The Senate voted 78-21 in favor of adopting an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act that would block the United States from participating in the International Criminal Court (ICC). The amendment, a version of the deceptively named American Servicemembers’ Protection Act authored by Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), passed after an earlier attempt by Senator Christopher […]
Declaring, “Women must be central to all phases of the recovery efforts and that the interest of women must be taken into account in all interventions,” Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) opened UNIFEM’s roundtable on women’s leadership in rebuilding Afghanistan. Afghan women leaders from the UN sponsored […]
At the same time that our government is bolstering support for the “War on Terrorism” by condemning the Taliban’s treatment of women, U.S. lawmakers are putting restrictions on our own reproductive rights. After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. Congress agreed to table all politically divisive legislation in order to focus more energy on security-related […]
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) introduced a resolution yesterday condemning the rounds of anthrax threats sent to abortion providers in October and November of this year. Noting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation declared the threats to be acts of “domestic terrorism,” the resolution urges law enforcement as well as the Bush Administration to locate all […]
The Afghan Women’s Summit for Democracy concluded in Brussels by issuing a proclamation announcing its demands and recommendations for the successful reconstruction of Afghan society. The recommendations addressed a broad array of issues including education, media, and culture, health, human rights and the constitution, as well as refugees and internally displaced women. In regard to […]
In a meeting coinciding with the Afghan Women’s Summit for Democracy, women’s rights activists from around the world issued a Declaration of Solidarity with Afghan women in support of the Brussels Proclamation. Women from Belgium, Croatia, France, India, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Palestine, Somalia, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United […]
Two women’s names have been released as candidates for posts in the transitional Afghan government. Negotiators meeting in Bonn named Dr. Sima Samar to be one of five deputy prime ministers as well as the minister of women’s affairs. Samar, a women’s rights advocate and medical doctor, fled the country in the 1980s during the […]
Ms. magazine launched its 30th anniversary celebration today by honoring women athletes, artists, philanthropists, and activists at its Women of the Year Awards in New York City. The event was emotion-packed as Ms. awarded September 11 heroes Kathy Mazza, a Port Authority Police captain, Yamel Merlino, an emergency medical technician, and Moira Smith, a New […]
Evangelist Pat Robertson announced his resignation yesterday from his post as president of the Christian Coalition, a right-wing political organization. The Christian Coalition was once seen as a bastion of the Religious Right, claiming 4 million members and a budget of $25 million in 1994. Today, critics say that the group is faltering, with membership […]
Looking for ways to measure 30 years of Ms., I scribbled down notes: the first issue featured unpublished work by Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath, two dead women. Now there are talented writers with rooms of their own, who have no intention of committing suicide. Unnecessary mastectomies, cesareans, breast implants–all these were early Ms. exposs. […]
Anti-abortion extremist, domestic terrorist and prison escapee Clayton Lee Waagner was captured yesterday at a Kinko’s in Springdale, Ohio after eluding federal authorities for almost ten months. Waagner was apprehended after an employee recognized him from a US Marshals Wanted poster. After his arrest, federal authorities confiscated a computer, a gun, and almost $10,000 in […]
Women leaders from Afghanistan and around the world convened in Brussels yesterday for the beginning of a three-day conference on the role of Afghan women in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Conference attendees, including representatives from the Feminist Majority Foundation, pledged to work together to ensure that women have a significant voice in the rebuilding of […]
Mifepristone, known as RU-486 in France, is now available in the U.S. under the brand name Mifeprex™ (manufactured by Danco Laboratories, LLC). Mifepristone causes abortion in early pregnancy, providing women with a medical alternative to aspiration (suction) abortion. In the United States, medical abortion using mifepristone may be provided by a physician or other clinician […]
While infertility clinics often target college students to become egg donors, experts are now arguing that older women who have already had children are likely to be better choices for donors, citing their previous experience with childbirth and assumed level of responsibility and maturity. Still, many infertile couples prefer the eggs of younger women, especially […]
Fugitive anti-abortion extremist and domestic terrorist Clayton Lee Waagner has been apprehended at a Kinko’s in Springdale, Ohio. He is currently in custody of the United States Marshals Service. Waagner is the prime suspect in the two waves of anthrax threats sent to abortion providers and reproductive rights advocacy organizations nationwide. In October 2001, more […]
Feminist Majority Foundation leaders met with Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), who indicated that the WFP would be sending workers into Kabul to conduct a survey of the area in an effort to assess the growing humanitarian need and to deliver food supplies to 180,000 people. According to […]
Lt. Col. Martha McSally has filed suit against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in an effort to overturn a U.S. policy requiring female military personnel to wear Islamic dress when off base in Saudi Arabia. McSally claims that the policy is unconstitutional as it discriminates against women and infringes on religious freedom by forcing women to […]
The Feminist Majority Foundation hosted its annual Choose to Laugh, Laugh to Choose comedy event yesterday in Hollywood, CA to benefit its National Clinic Access Project, which works to stop anti-abortion extremist violence and keep women’s healthcare clinics open. Over 300 pro-choice supporters attended the event which was emceed by popular actress Cybill Shepard and […]
Benjamin Matthew Williams and his brother James Tyler Williams were sentenced last Friday in conjunction with the 1999 arson of three synagogues and the firebombing of Choice Medical Group, a women’s reproductive health clinic that performs abortions in Sacramento, California. Benjamin Matthew Williams received a mandatory sentence of thirty years in a federal prison, and […]
The Feminist Majority has received reports from Bonn revealing all but the final document setting forth the interim administrative body for Afghanistan. According to sources, among the five vice chairs of the interim administrative body, one will be a woman. There will be twenty-three other members of the body, and women will occupy some of […]
