On Monday, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court to block SB8, a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks. The administration claims the measure is unconstitutional, and that it was purposefully designed to evade judicial review. The law was allowed to be put into effect on September 1, after the Supreme Court refused to block […]
Two Months in, the Taliban Continues to Abandon Girls’ Education
Earlier this week, at a speaking engagement in Doha, the foreign minister of the Taliban, Amir Khan Mottaqi avoided answering questions about education for women and girls and reiterated that they need more time on girls’ education. In response to questions on girls’ education, the Minister used “cultural appropriations” as the argument for not allowing […]
Appeals Court Puts Temporary Hold on Judge’s Order to Block Texas Abortion Ban
On Friday night, a federal appeals court placed a temporary hold on a federal judge’s order to block Texas’ SB8, an extreme, near-total abortion ban enacted last month. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted Texas’ administrative stay request, after Judge Robert Pitman ruled to block the law last week, responding to a request from […]
Federal Judge Blocks Texas’ Abortion Ban
On Wednesday, a federal judge granted an emergency request from the Justice Department and blocked enforcement of Texas’s SB8, a law banning abortion after six weeks. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman said in his ruling that since SB8 went into effect in September, “women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives […]
Taliban Killings of Hazaras Continue
Evidence found by Amnesty International shows that Taliban forces unlawfully killed 13 Hazaras who are Shia Muslims, including a teenage girl and eleven Hazara members of the former Afghan National Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) in Daykundi province on August 30. A previous Amnesty report released in August also found that the Taliban had “massacred” nine […]
The Taliban Announces Additional Government Officials, All Members of Their Old Guard
Early this week, the Taliban announced additional members of their cabinet, and once again, all of them are the old guard of the Taliban, despite promises of an inclusive government during peace talks. The 38 new members of the interim government of the Taliban were appointed to military and civilian positions. On September 7th, the Taliban announced […]
Tens of Thousands of People Rally for Abortion Justice in DC and Throughout the US
Tens of thousands of protesters marched in DC on Saturday to protest Texas’s SB8, a recently passed law that bans 85% of abortions and gives private citizens the power to sue anyone who provides financial or logistical assistance to someone in getting an abortion. Washington, DC’s march started at Freedom Plaza, and marchers walked over […]
U.S. Representatives Share their Personal Abortion Stories at Congressional Hearing
Several United States House Representatives, including Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), spoke at a House Oversight Committee hearing Thursday about their personal decisions to get an abortion. Rep. Cori Bush testified how she had been raped at 17 years old on a church trip, realized she was […]
Thousands of Protesters March to Demand Abortion Rights Across Latin America
In several Latin American countries, thousands of people marched for the right to safe and legal abortion on Tuesday, marking International Safe Abortion Day. Large groups of people marched to protest the restrictive and severely punitive abortion laws in many Latin American countries. Protesters held up signs with the slogans, “legal abortion for health and […]
The Taliban Continues to Silence Afghan Women Protestors
Videos and images shared on social media show that the Taliban are violently beating and harassing a group of women protestors demanding their rights for education in Kabul on Thursday. Women protesters were holding banners that read, “Do not politicize education. Don’t break our pens, don’t burn our books, don’t close our school, education is […]
Biden Administration Proposes New Rule to Protect DACA
The Biden administration published a rule Tuesday that could help to preserve Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in the administration’s latest attempt to protect the program from legal challenges. The rule would cement DACA, protecting hundreds of thousands of people without documentation who were brought to this country as children from losing their ability […]
Switzerland Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage in a National Referendum
Swiss voters approved a law that allows same-sex couples to marry in a nationwide referendum Sunday. Switzerland is one of the last countries in Western Europe to give full marriage rights to LGBTQ couples. Last year, the Swiss government amended marriage laws to extend full marriage rights to LGBTQ couples. However, those who opposed the […]
Florida Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Ban Most Abortions, Imitating Texas’s SB 8
On Wednesday, a Florida state representative introduced a bill that would ban most abortions in the state, mimicking the Texas six-week ban that went into effect earlier this month. Rep. Webster Barnaby (R) introduced HB 167 into the Florida state legislature. Like Texas’s SB 8, the Florida bill would ban abortion after six weeks of […]
Thousands of Haitians Deported from Texas While Some are Released into U.S. as Border Crisis Continues
Nearly 14,000 Haitian migrants have come to the U.S. border near Del Rio, Texas in recent days hoping to be admitted to the United States. The Biden administration has already deported over 1,000 people since the weekend, while some Haitians have been released into the U.S. for immigration processing. Haitian migrants have created an enormous […]
Texas Governor Signs Bill Restricting Medication Abortion Access
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill into law Friday that will make it more difficult for people to access medication abortion in yet another move to eliminate abortion care in the country’s second-largest state. The law, SB 4, prohibits medication abortion for people seven or more weeks pregnant. Before the law, people could obtain […]
Biden Administration Will Raise Refugee Cap to 125,000 for the Upcoming Fiscal Year
The State Department announced Monday that the Biden administration plans to raise the maximum number of refugees allowed to enter the U.S. in the upcoming fiscal year to 125,000 people, fulfilling President Biden’s 2020 campaign promise to reverse Donald Trump’s restrictive refugee policies. Starting October 1, the refugee admission cap for the 2022 fiscal year […]
The Taliban issued a statement only calling for boys to return to school
On Sep. 17, the Taliban issued a statement calling only for boys to return to secondary schools. The statement did not include girls. When the schools reopened the next day, millions of girls across the country did not return to their classes, depriving them of their basic right to education. Students in secondary schools are […]
Texas Doctor Reveals He Violated the State’s Near-Total Abortion Ban
Dr. Alan Braid, a Texas OB/GYN, revealed Saturday that he had performed an abortion on a woman who was past six weeks of pregnancy, violating the Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, Dr. Braid said he performed the illegal abortion to both care for his patient […]
The Taliban Has Already Rolled Back Afghan Women’s Human Rights
A recent NY Times article featured four Afghan women in the US: two humanitarian activists, a lawyer, and a journalist. The four women raised concern over women and girls in Afghanistan and fear a dark future for the women in their country. “Just two days before the Taliban took over again, the country released the […]
The Taliban’s Cabinet is Mostly Men, Many of Whom Are on Sanctions or Terror Lists
Last week, after much anticipation, the Taliban announced a new government that does not include women or minorities, and a majority – 17 — of them are either on sanctions or terror lists. The list does not include anyone from another political party. It is yet another blatant move by the Taliban, breaking their promise […]
