Migration Category: National Old Site

The Pennsylvania state Senate will vote today on Senate Bill 3, introduced by Senator Don White (R-11), which would prohibit private insurance plans sold in the Pennsylvania health insurance exchange from covering abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is endangered. The Senate Banking Committee passed the bill on January 25.

Women’s groups, including Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania and the Women’s Law Project, criticized the bill, which would decrease women’s access to abortion services in Pennsylvania and potentially lead them to seek low-cost, poor quality abortion services . Rebecca Cavanaugh, vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood, explained, “A lot of women may be driven to a provider who may not be very good. Women become very desperate in these situations.”

On Saturday, 40 women gathered at the Interior Ministry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to call for the release of prisoners who were being detained without a trial. The prisoners are being held as part of the Saudi government’s campaign to contain al Qaeda insurgents.

Mohammed al-Qahtani, an activist, told the New York Times, “The women demand to free people imprisoned in the campaign against terrorism. Many people have been held up for a long time without trial, or have nothing to do with al Qaeda.”

Gulf News reports that Saudi officials will speak to the women’s guardians and request that they “sign an undertaking to prevent the women from being involved in any similar activity in the future.” The legal guardianship system in Saudi Arabia requires that women, both minors and adults, be accompanied by a male guardian outside the home. If women wish to conduct themselves in public business, work, or to drive, they must obtain permission from or be accompanied by their male guardian, who may be her husband, father, brother, or even a minor son.

Following an outcry from women’s rights groups and others, House Republicans have removed the “forcible” to describe the rape exception in H.R. 3, an anti-abortion bill introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair, with the support of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

The bill, which purports to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and ensure that healthcare reform law does not cover the cost of abortions, had provided for an exception only when the woman’s life is endangered, in cases of “forcible” rape, or in cases of incest if the woman was a minor. The exemption in the bill will now cover all forms of rape.

HR 3, which has a short title of “No Tax-Payer Funding for Abortion Act,” goes far beyond that issue. If passed, the bill would permanently ban women in the military from obtaining an abortion in a military hospital overseas, even if they pay for it with their own (not federal) funds. This is particularly important to women stationed in areas where local clinics may be unsafe. Moreover, Americans who have private insurance plans that include abortion coverage would have to pay tax penalties, and federal workers who pay their own insurance premiums out of pocket would nonetheless be prohibited from having abortion coverage in their insurance.

Organizations including the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Women’s Law Center, Emily’s List, and MoveOn.org, criticized the Smith bill, for changing the definition of rape to exclude statutory rape, date rape, drug-facilitated rape, and other instances when the woman was unconscious or otherwise unable to give consent. Steph Sterling, a lawyer and senior adviser at the National Women’s Law Center, explained, “It speaks to a distinction between rape where there must be some element of force in order to rise to the standard, and rape where there is not. The concern here is that it takes us back to a time where just saying no was not enough.”

The Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday on the bill.

Yesterday, Green Bay Dressed Beef of Wisconsin, a division of American Foods Group LLC, agreed to pay $1.65 million to 970 women who were barred from general laborer positions at the plant in 2006 and 2007. 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.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said, “This is the 21st century in the United States of America. There is no such thing as a ‘man’s job.’ I am pleased that my department has been able to work out a resolution with Green Bay Dressed Beef, and that the settlement not only compensates the victims of discrimination but also provides jobs for many of these women.”

Each woman in the original class will receive approximately $1,700 to cover back wages, interest, and benefits. The company will also offer 248 jobs to the women once the positions become available.

Yesterday, the Senate voted along party lines to block the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act, with all 47 Republicans voting for the bill, 51 Democrats voting against it, and two Democrats not voting. Since the bill failed to achieve the necessary 60 votes to pass, it is considered dead in Congress.

On January 19, the House voted 245 to 189 in favor of the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act. Three Democrats and 242 Republicans voted in support of the bill.

Some provisions of the act have already gone into effect. Currently under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare recipients no longer have to share costs for preventive care including mammograms, cancer screenings, annual physicals and immunizations. Other provisions have already begun to close the so-called “doughnut hole,” or gap between the initial coverage limit and the threshold for receiving catastrophic coverage. In 2010, young people were permitted to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies until age 26 unless they have other coverage and children with preexisting conditions can no longer be denied coverage.

President Obama signed the final version of the Affordable Care Act in March. If the law is not repealed or declared unconstitutional, it will in 2014 add insurance coverage for 32 million people and extend Medicaid coverage for 16 million Americans. Significantly, the act will ban sex discrimination in health insurance pricing. Currently, women on the average pay 48 percent more for health insurance coverage. The act, when fully implemented, prohibits the exclusion of maternity coverage. Approximately 80 percent of policies currently exclude maternity coverage.

McCaskey East High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has abandoned its pilot “mentoring” program that that separated students by race and gender in their homeroom classrooms following much controversy and negative media attention.

Pedro Rivera, the superintendent, continues to defend the segregation, saying, “The intent…by educators was to serve students. They identified a need and were innovative and forward-thinking around how they were going to provide a quality education to kids here at the high school.” However, the Lancaster school district rescinded the pilot program after “blistering” criticism of the blatant segregation and racial stereotyping. Unfortunately, few pointed out the sex stereotyping and segregation, which is a violation of Title IX.

The Feminist Majority Foundation is currently working to rescind the 2006 Bush-era Title IX regulations that make it significantly easier to allow single-sex classrooms in public schools (pdf).

Live Action, an anti-abortion rights group, is distributing an edited undercover video that appears to show an employee at a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Jersey advising paid actors posing as a pimp and a prostitute on where they can obtain abortion services for girls under the age of 14 and illegal immigrants.

Stuart Schear, the Vice President of Communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement that 12 clinics in 6 different states were visited in January by individuals claiming to be involved in sex trafficking. Planned Parenthood reported each incident to the Department of Justice and sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder on January 18 expressing its concerns regarding possible sex trafficking. In the letter, Planned Parenthood also raised questions as to whether the visits were part of a hoax by Live Action based on an identification of one of the visitors.

Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action, formerly worked with James O’Keefe, a conservative activist who released a similar video in 2009 in which he and a colleague acted as a pimp and prostitute and sought to discredit the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). ACORN, an organization that provides housing services to low-income populations, has since filed for bankruptcy. Later it was determined that the O’Keefe video had been so heavily edited that it was ultimately declared a hoax.

The Senate Ethics Committee announced yesterday that it will appoint a special counsel to investigate Senator John Ensign (R-NV), who allegedly used his political power to hide his affair with the wife of a top former political aide. Carol Elder Bruce, a criminal defense lawyer at K&L Gates who specializes in white collar crime, will lead the investigation. This is the first time in 20 years that special counsel has been appointed by the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct an investigation of a senator.

Senator Ensign remarked in an interview yesterday that he had not committed any wrongful acts, stating, “The Justice Department saw it that way; FEC saw it that way, that I broke no laws. And I don’t think I broke any Senate ethics rules, and we’re hoping they see it the same way.”

In Florida yesterday, Federal District Court Judge Roger Vinson ruled the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional because it penalizes Americans for not having health insurance beginning in 2014. Judge Vinson stated in his opinion that the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision, which requires that a person have minimum health coverage or face a modest monetary penalty beginning in 2014, is beyond the scope of Congress’ regulatory powers as established in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Judge Vinson did rule the Act remains in effect until the appeal process has ended.

The Vinson decision appears to be out of the judicial mainstream. So far, 12 federal judges, according to the White House, have dismissed such cases and two judges have upheld the law. One court has ruled the “individual responsibility” provision is unconstitutional but not the entire act. Nevertheless, this decision insures the US Supreme Court will have the final say.

The case was filed by 25 Republican Attorneys General and Governors. The American Cancer Society Action Network, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Nurses Association filed amicus briefs in support of the Affordable Care Act.

In December, Virginia federal judge Henry Hudson ruled in a case filed in March by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that just the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision of the Patient Protection is unconstitutional, not the entire Act. The provision and the entire Act have previously been challenged and found constitutional by another court in Virginia and one in Michigan. Judge Hudson’s ruling is the first to find the provision unconstitutional.

Currently under the ACA, certain preventive procedures, such as mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears, tobacco cessation services, and obesity prevention services, no longer require a co-payment or other direct costs. President Obama signed the final version of the Affordable Care Act in March. The final law will eventually add coverage for 32 million people, increasing access to family planning and preventive care.

United States District Court Judge Marvin Garbis ruled yesterday that a Baltimore ordinance requiring that “limited-service pregnancy centers” display signs in both English and Spanish indicating that they do not provide or make referrals for abortions or comprehensive birth control services was unconstitutional. Judge Garbis stated that the ordinance violated the Freedom of Speech Clause in the Constitution.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns, which is provided space from the archdiocese at no cost, filed the lawsuit in March 2010. The Catholic Church owns two crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), according to the Associated Press, that would have been required under the ordinance to post signs.

Stephanie Toti, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, stated, “We plan to immediately appeal today’s court’s decision and we are confident we will prevail. Baltimore’s ordinance is a common sense measure designed to protect consumers from a long-standing and documented pattern of deceptive practices by crisis pregnancy centers.”

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 prevent women from receiving neutral and comprehensive medical advice. These clinics are typically run by anti-abortion volunteers who are not licensed medical professionals.

The fight against abortion has been heating up in the states since the 2010 elections. Prior to the midterm elections, 21 governors were considered anti-choice. Now 29 governors are against a woman’s right to an abortion and 15 states have both anti-abortion governors and legislatures, up from 10 last year. Several measures have been introduced this month alone that, if passed, would limit women’s access to sexual and reproductive health services.

In Kansas, Representative Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe) introduced the Abortion Reporting Accuracy and Parental Rights bill in the state’s House of Representatives requiring the consent of two parents for girls under 18 to obtain an abortion. Proponents say the two parent notification requirement would only apply in cases in which the nuclear family was intact and without abuse but experience shows that such consent laws are extremely harmful to young girls, especially victims of abuse. The change would alter current Kansas law, in which the minor needs the consent of only one parent to have an abortion.

Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) in Florida and state Senators Annette Dub (D) and Beau McCoy (R) in Nebraska proposed bills that would ban abortion coverage in insurance policies sold in state health insurance exchanges. The state exchanges are scheduled to begin operating in 2014. Representative McCoy’s bill, which was endorsed by Nebraska Right to Life, also proposes prohibiting private health plans from covering abortion services unless the women’s life is threatened.

Nancy Northrup, President of the Center for Reproductive Rights, stated, “At a time when politicians should be focusing the country’s energy on delivering jobs and improving the economy, anti-choice lawmakers are fixated on interfering with a woman’s personal, medical decisions.”

A high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has adopted a pilot program that separates students by race and gender in their homeroom classrooms. The McCaskey East High School’s pilot program has sparked much controversy regarding segregation in schools.

Angela Tilghman, an instructional coach at the school, developed the program with the hope of closing the racial achievement gap at the school. Approximately 33 percent of the African American students achieved a proficient or advanced score on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), as compared to the 60 percent of Caucasian students who scored proficient or advanced.

The Feminist Majority Foundation is currently working to rescind the 2006 Bush-era Title IX regulations that make it significantly easier to allow single-sex classrooms in public schools (pdf).

Although the number of women participants at the World Economic Forum, beginning on January 26 in Davos, Switzerland, has nearly doubled since 2001, women are still scarce at the event. This year, women made up only 16 percent of attendees, up from 9 percent in 2001. To increase women’s presence at the forum, organizers required that top 100 member companies send at least one woman as one of their five delegates this year.

Zainab Salbi, founder of Women for Women International and one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Leaders, stated, “I know many women who already talk about no longer coming to Davos. The forum was a great 20th century event, now it needs to prove that it is fit for the 21st.”

Approximately 2,500 world and business leaders and activists gathered to discuss global economics and politics at the World Economic Forum, an annual five-day event held in January.

The Pentagon is scheduled to release a plan today that will outline the changes that must be made in the military in order to implement the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). The plan outlines changes to regulations on recruitment, training, housing, and the discharge of troops.

The Department of Defense (DOD) announced plans to hold separate trainings for senior administrative officials and personnel officers, commanders, and personnel. Although each branch of the military will hold separate trainings, the trainings would be nearly the same in content.

Under the plan, it will take about three months to train personnel and “full implementation of the law could begin later this summer,” according to the Washington Post. Once the training is complete, the President and his top military advisors must certify that repeal of DADT won’t hurt military readiness. Sixty days after this certification, the new law goes into effect. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told the New York Times that “I’m confident we can get it done this year, and we’re shooting to get it done sooner rather than later.”

The Pentagon also reiterated that the Defense Department could not recognize same-sex marriage because the federal government does not. “As a result,” according to the New York Times, “the implementation plan does not allow a same-sex spouse to live with a partner in military housing, although it holds out the possibility that exceptions could be made. The plan also says that same-sex spouses would not be eligible for the military health care benefits of their partners.”

Researchers from the National Center for Register-Based Research, in Denmark, released a study that found no evidence to support the claim that abortion predisposes women to psychological or mental health problems. The study, published by the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the health records of 85,000 women with no previous record of mental health problems who first trimester abortions.

The evidence revealed that the women who had an abortion were no more likely to seek mental health treatment than women who carried the pregnancy to term. However, 25 percent of new mothers experienced post-partum depression.

Robert Blum, former President of the Guttmacher Institute, clarified, “There is no post-abortion trauma, post-abortion syndrome, or anything of the like.”

Today the Virginia General Assembly is considering a bill introduced by Senator George Barker (D-Prince William County that would alter Virginia’s existing laws to make it easier for individuals in dating relationships to obtain protective orders. Under current Virginia law, an individual who does not reside with her/his abuser can only obtain a restraining order in cases of stalking or sexual and other offenses if a criminal warrant had been issued.

According to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, Virginia is the only state that requires criminal charges be filed against the abuser prior to the issuance of a protective order. Under Barker’s bill, individuals could seek a stalking order against anyone with whom they had been “involved in a substantive, intimate dating relationship” regardless of whether criminal charges had been filed if they could demonstrate that they had experienced violence or threats of violence.

Gena Boyle, an advocate at the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, stated, “Every moment they wait to act on this, there are people who are at increased risk of homicide.”

Tens of thousands anti-abortion rights supporters gathered yesterday on the National Mall and marched to the Supreme Court for the annual March for Life to commemorate the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the US. Pro-abortion rights supporters, including activists from the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Organization for Women (NOW), and the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC), also attended the event to peacefully show their support for sexual health and reproductive rights.

The March for Life was once again dominated by parochial school children, who were bussed into Washington DC from across the country. The Knights of Columbus, a fraternal organization of the Catholic Church, helped to organize the march. Prior to the march, thousands of youth and Roman Catholic priests and bishops gathered at the Verizon Center and the D.C. Armory for the Youth Rally and Mass for Life celebrated by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington DC.

Approximately a dozen anti-abortion rights lawmakers also addressed the March for Life. Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair who recently introduced the No Tax-Payer Funding for Abortion bill (HR 3) spoke first and “vowed to press forward” on the bill. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) also delivered a speech in which he promised to institute a “permanent government-wide prohibition on taxpayer funding of abortion.” Representative Cantor described the new Republicans in Congress as the “biggest and the most pro-life freshman class in memory.”

Last Friday, the Virginia House of Delegates voted 61-33 to overturn the 2007 Virginia law mandating that girls be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV) prior to entering the sixth grade. Currently in the US, only Virginia and Washington D.C. require that girls be vaccinated against HPV. It is unlikely that the bill will pass in Virginia’s Senate, which has a Democratic majority.

Virginia Delegate Christopher Stolle (R-VA), an obstetrician and gynecologist, asserted that if passed, the bill could result in the deaths of approximately 1,3000 women per year.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (AMA) reports that over one-third of American women are infected with the human papillomavirus (HPV) by the age of 24. While the majority of HPV strains are benign, some strains can cause cervical cancer and genital warts. About 2.2 percent of infected women have a strain that is high-risk for cervical cancer, the recent research finds. Gardasil, which prevents cervical cancer and genital warts caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18, was approved by the FDA in June 2006.

Yesterday the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Thompson v. North American Stainless that the anti-retaliation provision of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to any individual who has experienced retaliation, regardless of whether he/she personally filed the discrimination complaint. The Supreme Court’s decision overturns the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling that retaliation claims could only be made by the individual who filed the initial discrimination claim.

In this case, Eric Thompson filed charges that he had been retaliated against after he was terminated by North American Stainless (NAS) three weeks after his fiance filed a sex discrimination complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against NAS.

Jacqueline Berrien, Chair of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, stated “We are very pleased with the Supreme Court opinion issued today. The unanimous decision reaffirms the importance of preventing retaliation against those seeking to protect their civil rights.” Over the past year, EEOC reported that the majority of its claim were based on alleged retaliation, making it the first year in the 45 year history of the organization that the number of retaliation claims exceeded the number of racial discrimination charges.

Roman Catholic priests and anti-abortion rights advocates gathered this morning for a Mass at the Verizon Center in Washington DC before participating in the annual March for Life. Operation Rescue, based in Wichita, Kansas, is also holding a series of anti-abortion protests in Germantown, Maryland today against Dr. Lee Carhart, who works at the clinic there. The Feminist Majority Foundation and other pro-choice supporters carried signs and silently showed their support for the clinic throughout the demonstration.

Even as abortion rights advocates mark the 38th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, the Feminist Majority Foundation draws attention to the rising tide of anti-abortion violence in the US. In 2010, the Feminist Majority Foundation National Clinic Violence Survey report found that the number of clinics experience severe violence has increased to 23.5 percent compared to 20 percent in 2008 and 18.5 percent in 2005. Moreover, the types of violence shifted to more intensive harassment of selected doctors and clinic personnel and staff. For example, the incidence of stalking of personnel reported by clinics grew from 4 percent in 2008 to 6.2 percent in 2010.

Reflecting on these statistics, Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said, “It’s tragic on this 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade that we must work to protect doctors and health care workers from violence and harassment by anti-abortion extremists. Moreover, we are fighting not only to preserve access to a woman’s right to choose an abortion but also access to birth control. A prominent Republican leader, Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN) recently introduced legislation in the House that would deny family planning funding to any reproductive health facility that provides abortion services.”

Under the current Public Services Act, Title X money is allocated to grantees to fund family planning services and preventive health services and may not be used on abortion services.