A new Taliban decree requires Afghan women to cover themselves from head to toe, and deputizes men to force women to follow the rule. In the eight months since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the group has reinstated its repressive rules in full force, specifically targeting women and girls. Among many restrictions introduced, secondary […]
Ketanji Brown Jackson: Making History
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed as the United States’ 116th Supreme Court Justice by a 53 to 47 vote in the U.S. Senate today. She will be seated as a Justice on the Court after Justice Stephen Breyer retires, which is expected this summer after the end of the Court’s current session. “Ketanji Brown […]
Taliban Reverses Pledge and Keeps Girls Schools Closed
Despite much anticipation, the Taliban regime announced today that girls’ schools from grades 7-12 would remain closed until they have a plan. The Taliban statement read that “we inform all girls’ high schools and those schools with female students above class six that they are off until the next order.” Devastated teachers and students around […]
Equal Rights Amendment Going Strong At 50 Years
The Equal Rights Amendment, which was 50 years ago approved by the Senate and sent to the states for ratification, received strong support today from leading Constitutional scholars. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, released today opinion letters from Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School, Carl M. Loeb, University Professor Emeritus and […]
Texas Supreme Court Ends Federal Court Challenge to State’s Abortion Ban
The all-Republican Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that abortion providers can’t sue state officials to block Senate Bill 8, which bans abortion at roughly six-weeks with no exceptions for rape or incest. The unanimous decision closed the narrow pathway to challenge the law left open by the U.S. Supreme Court last December after the […]
Taliban conducts ‘horrific’ door-to-door searches in Afghanistan
In late February, the Taliban launched a house-to-house search operation called “search and clear” supposedly to address the rising criminalities in Kabul. The search operation is throughout Kabul and also other areas of Afghanistan, especially Kapisa, Parwan, Bamiyan, and Panjshir provinces. Photos and videos on social media show Taliban’s security forces kicking in people’s doors, […]
Even after the Oslo meeting, the Taliban continues to arrest and torture Afghan women protestors
On January 19th, a video circulating on social media showed Tamana Zaryab Paryani, an Afghan women’s rights activist and journalist, pleading for help moments before armed men claiming to be Taliban intelligence broke into her apartment and abducted her and three of her sisters. Paryani recorded the video on her phone while the men were […]
“The Equal Rights Amendment Has Been Ratified. It Is the Law”: U.S. House Resolution Declares ERA 28th Amendment
by Carrie N. Baker for Ms. Magazine In an opinion issued on Wednesday, Jan. 26, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) helped clear the way for the Equal Rights Amendment, according to leading ERA advocates. In January of 2020, under Trump, the OLC issued an opinion arguing that Congress had no power to remove a […]
ERA Coalition and Partners to Rally at White House, Host Virtual Press Conference Marking Date Equal Rights Amendment Must Be In Effect
Sen. Cardin, Chairwoman Maloney, Congresswoman Speier To Speak at Press Conference Washington, D.C. –– After nearly a century of work, Thursday, January 27 marks the end of the two-year waiting period for the Equal Rights Amendment to go into effect across the country after meeting all of the constitutional requirements. To commemorate the day, the ERA […]
Supreme Court Issues Another Procedural Blow to Texas Abortion Advocates
This Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Texas abortion providers again in the on-going legal battle over the state’s controversial six-week ban, S.B. 8. This week’s decision was made regarding the issue of sending the case back to the original trial judge, an attempt by abortion advocates to move their challenge to the law […]
Afghan Women Risk their Lives to Protest Taliban’s Brutality and Harsh Restrictions
Afghan women activists gathered in front of Kabul University this past Sunday, January 16, demanding their rights and justice over the fatal shooting of Zainab Abdullahi at a Taliban checkpoint, the disappearance of Herat women’s prison manager Alia Azizi, as well as the alleged torture of women protesters in Mazar-e-Sharif, the fourth largest city in Afghanistan. […]
New Year’s Eve Fire at Knoxville Planned Parenthood Ruled Arson
The fire that destroyed a Knoxville Planned Parenthood clinic on New Year’s Eve was ruled as “intentionally set” by the Knoxville Fire Department yesterday. According to the department, they were assisted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) in conducting their investigation and have “determined the fire to have been purposely set by an […]
Attorneys General of Virginia, Illinois, and Nevada Fight to Have Recognition of ERA Recognized
On Monday, January 3rd, Attorneys General Mark Herring of Virginia, Klane Raoul of Illinois, and Aaron Ford of Nevada filed their legal brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Of Columbia Circuit demanding the federal District Court decision to deny the states standing be reversed and that the ratification of Equal Rights Amendment […]
Blinken Appoints Two Leaders for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights
Last week (December 29), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken appointed Rina Amiri as the Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls and Human Rights and Stephanie Foster as the new Senior Advisor for Women and Girls within the State Department’s Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts (CARE) team. Both women have years of experience working for […]
Women Protest in Kabul for Food, Work and Equality
Dozens of brave Afghan women in Kabul staged a rally against the spread of poverty today calling for food, work, equality and full participation in all social, economic, and political spheres. The women marched through Kabul holding banners that demanded women’s political participation and release of Afghanistan’s frozen assets by the international community. “We are […]
Supreme Court Delivers Another Blow Against Abortion Rights
Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a clearly unconstitutional abortion ban in Texas, leaving in place S.B. 8, which bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The Court’s ruling substantially narrows options to challenge the law in federal court, and there is no fast option for a Texas Supreme Court ruling […]
Amnesty International Calls for International Aid to Immediately Help Afghan Women and Girls
New research conducted by Amnesty International reveals that “women and girl survivors of gender-based violence have essentially been abandoned in Afghanistan. Their network of support has been dismantled, and their places of refuge have all but disappeared,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General. In interviews by the Amnesty International, 26 survivors and service providers […]
The Supreme Court Must Not Reward Anti-Abortion Violence
by Christian F. Nunes and Eleanor Smeal Political violence as a tool for achieving political goals is on the rise, particularly when it comes to abortion. We’ve seen this before with S.B. 8 in Texas, a law that codifies vigilante anti-abortion extremism, and we’re seeing it again with the Mississippi abortion ban case, Dobbs v. Jackson […]
White Supremacists in Charlottesville Rally Found Liable
On Tuesday, a federal jury in Charlottesville, VA found that more than a dozen white supremacists “conspired to intimidate, harass, or commit acts of violence during 2017’s deadly Unite the Right rally.” The jury decided that these men, along with the white supremacist groups to which they belong, owe $26 million in damages. The jurors […]
Afghan Women Judges Targeted by Taliban
Afghan women judges who presided over abuse cases are being threatened by the Taliban. Currently, their lives and the lives of their families are in danger, as members of the Taliban are tracking down and killing women justices for their commitment to gaining justice for women survivors. There are currently more than 200 women judges […]