Author: Feminist Majority Foundation Blog

South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard signed a bill into law on Friday that will allow staff to carry guns in schools in an effort to provide extra security against school shootings. South Dakota is the first state to incorporate the National Rifle Association’s proposed solution to school shootings into state law. The rationale behind the new law is that a teacher or hired guard with a weapon can put an end to a massacre before it begins. In all other states, bills allowing staff to carry guns in schools have stalled.

Under the new law, in school districts that allow it, staff members could come to school armed if they pass a training course. Teachers who are uncomfortable with carrying a gun would not be forced to carry or purchase a gun. Governor Deaguaard said he doubted many school districts would elect to have an armed staff, but that giving them the option was important.

“People will see it’s reasonable, it’s safer than they think, it’s proactive and it’s preventive.” said the bill’s sponsor, Representative Scott Craig (R). He also told the BBC the law is a boon to poor rural areas of the state, which typically lack the funds to hire a fully staffed police force. Representative Karla Drenner (D), who is opposed to the new law, told reporters that the bill was just an attempt to strengthen gun control laws after the Newtown, Connecticut, massacre, and was concerned how a gun might escalate conflicts between teachers and angry students.

Various school board officials also question that guns in the hands of civilians would decrease school violence. Wade Pogany, Executive Director of the Associated School Boards of South Dakota, said the decision was too rash. “If firearms are the best option that we have, I’ll stand down. But let’s not come into a heated, emotional debate about this and say this is the answer. This is premature,” he said.

On Wednesday, a federal judge ruled that an Idaho law banning abortion after 20 weeks is unconstitutional because it places an undue burden on a woman seeking to terminate a pregnancy before viability.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill wrote in his opinion, “the Idaho Legislature’s enactment of the [fetal pain law] in light of this opinion is compelling evidence of the legislature’s ‘improper purpose’ in enacting it.” He also wrote, “the state’s clear disregard of this controlling Supreme Court precedent and its apparent determination to define viability in a manner specifically and repeatedly condemned by the Supreme Court evinces an intent to place an insurmountable obstacle in the path of women seeking non-therapeutic abortions of a nonviable fetus at and after 20 weeks’ gestation.”

In delivering his decision the judge said, “the purpose of the [law’s] categorical ban is to protect the fetus – not the mother. In essence, [the law] embodies a legislative judgment equating viability with 20 weeks’ gestational age, which the Supreme Court expressly forbids.”

The ban, based on the notion that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks gestation, was only one part of the anti-abortion law that was overturned. Judge Winmill also struck down two additional provisions. One required that an abortion be performed by a physician in a staffed clinic, which all but eliminated access to medical abortions, and the other required any second trimester abortion to be performed in a hospital and could have potentially criminalized a woman seeking a second trimester abortion.

In his decision, Judge Winmill wrote “Historically, abortion statutes sought to protect pregnant females from third parties providing dangerous abortions. As a result, most states’ abortion laws traditionally criminalized the behavior of third parties to protect the health of pregnant women – they did not punish women for obtaining an abortion. By punishing women, Idaho’s abortion statute is therefore unusual.”

Judge Winmill’s decision marks the first time a fetal pain bill has been overturned in federal court.

Today marks over a century of honoring women on International Women’s Day. What grew out of protests over unsafe working conditions for female factory workers nationwide has now become an international day of recognition of women and girls around the world and the struggles they still face.

As the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and Girls continues into next week, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a statement urging governments to focus on violence against women this International Women’s Day. He said “Look around at the women you are with. Think of those you cherish in your families and your communities, and understand that there is a statistical likelihood that many of them have suffered violence in their lifetime. …One young woman was gang-raped to death. Another committed suicide out of a sense of shame that should have been attached to the perpetrators. Young teens were shot at close range for daring to seek an education. These atrocities, which rightly sparked global outrage, were part of a much larger problem that pervades virtually every society and every realm of life.”

Yesterday, the Arkansas state legislature voted to override Governor Beebe’s veto of the Human Heartbeat Protection Act, which bans abortion after a heartbeat can be detected with a standard ultrasound (usually 12 weeks). While the bill does include exemptions for rape, incest, severe fetal abnormality, and to save the life of the mother, the bill is the strictest abortion ban in the United States.

Governor Beebe vetoed the bill on Monday believing arguing that it was unconstitutional. In a statement, Governor Beebe said “In short, because it would impose a ban on a woman’s right to choose an elective, nontherapeutic abortion well before viability, Senate Bill 134 blatantly contradicts the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. When I was sworn in as governor I took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend both the Arkansas Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I take that oath seriously.” The Arkansas state Senate voted 20-14 to override Beebe’s veto on Tuesday, and the House agreed in a vote of 56-33.

Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement “We are deeply disappointed that the Arkansas Legislature voted to impose the most restrictive ban on safe and legal abortion in the country. The majority of Arkansans – and the majority of Americans – don’t want politicians involved in a woman’s personal medical decisions about her pregnancy. Gov. Beebe rightfully vetoed this legislation, and the Legislature would have been wise to let the veto stand as this bill is clearly unconstitutional. People in Arkansas and across America know that abortion is a deeply personal and often complex decision for a woman to make. This extreme legislation would insert politics into women’s personal medical decisions.”

Rita Sklar, director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas told reporters, “It sets Arkansas back several decades in the eyes of the nation and the world. It shows an utter disregard for women and their ability to make important personal decisions about their own reproductive health.” ACLU is expected to challenge the ban in court, along with the Center for Reproductive Rights.

President Obama will sign the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law today. The ceremony will take place at Interior Department.

After over 500 days without congressional reauthorization, the House approved an inclusive, bipartisan VAWA as passed by the Senate on February 28. The reauthorization includes expanded protections for students, LGBT individuals, immigrants, and Native Americans. Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority, said “The House passed by a wide margin (286-138) the strong, bipartisan Senate version of VAWA which was supported by the Feminist Majority and scores of women’s rights, civil rights, labor, and domestic violence and sexual assault groups and organizations. … Women’s groups and their allies acted as one and created a massive grassroots lobbying campaign to pass a strong VAWA despite the Republican House leadership opposition. We cannot forget that 138 Republicans and no Democrats voted against final passage of the real VAWA. Nor can we forget those that voted to roll back full protections of VAWA for college students, immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans as well as to weaken of the Office of Violence Against Women.”

With VAWA just hours away from being signed into law, the Justice Department has released statistics that violence against women decreased by more than 60% from 1994, when VAWA was first enacted, to 2005. Figures remain unchanged since 2005. Smeal told reporters that this in large part is a result of VAWA and proves why it is necessary. Smeal said that now “everybody knows that rape and sexual assault are crimes and will be treated as such.”

“We have a ways to go,” she added. “It is clear there is still too much violence and too many are fearful to report it.”

On Monday, Lieutenant General Craig Franklin overturned the rape conviction of an air force service member who was found guilty by a jury. Franklin claims there was not sufficient evidence that the woman had been raped.

The Air Force fighter pilot was convicted in November for aggravated sexual assault by a jury of four colonels and a lieutenant colonel. He was dismissed from the Air Force and sentenced to one year in prison. Lieutenant General Franklin overturned the jury conviction using “convening authority” – an absolute power of a singe military supervisor to dismiss a jury decision.

The Lieutenant General’s decision has warranted outrage from members of Congress. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said “The military needs to understand that this could be a tipping point. I question whether, after this incident, there’s any chance a woman assaulted in that unit would ever say a word. … There’s a culture issue that’s going to have to be addressed here. And what this decision did – all it did was underline and put an exclamation point behind the notion that if you are sexually assaulted in the military – good luck.” In a letter to the Air Force Secretary and chief of staff she said “His decision shows ignorance, at best, and malfeasance, at worst. I strongly urge you to undertake an immediate review of his conduct and consider removing him from his leadership position.”

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) wrote a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel saying “This is a travesty of justice… At a time when the military has unequivocally stated that there is zero tolerance for sexual assault, this is not the message it should be sending to our service men and women, and to our nation.”

The Arkansas Senate voted to override Governor Mike Beebe’s (D) veto of the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act yesterday. The override passed the Senate in a twenty to fourteen vote. All fourteen Arkansas Democratic Senators voted against the override. In a letter issued after Beebe’s veto on Monday, Beebe said the bill twenty to fourteen vote“blatantly contradicts” the Constitution.

Senate Bill 134, or the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act, includes exemptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and severe fetal abnormalities. If the Arkansas House also overrides the veto, it will be the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. A simple majority is needed in both the state Senate and state House to override the governor’s veto.

Last week, the Arkansas Senate voted to override Governor Beebe’s veto of a bill that bans abortion at twenty weeks. The Senate voted 19 to 14 in favor of overriding the veto following a House vote approving the veto override by 53 to 28 last Wednesday. The passage of the bill makes Arkansas the tenth state to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks. Beebe vetoed the bill on claims that it was also unconstitutional.

Fourteen Republican members of the House of Representatives reintroduced a bill on Tuesday that would exempt unwilling employers from a requirement that their employee health insurance plans include contraceptive coverage. They are also trying to get the language included in the Continuing Resolution to extend funding for operation of the federal government. The bill’s cosponsors said in a letter, “Nothing short of a full exemption for both nonprofit and for-profit entities will satisfy the demands of the Constitution and common sense.”

A broad coalition of women’s groups led by Planned Parenthood released their own letter (see PDF) in response to the move. The letter concluded, “Including language in a continuing resolution or omnibus appropriations measure to restrict women’s access to birth control would be bad policy and is contrary to our shared goals of improving women’s health. We respectfully urge you to reject efforts to politicize the appropriations process for the remainder of fiscal year 2013 and oppose riders that are harmful to women’s health.”

The Department of Health and Human Services released proposed rules in January to operationalize that health insurance coverage under the ACA must provide birth control without co-pays or deductibles. Under the proposed rules, employees who work at religiously affiliated institutions such as hospitals and universities/colleges will be covered seamlessly by the insurance provider or plan administrator. The sole exception within the proposed rules is narrowly construed to only houses of worship that object and can deny coverage to their employees.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe (D) vetoed a bill that would have banned abortion after a heart beat was detected with a standard ultrasound – usually around 12 weeks – on Monday.

In a statement, Governor Beebe said “In short, because it would impose a ban on a woman’s right to choose an elective, nontherapeutic abortion well before viability, Senate Bill 134 blatantly contradicts the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court. When I was sworn in as governor I took an oath to preserve, protect, and defend both the Arkansas Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I take that oath seriously.”

Senate Bill 134, or the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act, includes exemptions for rape, incest, life of the mother and severe fetal abnormalities. Despite that, if the state legislature overrides Beebe’s veto and the bill becomes law, it will be the most restrictive abortion ban in the country. A simple majority is needed in both the state Senate and state House to override the governor’s veto. A vote to override the veto is expected to go before the legislature this week.

Last week, the Arkansas Senate voted to override Governor Beebe’s veto of a bill that bans abortion at twenty weeks. The Senate voted 19 to 14 in favor of overriding the veto following a House approving the veto override by 53 to 28 on Wednesday. The passage of the bill makes Arkansas the tenth state to outlaw abortions after 20 weeks. Beebe vetoed the bill on claims that it was also unconstitutional.

Today Senator Tom Harken (D-IA) and Representative George Miller (D-CA) announced they will introduce the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013. The legislation would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. In addition, the bill would also raise the minimum wage for tipped employees from $2.13 today to 70% of non-tipped minimum wage.

Harkin told the Huffington Post “When you see what’s happened to CEO salaries and compensation since the 1970s, and what’s happened to the minimum wage, it’s just startling… We can’t continue on this way. We need a higher minimum wage.” Miller echoed similar sentiments “People do see the minimum wage as a matter of justice for people who don’t have the ability to bargain for decent wages… And that’s all this is – it’s a minimum wage. Nobody’s walking away from here rich.”

During his State of the Union speech in February, President Obama argued in favor of raising the minimum wage, though only to $9.00 an hour compared to Harken-Miller’s $10.10. But in a USA Today/Pew Research Center poll, 71% of American supported the President’s proposal for an increase in minimum wage.

President Obama has increased his number of judicial appointments in an attempt to diversify the federal judiciary. Since taking office in January, President Obama has nominated over three dozen candidates compared to his first term where he received criticism for not appointing judges quickly. Of the 35 nominations awaiting Senate approval, 17 are women, 15 are ethnic minorities, and five are openly gay – many of whom would be historic firsts for their states.

White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler told reporters “Diversity in and of itself is a thing that is strengthening the judicial system. … It enhances the bench and the performance of the bench and the quality of the discussion . . . to have different perspectives, different life experiences, different professional experiences, coming from a different station in life, if you will.”

President Obama’s confirmed federal judicial nominations from his first term were more diverse than both his predecessors, George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. 37% percent of his confirmed nominations were non-white compared to 19% and 27% respectively. Also, 42% were women compared to 21% and 30% respectively. President Obama’s nominations have also taken significantly longer to be confirmed by the Senate that his predecessors. His first term nominees took 225 days to be confirmed, whereas Bush’s nominations took 175 days and Clinton’s took 98 days.

There are currently an additional 50 judicial vacancies awaiting nominations. President Obama is expected to make those nominations over the next few months.

Protests are breaking out across New Delhi, India after a seven year old girl was sexually assaulted while at school. The minor was attacked Thursday while at a school run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Delhi chief minister Shelia Dikshit said, “The incident is inhuman and shameful. It is a shocking incident. The municipal corporation must strengthen their existing security infrastructure in the schools.”

No arrests have been made, leading to accusations that the police have not been acting quickly enough. Protests broke out the next day outside the Sanjay Gandhi hospital where the young girl was treated after her attack. The protesters threw stones at police and damaged buses.

Sexual assault has been an issue garnering attention in India ever since the brutal gang rape and death of a 23-year-old female medical student. The incident sparked protests across the country. These large protests and demonstrations have voiced anger regarding the treatment of women in India and calling for tougher laws on violence against women. In India, the world’s largest democracy, a woman is estimated to be raped every twenty minutes, with Delhi being labeled the “rape capital,” according to the Associated Press.

On Sunday, researchers announced that an infant born with HIV is now a “functionally cured”, healthy two-year old with only trace amounts of the virus in her system. Doctors involved in her treatment made the announcement in advance of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections today. The medical definition of “functionally cured” is when a virus is present in the body in such a small concentration, medical intervention is not necessary.

The girl’s mother discovered she was HIV positive when she went into labor and was admitted into a local hospital. Doctors tested the infant shortly after birth and concluded that the child had contracted the virus in utero. The child was transferred to the University of Mississippi Medical Center where medical staff decided to treat the baby with a trio antiretroviral drugs 30 hours after being born.

Dr. Hannah Gay, who originally treated the child, told reporters “We are hoping that future studies will show that very early institution of effective therapy will result in this same outcome consistently.”

“For pediatrics, this is our Timothy Brown,” said Dr. Deborah Persaud, a lead author of the formal report on the girl. Timothy Brown was an HIV-positive man at the turn of the century; when he received a bone transplant for leukemia in 2007 from a person who was HIV-resistant, he became HIV-negative. Brown is still alive and is still considered functionally cured.

Today, the House of Representatives passed the bipartisan, inclusive Violence Against Women Act as passed by the Senate.

The House of Representatives voted 286-138 to pass the Senate version of VAWA that included protections for students, the LGBT community, immigrants and Native Americans. This came after a bipartisan decision to reject a gutted substitute bill proposed by the House leadership that rolled back the provisions expanding protection.

Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority, said “The House passed by a wide margin (286-138) the strong, bipartisan Senate version of VAWA which was supported by the Feminist Majority and scores of women’s rights, civil rights, labor, and domestic violence and sexual assault groups and organizations…Women’s groups and their allies acted as one and created a massive grassroots lobbying campaign to pass a strong VAWA despite the Republican House leadership opposition. We cannot forget that 138 Republicans and no Democrats voted against final passage of the real VAWA. Nor can we forget those that voted to roll back full protections of VAWA for college students, immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans as well as to weaken of the Office of Violence.”

The Arkansas state House voted yesterday in favor of overriding Governor Beebe’s veto of a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks.

In a vote 53-28, state Representatives approved the decision to override the veto, sending it to the state Senate. In Arkansas, a governor veto can be overridden by the state legislature with a simple majority vote in both houses. If the Senate also votes to override the veto, the bill will automatically become law, and Arkansas will join seven other states with a 20 week term limit on abortion.

“It’s disheartening that our lawmakers are knowingly passing an unconstitutional abortion ban for the sake of politics,” Jill June, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, told reporters.

The Arkansas state Senate is expected to vote on the override on Thursday.

Today, the justices of the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for the fifth time since the law’s passage in 1965. This section of the Voting Rights Act mandates that areas of the nation with a history of barring people of color from voting must get approval from the Department of Justice or a federal court before they alter voting rules. A plaintiff from Shelby County, Alabama, is challenging section 5, saying that the discriminatory environment that once justified its enactment is much improved. Civil rights groups disagree, saying that the situation is improved because of the Act. In past challenges to the law, the Court has cited the fifteenth amendment – no governmental body can stand in the way of an individual’s right to vote – in their decision to uphold all components.

Frank “Butch” Ellis, attorney to the Shelby County plaintiff, told NPR that “The South has changed[.] There’s probably bits of [discrimination] everywhere, but there’s no evidence that it’s more prevalent in these covered jurisdictions than it is in the non-covered jurisdictions. That’s our complaint.” Ellis argues that the federal government oversteps its bounds in dictating what certain states can and cannot do with its voting rules.

A voting rights expert who has filed briefs on various voter suppression cases, Pam Karlan, said that “Shelby County still advertises itself as the heart of the Heart of Dixie, and that tells you that some things have not changed, or at least haven’t changed enough to take the bandage off the wound.”

A county or city with ten consecutive years without questionable proposed changes to its voting structure is exempt from federal monitoring.Politico notes that Shelby County has not toed the line; the city of Calera (within Shelby County) proposed a reshaping of its district in 2008 which would reduce the number of African American voters from 70.9% to 29.5%. The Department of Justice rejected the proposition, citing the rights of all people to select their representatives.

The case goes before the court after an election year that included multiple legislative attacks aimed at suppressing minority voters. Last year, 17 states passed voter suppression laws that increased wait times at the polls, decreased early voting days, and mandated state-issued IDs requirements for voting. New laws affecting the election process have already been suggested this year in preparation for mid-term elections.

On Tuesday Governor Mike Beebe (D) vetoed a bill that would have banned abortions in Arkansas after 20 weeks. The bill passed in the state Senate on a vote of 25 to 7 and passed the state House on a vote of 80 to 10 before reaching Governor Beebe’s desk.

“Because it would impose a ban on a woman’s right to choose an elective, nontherapeutic abortion before viability, House Bill 1037, if it became law, would squarely contradict Supreme Court precedent,” Beebe wrote in the veto letter. “When I was sworn in as governor I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend both the Arkansas Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I take that oath seriously.” Originally, Governor Beebe had agreed to sign the ban into law if it was passed by the state Congress.

The Arkansas state legislation has the power to override the Governor’s veto with a simple majority in both chambers. Both the Arkansas state House and Senate have majority support for the ban. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Andy Mayberry (R), has said he is confident that there will be enough votes from supporters of the 20-week ban to override the veto.