURE, and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture expressed their support for the Department of Corrections’ new regulations.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of Kansas City, KS challenging a new state law that prohibits private health insurance plans from covering abortion services, except when the woman’s life is endangered. Under the law, women who seek coverage for abortion services must purchase a separate rider to cover non-lifesaving abortions. Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project indicated that the ACLU is challenging the law on the basis that it is unconstitutional and that it discriminates on the basis of sex.

Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, stated, “This law is part of a nationwide trend to take away insurance coverage for a legal medical procedure that is an important part of basic health care for women. Many things can happen in a pregnancy that are beyond a woman’s control, so having insurance coverage for abortion ensures that every woman can get the health care she may need.”

According to the Guttmacher Institute, “87% of typical employer-based insurance policies in 2002 covered medically necessary or appropriate abortions.” Since 2010, thirteen states have passed laws banning private health plans that participate in public health exchanges from covering abortions.

The Office for Civil Rights at the US Department of Education determined, following its investigation, that two high schools in Oldham County, Kentucky violated Title IX by failing to provide equal locker room facilities for male and female athletes. Passed in 1972, Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in all levels of education.

Neena Chaudhry, Senior Counsel for Education and Employment at the National Women’s Law Center, stated, “The resolution of this complaint is a victory for the girls in Oldham County. The school district must produce a plan that will provide equal facilities for the boys’ and girls’ sports teams…[this] reminds us that while girls have made great strides in athletics because of Title IX, there is still much work to be done to level the playing field.”

Chaudry indicated that the National Women’s Law Center filed another Title IX complaint against Oldham County Schools with the Office of Civil Rights last November for not offering female students equal opportunities to play high school sports.

Yesterday, two Democratic Senators Bob Wirch and Jim Holperin defeated their Republican opponents in the final two Wisconsin recall elections. The recall bids grew out of this spring’s bitter fight over Republican Governor Scott Walker’s anti-union law stripping teachers, nurses and social workers of their collective bargaining rights. Both Democratic senators were among the 14 who fled the state in February in a strategy to make Governor Scott Walker (R) negotiate with them regarding the law.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate stated, “It’s really hard to go five for nine and not be pleased [with] the progress we’ve made.”

In the August 9 recall elections, Democratic Senators Jennifer Shilling and Jessica King won two of the contested seats in strongly Republican districts, and in July, Democrat Dave Hansen won in the first of nine recall elections in Wisconsin this week. Nevertheless, the Democrats, who won five of the total nine recall elections, failed to capture the seats necessary to become the majority in the state Senate. The Republicans now have a 17-16 majority in the state Senate and are also the majority in the Wisconsin House of Representatives.

Last week, a civil lawsuit was filed against the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri, where Father Shawn Ratigan was arrested in May for taking “lewd and lacivious” photographs of a now nine year old girl. Bishop Robert Finn of the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese admitted that although he knew about Ratiga’s misconduct for approximately six months, he did not report the priest to law enforcement officials, according to the New York Times.

Approximately three years ago, Bishop Finn settled in a sexual abuse suit, with 47 plaintiffs, against the church for $10 million. In the settlement, the Bishop agreed to immediately report suspected cases of pedophilia. Michael Hunter, the president of the Kansas City chapter of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), stated “There were 19 nonmonetary agreements that the diocese signed on to, and they were things like reporting immediately to the police. And they didn’t do it. That’s really what sickens us as much as the abuse.”

Bishop Finn, who is affiliated with Opus Dei, generated criticism from priests and parishioners in the diocese after he cut the funding for the Office of Peace and Justice, which aimed to alleviate poverty and promote human rights, and founded the Respect for Life Office, which focuses on banning stem cell research.

In New Jersey, a bill that would prevent sexual assault survivors from receiving invoices for forensic examinations, as well as for medications to prevent sexually transmitted infections, pregnancy tests, and emergency contraception, awaits the signature of Republican Governor Chris Christie. The bill was passed by a majority in both the state House and Senate. It is unclear whether Christie will sign the bill into law.

Senator Diane Allen (R-Burlington) stated, “In no other crime would it even be contemplated that victims receive an invoice for the collection of evidence needed to prosecute the offenders.”

Congresswoman Annette Quijano (D-Union), who sponsored the bill,remarked, “This is simply the right thing to do. Sexual assault victims have already suffered enough. I see no reason why we should add to that suffering by essentially forcing them to pay for the investigation into their own assault. We must remember that these women are the victims, not the criminals.”

A three judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled unanimously to overturn a preliminary injunction issued by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Donald Daughton in 2009, which blocked portions of a restrictive state abortion law. Judge Daughton’s ruling prevented anti-abortion provisions from going into effect, including one that would require that women be counseled by a doctor 24 hours prior to obtaining an abortion and one that would require minors seeking abortion services to present a notarized statement from their parents. The law also includes a provision that permits pharmacists and health care personnel to refuse to prescribe emergency contraception on religious grounds.

In the Appeals Court ruling, Judge Peter Swann wrote, “We hold that the statutes affected by the preliminary injunction are constitutional, and we therefore vacate the injunction in its entirety.”

Bryan Howard, president of Planned Parenthood of Arizona, indicated that Planned Parenthood was considering whether to appeal the ruling, which will severely limit women’s access to abortion in Arizona. Howard stated, “We’re looking at all of our options. The bottom line is that the new restrictions imposed by the law are going to put women in harm’s way. And we will fight that…The bottom line is women are going to be hurt by this. It’s really, to one degree or another, going to impact women from across the state and that’s not acceptable.”

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) signed the Justice for Victims of Sex Trafficking Crimes Act into law, which will enable victims of human trafficking charged with prostitution to petition to expunge their prostitution convictions. Governor Quinn stated, “Sex trafficking is a truly reprehensible crime that preys on the most vulnerable. Victims deserve a chance to clear their records and rebuild their lives.”

The law aims to help trafficking victims, who are often limited in their access to housing, employment opportunities, and education due to prostitution convictions. It is part of a campaign in Illinois to hold pimps and johns legally responsible for trafficking, not those who are forced into prostitution. The bill was sponsored by Senator Toi Hutchinson (D-Chicago Heights) and Representative Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood and will go into effect January 1, 2012.

Senator Hutchinson stated, “The most important things about Senate Bill 1037 is that it makes sure that the judicial system has a mechanism to ensure that a person who has been the victim of a crime is not automatically considered a criminal. It is good public policy to protect women and children who have been taken advantage of in this most heinous way. They can take the necessary steps to rebuild their lives and become functional members of society after suffering trauma of that magnitude.”