Migration Category: National Old Site

Yesterday, the Ohio Senate Finance Committee voted for a two-year state budget after attaching two anti-abortion amendments to it. One amendment would ban abortion services in public hospitals and the other would prohibit public funds for health care plans that cover abortions. The bill is expected to go to the state Senate for a vote today.

Kelly Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice, condemned the amendments saying, “Instead of letting doctors provide the best medical care for women, the Ohio Senate is imposing their anti-choice political agenda on providers, and forcing hospitals to put politics before patients’ needs. Without knowing every woman’s situation or why she is considering abortion, these politicians are proposing a budget amendment that would take away that option even if her health is at risk or when a much-wanted pregnancy goes terribly wrong.”

The Ohio budget plan would also allow for charter schools for students considered gifted.

AstraZeneca, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies worldwide, will pay $250,000 in a sex discrimination settlement filed by the US Department of Labor. The amount will be divided equally between 124 former and current women employees. Following an investigation, the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFFCP) found that the company had violated Executive Order 11246, which states that federal contractors cannot discriminate on the basis of gender in their hiring and employment practices.

Patricia Shiu, director of the OFCCP, stated, “Forty-eight years after President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act, women are still fighting for fundamental fairness when it comes to how we are paid. I am glad AstraZeneca finally has agreed to pay its employees what they’ve earned.”

The women experienced pay discrimination while working at AstraZeneca’s location in Wayne, PA and received salaries that were approximately $1,700 than male employees. AstraZeneca will also work with OFCCP to analyze the base pay of 415 full time employees.

Thirty years ago on Sunday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the first-ever report on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), although the disease was not officially named until the following year. The AIDS epidemic in the US has shifted from primarily affecting gay men in the 1980s to disproportionately affecting minority women in the 1990s and 2000s. According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, racial and ethnic minorities are 58 percent of the cases of AIDS reported to the CDC since 1981; however, they constitute only 12 percent of the population in the US.

Dr. Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, stated, “Although the numbers in the decades have been stable, the rates of the disease are unacceptably high. New diagnoses are 19-22 times of white women in the US. That’s a startling statistic.”

Since 1981, over 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide, and about 33 million are living with the infection. In the United States every year, approximately 56,000 people are infected with HIV and 16,000 die of AIDS. As of 2001, 1.4 million people have started taking protease inhibitors. Less than half of the 15 million people who should be taking the drugs actually have access to them.

Secretary for Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius stated, “This battle is not over. As long as the AIDS virus threatens the health and lives of people here and around the globe, our work will continue to connect people to treatment, educate them about how to protect themselves, battle discrimination, and to keep the country focused on our collective fight against this pandemic.”

San Francisco City Supervisor Malia Cohen is currently working with NARAL Pro-Choice California on legislation that would require that crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to display signs indicating whether they offer comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortions and contraception, and whether a licensed medical professional is on staff.

Cohen stated, “Legislation is a priority because there are clinics using misleading advertising tactics. Women need and deserve to know the whole truth about their health care options.” Currently two CPCs are operating in San Francisco. If the legislation becomes law, San Francisco would be the first city in California to require that CPCs post such signage in their entrances and waiting rooms.

Cohen indicated that she will model legislation on laws in Austin, TX and New York City, both of which require that reproductive health facilities post signs describing which services are offered and whether a licensed physician is on site.

Currently, there are an estimated 3,500 CPCs nationwide, most of which are affiliated with one or more national umbrella organizations. CPCs often pose as comprehensive health centers and offer “free” pregnancy tests. Some CPCs coerce and intimidate women out of considering abortion as an option, and do not offer women neutral or comprehensive medical advice. Often CPCs are run by anti-abortion zealots who are not licensed medical professionals.

Last week the Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved a bill that would require that clinics providing abortion services post signs indicating that a woman cannot be forced to obtain an abortion and that her partner is legally obligated to pay child support. The signs must also state that services are available to help women during and following their pregnancies and that adoptive parents may be able to offer financial assistance with the pregnancy.

Moreover, if the bill passes, abortion providers would be required to notify women about a state Department of Health and Hospitals abortion alternatives website that includes information about adoption services, so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs),which do not offer women neutral or comprehensive medical advice, fetal development, and fetal pain, which is discredited by medical experts.

The bill has already passed the state House and will go to the state Senate for a vote. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) has announced his support for the bill.

State legislators approved a bill Saturday that requires employers to provide paid sick leave for its employees, making Connecticut the first state in the nation to do so. Governor Dannell Malloy is set to sign the bill that allows employees to earn up to five paid sick days per year. San Francisco and the District of Columbia already require employers to give paid sick days to all workers, and similar measures are pending in Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver, and New York City.

More than 40 million workers in the U.S. – 80% of low-wage workers – do not receive any paid sick days. Organizations such as the National Partnership for Women and Families, Working Families Organization, and Everybody Benefits Coalition worked to promote the bill and are calling it a landmark victory for workers’ rights. The bill was denounced by business interests, along with Republicans and about a dozen fiscally conservative Democrats.

The Connecticut bill only applies to businesses with 50 or more employees, exempting certain kinds of employers, and only covers service workers that receive an hourly wage. It requires employees to earn sick days, one hour of sick time for each 40 hours worked.

Last month, Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) reintroduced a bill in Congress called the Healthy Families Act, which would require seven days of paid sick times on a national level. The United States is one of the only industrialized nations in the world without mandated paid sick time for workers.

Yesterday, White House officials announced that current Principal Deputy Counsel to the President Kathryn Ruemmler will replace White House Counsel Bob Bauer, who announced that he will be returning to private practice. Ruemmler is the second woman to serve as White House Counsel. In 2005, Harriet E. Miers became the first woman White House Counsel under George W. Bush.

President Obama remarked in a statement, “Kathy is an outstanding lawyer with impeccable judgment. Together, Bob and Kathy have led the White House Counsel’s office, and Kathy will assure that it continues to successfully manage its wide variety of responsibilities.”

Ruemmler has served as Principle Deputy Counsel to the President since January 2010, and prior to that, she served as the principal associate deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice in 2009. Before working as a litigation partner at Latham & Watkins 2007 to 2009, Ruemmler served as a prosecutor in the case against former executives of Enron. Moreover, Ruemmler served from 2000 to 2001 as Associate Counsel to President Bill Clinton.

Ruemmler earned a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington.

The United Nations and the World Bank released a joint report, “Opportunity in Crisis: Preventing HIV from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood,” which, for the first time, offers data on HIV infections in young people. It also identifies risk factors for the infection and strategies for prevention. According to the report, 2,500 youth are infected with HIV daily, with a higher rate for girls and women, and people between 15 and 24 constituted 41 percent of new infections in 2009.

The report attributes the higher rate of HIV for young women and to their biological vulnerability, as well as social inequality and exclusion. Women account for over 60 percent of all young people who are living with HIV, and in sub-Saharan Africa, women are 72 percent of those infected.

Anthony Lake, executive director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), stated, “For many young people HIV infection is the result of neglect, exclusion, and violations that occur with the knowledge of families, communities, social and political leaders….We must protect the second decade of life, so that the journey from childhood to adulthood is not derailed by HIV-a journey that is especially fraught for girls and young women.”

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified Indiana state officials that an Indiana law prohibiting state agencies from contracting with clinics offering abortions violates federal law. Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed the law on May 10, and in April, the state Senate and House voted to cut about $2 million in federal money that goes to Planned Parenthood, much of which is for Medicaid services. HHS Medical Administrator Don Berwick clarified, “Medicaid programs may not exclude qualified health care providers from providing services that are funded under the program because of a provider’s scope of practice.”

Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, stated, “By issuing a letter to the state of Indiana rejecting its proposal to bar Planned Parenthood from providing preventive health care through Medicaid, HHS is sending a clear message that states cannot play politics with women’s health and prevent Medicaid patients form choosing their preferred health care providers. The new law in Indiana prevents nearly 10,000 women from accessing preventive health care, such as contraception, cancer screenings, and STD testing and treatment, from Planned Parenthood health centers.”

Last week, US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and twenty-nine other Senate Democrats issued a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting that HHS officials advise Medicaid directors not to implement measures to prevent Medicaid or Title X funding from going to clinics that offer abortion service.

Following the HHS decision to block the Indiana law to defund Planned Parenthood, Senator Blumenthal stated, “This step is a powerful, prompt rebuke to Indiana- and a strong warning to other states considering similar ill-advised and illegal action denying essential health care to women… I hope other state legislatures considering similarly misguided attempts to block women, teens, and families from the health care and family planning services they need and deserve will reconsider these dangerous proposals, and I remain committed to standing up for women’s health.”

Yale University may be fined or experience funding cuts for failing to include a complete list of sex crimes that occurred at the university in its annual report to the government. Moreover, according to the US Department of Education, Yale did not issue timely notifications regarding incidents that potentially posed a threat to members of the university community. Yale is the recipient of hundreds of millions of federal dollars.

Yale University is currently under federal investigation for violating Title IX, the federal law prohibiting sexual discrimination, violence, and harassment, based on the claims filed by 16 Yale students claiming that the university is a sexually hostile environment. Lisa Maatz, director of public policy and government relations for the American Association of University Women (AAUW), remarked, “Yale right now is in a world of hurt in terms of campus climate. Clearly they have some issues going back several years.”

Yale University Dean Mary Miller announced in May that the university’s chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity will be suspended after its pledged chanted “no means yes, yes means anal” at an initiation event last fall. DKE will be barred from holding any activities on Yale’s campus for five years. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush are both former members of this DKE chapter.

Statement by Eleanor Smeal, Publisher of Ms. and President of the Feminist Majority:

The selection of Jill Abramson, an accomplished feminist, as executive editor of The New York Times, which is not only the most influential newspaper in the United States, but also the premier online news platform, smashes a barrier to women’s achievement in print and digital media.

This is all the more important because it comes at a time when women’s rights are under attack in Congress and state legislatures. Additionally, women are still only one-third of executive editors and one-fifth of presidents, publishers and CEOs of major U.S. newspapers. Globally, women hold only 27 percent of top news management positions. Hopefully the elevation of Jill Abramson to the pinnacle of The New York Times will spur the advancement of women in management throughout the industry.

Republicans in the Tennessee state Legislature have abandoned attempts to defund Planned Parenthood by attaching an amendment to the state budget after they were advised by the Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey (R) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R) that it is unconstitutional to do so. In Tennessee, the state constitution does not allow changes to be made to general law through appropriation bills.

Senator Beverly Marrero (D-Memphis) stated, “Generations of women in Memphis and West Tennessee have relied on Planned Parenthood for preventative health care they could not receive anywhere else. To attack women’s rights and health care access for political gain is shameful and should not be tolerated by Tennessee voters.”

Had Senator Stacey Campbell’s (R) amendment not been declared unconstitutional, it would have blocked $747,900 in annual Title X funding from going to Planned Parenthood for the Greater Memphis Region and $335,000 from the Planned Parenthood Nashville Health Center. The Republican legislators have pledged to introduce separate bills to defund Planned Parenthood in next year’s session.

Today a law will go into effect in Illinois allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions and attain some of the same benefits enjoyed by married couples, such as the right to visit a partner in the hospital and the right to make decisions about the partner’s medical care. Hundreds of same sex couples went to the courthouse this morning to obtain licenses for civil unions.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (D) signed the law in January. The bill would not, however, allow same sex couples to obtain marriage licenses.

Currently, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Washington DC allow marriage of same-sex couples. Seven states, California, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, Delaware, and Hawaii allow same-sex couples to form civil unions or domestic partnerships, which carry some of the legal benefits of marriage.

Thirty Senate Democrats issued a letter late last week to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting that HHS officials advise Medicaid directors not to implement measures to prevent Medicaid or Title X funding from going to clinics that offer abortion services. The letter stated, “The restrictions threatened by state legislatures blatantly contradict the spirit and letter of well-established and long-accepted law. We write not to ask support for new law, but for vigorous, prompt enforcement of existing law.”

The letter comes in response to an Indiana law, signed by Governor Mitch Daniels (R) on May 10, that prohibits state agencies from contracting with clinics offering abortions and would therefore require the state to alter its Medicaid plan. In April, the state Senate and House voted to cut about $2 million in federal money that goes to Planned Parenthood, much of which is for Medicaid services. The bill also calls for a ban on all abortions after 20 weeks, which would dramatically restrict women’s access to abortion services.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have jointly filed a lawsuit against the law.

Attorneys from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Sioux Falls against a new South Dakota law requiring that women undergo a 72 hour waiting period and mandatory counseling from a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) before obtaining an abortion. South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard (R) signed the bill into law in March, and it is scheduled to go into effect July 1.

Planned Parenthood attorney Mimi Liu stated, “The Act has both the purpose and the effect of severely restricting access to health care, and violates patients’ and physicians’ First Amendment rights against compelled speech and patients’ right to privacy in their personal and medical information.”

South Dakota is the first state in the country to mandate a 72 hour waiting period, although 25 states currently require a 24 hour waiting period. After the law takes effect, women seeking abortions could have to make multiple trips to South Dakota’s only abortion provider in Sioux Falls.

Currently, there are an estimated 3,500 CPCs nationwide, most of which are affiliated with one or more national umbrella organizations. CPCs often pose as comprehensive health centers and offer “free” pregnancy tests. Some CPCs coerce and intimidate women out of considering abortion as an option, and do not offer women neutral or comprehensive medical advice. Often CPCs are run by anti-abortion zealots who are not licensed medical professionals.

Last week, Representative Susan Davis introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have allowed military health care plans to cover abortion services for service women who had been raped. Currently, Department of Defense policy does not permit military health insurance to cover abortions, even in cases of rape. The House Rules Committee, however, did not permit the amendment to be brought to the House floor for debate.

Representative Davis clarified, “While the military has made strides to address sexual assault in the ranks, victims still report a lack of confidentiality, protection, support, and access to legal counsel once an incident is reported. My amendments address many of these shortcomings with current DOD policy and I look forward to the day that they become law.”

According to a 2003 study by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, at least one-third of all women veterans have experienced rape or sexual assault during their service primarily from US service personnel, and thirty percent of military women experience domestic violence. Moreover, rape occurs in the military nearly twice as often as in the civilian world. Members of the US House of Representatives, including Susan Davis (D-CA), Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), and former Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-CA) have pressed the military to address sexualized violence.

On Wednesday night, Ralph Lang was arrested in his hotel room for plotting to kill doctors and medical personnel at a Madison, Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinic. Hotel staff notified the police after Lang expressed his concern that someone might have been injured after he accidentally fired his gun in his room. When questioned about the gun, Lang indicated that he had traveled over 100 miles to Wisconsin in order to shoot the abortion doctor at the local Planned Parenthood “right in the head.”

Lisa Subeck, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, remarked “It’s clearly shocking anytime you hear anything like this. It’s outrageous that abortion providers constantly have to live with harassment and threats of violence, and when one hits so close to home, I think it’s quite shocking.”

Investigators discovered anti-abortion documents, 35 bullets, and a 38-caliber handgun in Lang’s hotel room. Lang has been charged with planning to injure, intimidate, and interfere with persons providing abortion services and is slated to appear in US District Court today. In 2007, Lang was arrested and received a citation for disorderly conduct for standing outside of a Madison Planned Parenthood and announcing that everyone inside should be executed.

The Feminist Majority Foundation conducts the National Clinic Access Project (NCAP), which is the oldest and largest national clinic defense project in the nation. NCAP’s team of experts has been working diligently to stop anti-abortion extremists’ attacks against abortion providers who work to save women’s lives and health.

Yesterday Dane County, Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi struck down a state law limiting the collective bargaining power of public sector unions to negotiate for benefits, hours, and working conditions. On March 18, Judge Sumi issued a temporarily blocked soon after the bill became law.

Sumi stated in her decision that Republican lawmakers violated the Wisconsin Open Public Meetings Law requiring that 24 hours’ notice be given prior to a meeting. At the time, the Republican senators voted in conference to strip the House bill of its spending measures to bypass the Senate 60 percent quorum. The Republican senators then voted 18-1, with only Republicans voting because, in protest, the Democrat senators left the state in an effort to prevent the vote .

The case is scheduled to be heard by the Wisconsin state Supreme Court on June 6.

Yesterday the US Senate voted 57 to 40 against a budget plan, written by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), which would end Medicare as we know it and turn it into a voucher program to buy private insurance as if any company would sell such a policy to an elderly person who is ill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), stated that the budget plan “would turn over seniors’ health to profit-hungry insurance companies. It would let bureaucrats decide what tests and treatments seniors get. And it would ask seniors to pay more for their health care in exchange for fewer benefits. That’s a bad deal all around.”

Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Scott Brown of Massachusetts voted with Democrats to reject the budget plan. Rand Paul (R-KY) also opposed the plan, calling for greater budget cuts. Last month, the US House voted to pass the budget plan.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stated, “House and Senate Republicans are on record: they want to break the bedrock promise that this country made to our seniors-that after a lifetime of hard work, they would be able to depend on Medicare-at the same time that Republicans are giving tax breaks to Big Oil. On the other hand, Democrats are committed to preserving and strengthening Medicare while creating jobs, responsibly reducing the deficit, and growing our economy.”

Yesterday the New Hampshire state Senate passed a bill by a vote of 17 to 7 requiring at least one parent of a minor seeking an abortion receive written notification at least 48 hours prior to the procedure. The Senate voted against an amendment to the bill that would have allowed minors to forgo parental notification if “notice to the parent or guardian may lead to physical or emotional abuse of the minor.” If the young woman does not wish to notify her parents, she can appear before a judge, who will decide whether she is “mature and capable of giving informed consent to the proposed abortion.”

The bill passed the state House by a vote of 256 to 102 and will go to Governor John Lynch (D), who has not indicated whether he will sign it into law. Jennifer Frizzell, senior policy adviser for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, stated, “We know the governor cares deeply about young women’s health and safety. We’ll take him at his word.”

Last week, US Senator John Boozman (R-AR) introduced a bill that would require that the parents of minors seeking abortion services be notified by certified mail and that doctors wait at least four days before performing an abortion. Doctors who do not abide by the requirement could be fined up to $1 million and have to serve up to 10 years in prison.