Migration Category: National Old Site

On a vote of 58-41, with one Senator not voting, the Paycheck Fairness Act was blocked from coming to the Senate floor for an up or down vote this morning. The so-called moderate Republican Senators from New England – Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe from Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts – voted with their Republican colleagues, siding with big corporations against women’s rights to fight sex discrimination in wages. “Women’s groups all over the country will be working to ensure that this bill is voted on again and again until it passes,” said Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority. Smeal said in a statement, “It’s particularly outrageous that they’d vote against the Paycheck Fairness Act during a recession when women’s wages are especially important to keep food on their families’ tables and roofs over their heads. Women’s organizations are determined to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and, if necessary, to make it a major issue in the 2012 election.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) is suing the FDA today for failing to comply with a 2009 federal court order that the FDA make Plan B, or the morning after pill, available to 17 year olds and to consider making it available to all women without a prescription. The FDA in 2006 had restricted Plan B to women 18 years and older. Judge Edward Korman had ruled that the FDA restriction was “arbitrary and capricious” and that the FDA had “acted in bad faith and in response to political pressure” of the Bush Administration. The CRR is suing to make Plan B available to all women regardless of age, without prescriptions, and over-the counter. The FDA had made it available to 17 year olds but refused to do so for younger women “unless required to do so by the company” (pharmaceutical), according to the Washington Post. Levonorgestrel, sold under the brand name Plan B, is a form of emergency contraception that must be taken within 72 hours of sexual activity.

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey of over 7,000 women revealed that many women, despite their desire to avoid pregnancy, fail to use birth control or do so improperly and ineffectively. The CDC reports that approximately 50 percent of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Though oral contraception is 92-99 percent effective when used correctly, many women who rely on this method fail to take the pill consistently – at the same time everyday. Similarly, condoms are reported to be about have a 95 percent effectiveness rate, but their actual effectiveness is about 85 percent due to frequent improper usage. Intrauterine Devices (IUDs) and Depo-Provera, which are not subject to user error, are thus much more effective methods of contraception. The IUD, which has a lifetime of up to ten years and is 99 percent effective, may nevertheless be difficult for young, single women to obtain. Despite the weak correlation between the IUD and sterility and pelvic infection, many doctors will only prescribe the IUD to married women over the age of 25, according to Dr. Beth Jordan of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

A draft of the Pentagon report, leaked yesterday, reveals that a repeal of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy would not be detrimental to the military. The report includes surveys of hundreds of thousands of active-duty military service members and their families and posits that most soldiers are not against gay and lesbians serving openly, though some military personnel, primarily those in the Army and Marines, voiced their dissent. The report is scheduled to be released December 1. Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United, remarked in a press release, “These results confirm what those of us who actually know the modern military, especially the rank and file troops, have said all along. The men and women of America’s armed forces are professionals who are capable of handling this policy change.” The Defense Authorization Bill with the DADT repeal amendment in it is set to be voted on in the lame duck session that will begin next week. The Republican filibuster of the bill must be stopped for it to proceed to a vote. In May, the Defense Authorization Bill passed in the House but was filibustered in the Senate. The Bill contains an amendment by Representative Patrick Murphy (D-PA) that repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if the repeal is consistent with military readiness, effectiveness, and unit cohesiveness and the Department of Defense “has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement its repeal.” In early November, a federal appeals court three judge panel ruled that the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will stand indefinitely until the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) appeals process concludes. DADT was instituted by former President Bill Clinton in 1993 and prohibits the military from inquiring about a service member’s sexual orientation, and also calls for the discharge of anyone who acknowledges being lesbian or gay. Thus far, the policy has led to the expulsion of more than 13,000 military service personnel.

Deficit Commission Co-Chairs Alan Simpson and Erksine Bowles proposal to reduce the deficit was immediately opposed by leading Democrats, women’s rights groups, and labor. Immediately upon release, both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Commissioner and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) issued scathing dismissals. Pelosi simply said the proposal was “unacceptable” and Schakowsky called it a “non-starter.” Women’s rights groups, including the National Organization for Women, OWL the Voice of Midlife and Older Women, and the Feminist Majority immediately expressed their outrage. The following is taken from the statement of the President of the Feminist Majority, Eleanor Smeal: “Social Security has not caused the deficit problem. In fact, Social Security has accumulated a massive surplus. The U.S. cannot balance its books on the backs of older women, the disabled, and the middle class while it provides tax cuts and tax breaks to the super rich and to mega, multinational corporations. “This proposal targets women in many areas. For example, it disproportionately cuts programs whose recipients are primarily women, such as Social Security, Medicare, the earned income tax credit, and the child tax credit. It freezes the pay of the civilian Department of Defense employees (the majority of which are women) and of so-called non-combat military forces (i.e women). Even insisting students pay interest on student loans while they are in college hits young women more than men since men are less dependent than women on college loans for their education. “Most of its suggestions are to reduce spending rather than to increase revenue as it places the burden on middle-class Americans, especially women, and protects the skyrocketing profits of the richest Americans. Obvious solutions such as raising the cap on FICA or Social Security withholding tax to include more of the income of the highest paid Americans (i.e. mostly men) was not suggested. The proposal rejects the basic principles of a progressive income tax, which is the staple of a fair or just taxation system and it reduces corporate income taxes yet again.”

Women Members of Congress will increase by 1 percent when the new Congress convenes in January. A total of 74 women, including three non-voting delegates, will join the new House of Representatives in January, an increase of one woman over the membership in the current House. This number could increase further as two House races with women candidates remain too close to call. The number of women elected to the Senate stands at 16 with incumbent Lisa Murkowski leading in the still undecided Alaska race. The current Senate includes 17 women. The two House races where women could still win are: Illinois 8 where Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean is running behind by a few hundred votes in an unofficial count; and NY 25 where Republican challenger Ann Marie Buerkle is currently behind by 694 votes.

Dr. LeRoy Carhart of Bellevue, Nebraska announced plans for the Carhart Centers for Sexual and Reproductive Health, including three new comprehensive reproductive health clinics in Maryland, Iowa, and Indiana. The first clinic is projected to open in suburban Maryland. The Centers will offer comprehensive family planning, male sexual health care, education programs, and abortion services, including specialized care in late abortion cases. Carhart cites current Nebraska law, which prohibits abortions after 20 weeks gestation, as the reason he must travel beyond his home state to provide this specialized care. Carhart has become a chief target of Operation Rescue, based in Wichita, which launched targeted demonstrations and so-called “street counseling” in Omaha and at Dr. Carhart’s Bellevue clinic in August 2009. Prior to Dr. George Tiller’s murder in May 2009, Dr. Carhart traveled to Wichita each month to work with Dr. Tiller. Troy Newman of Operation Rescue led a multi-group campaign called “Keep it Closed” that aimed to ensure Dr. Carhart did not open a late abortion clinic in Kansas or Nebraska. The Feminist Majority Foundation runs 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 attacks against Dr. Carhart as he works to save women’s lives and health and expand his practice.

The Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed two lawsuits today challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The plaintiffs in both cases claim to have been denied federal programs and benefits available to heterosexual married couples. In Pedersen et al. v. Office of Personnel Management, five married same-sex couples from Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire are suing for benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex married couples, including Social Security survivors’ payments, the right to file taxes jointly and guaranteed leave from work to care for a sick spouse under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In the second case, Windsor v. USA, Windsor alleges to have been denied the estate tax deduction available to surviving spouses. Mary Bonauto, Civil Rights Project Director at GLAD said in a press release, “DOMA must fall. In 1996, when Congress passed DOMA, the stated goal was to harm gay people and same-sex families with this law, and sadly, it has succeeded. Married gay and lesbian couples fall through the federal safety nets that exist for other married people.” Passed in 1996, DOMA defines marriage as between one man and one woman and denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Massachusetts was the first state to challenge the constitutionality of DOMA in a lawsuit, filed by state Attorney General Martha Coakley in July 2009. The second suit, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management, was filed on behalf of seven gay and lesbian married couples and three widowers by the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. In that case, federal judge Joseph Tauro agreed that DOMA violated the equal protection clause.

Flip Benham of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America, goes to trial today for stalking and distributing WANTED posters with the names, pictures, and home and office addresses North Carolina abortion doctors. Benham, who distributed the WANTED posters in the doctors’ neighborhoods and at their homes, is the first to be charged under a new North Carolina state law that bans residential picketing. Katherine Spillar, Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) Executive Vice President responded to Benham’s claim that he was exercising his First Amendment rights saying, “this is not free speech. This is the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater. History clearly shows a pattern of WANTED posters, murder, WANTED posters, murder. “These WANTED posters are communicating a threat to these abortion providers; doctors featured on WANTED posers in the past have become targets of anti-abortion extremists willing to kill, including most recently Dr. George Tiller.” The WANTED posters in North Carolina appeared within two months of Dr. Tiller’s murder. Spillar is an expert on clinic terrorism and leads the FMF’s National Clinic Access Project. WANTED-style posters have been found to violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act’s (FACE) prohibitions on the use of force or threat of force against reproductive health care providers. Previous federal court decisions have classified WANTED posters as “true threats” within the meaning of the federal law. The Feminist Majority Foundation has urged these WANTED posters be prosecuted by federal and state law enforcement authorities as violations of FACE and federal and state anti-stalking laws. Lawyers for the Feminist Majority Foundation are in Charlotte today to monitor the criminal trial. Both CBS and NPR have recently featured stories on the North Carolina anti-abortion WANTED posters.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress to repeal the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy before the newly elected members take office next year. Nevertheless, Gates expressed doubt as to whether the repeal would occur this year. Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network commented, “the Senate should call up the defense bill reported out of committee and pass it before it goes home for the year.” In early November, a federal appeals court three judge panel ruled that the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy will stand indefinitely until the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) appeals process concludes. In May, the Defense Spending Bill passed in the House but was filibustered in the Senate. The Bill contains an amendment by Representative Patrick Murphy (D-PA) that repeals “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” if the repeal is consistent with military readiness, effectiveness, and unit cohesiveness and the Department of Defense “has prepared the necessary policies and regulations to implement its repeal.” DADT was instituted by former President Bill Clinton in 1993 and prohibits the military from inquiring about a service member’s sexual orientation, and also calls for the discharge of anyone who acknowledges being lesbian or gay. Thus far, the policy has led to the expulsion of more than 13,000 troops.

Operation Rescue/Operation Save America’s Philip “Flip” Benham was just found guilty of two charges of criminal stalking with intent to cause emotional distress and disruption of domestic tranquility for residential picketing. Benham and his associates were ordered to stay 300 feet or more from wherever the targeted doctor works and 1,000 from his residence. Benham was put on two years probation. See today’s Feminist Daily Newswire story, North Carolina Anti-Abortion Leader Tried for WANTED Posters.

The conservative Blue Dog Democratic caucus suffered massive losses – 48 percent of the Blue Dogs or 26 of its 54 public members, including two of its four co-chairs were defeated. Meanwhile, only five percent or four members of their much larger Progressive Democratic caucus lost their seats. The Progressive Caucus has a public membership of 84 members that will likely grow as a result of the election of several new progressives.

Justin Carl Moose pled guilty late last week to plotting to bomb a North Carolina abortion clinic. Moose was arrested in early September and charged with “providing information related to the making, use, or manufacture of an explosive,” as stated in his plea agreement. He faces up to 20 years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine. The FBI press release in September states that Moose allegedly “utilized a social networking website as a platform to advocate violence against women’s health care clinics – specifically locations where abortions are performed – and the health care professionals employed at these facilities.” In reference to vicious attacks on abortion providers, Kathy Spillar, the Executive Vice President of the Feminist Majority Foundation commented, “we need to send a strong message that this is domestic terrorism, and it must be treated as seriously as international threats.”