Author: Feminist Majority Foundation Blog

Today President Obama released his 2012 Budget, which poses a direct contrast to the massive cuts to programs that benefit women and girls proposed by House Republican in the Continuing Resolution (CR) for funding FY 2011. The proposed budget would decrease funding for the Department of Defense by $78 billion over the next five years, a striking contrast to the House Republican’s proposed increase of $8.1 billion for FY 2011.

Unlike the Republican’s proposal to eliminate the Title X domestic family planning program, President Obama’s budget allocates $327 for Title X Family Planning Programs, an $11 million increase from 2010 enacted funding. In addition, Obama’s 2012 budget would support 9.6 million women in the Women Infant Child (WIC) program and would benefit family caregivers, the majority of whom are women, by including $96 million for the Administration’s Caregiver Initiative.

Moreover, the President’s budget proposes $777 million to support victims of violence, including domestic abuse and sexual assault, $135 million to support battered women’s shelters, and $4.5 million for the National Domestic Violence Hotline. The 2012 Budget also proposes $23 million for a State Paid Leave Fund within the Department of Labor that will “provide competitive grants to help states that choose to launch paid-leave programs cover their start up costs.”

President’s Obama budget proposes $350 to establish the Early Learning Challenge Fund, administered by the Department of Education, and includes $8.1 for Head Start and Early Head Start, while the Republicans proposed a $2.27 billion cut from the President’s 2011 request.

Reverend Martin P. O’Loghlen, a priest accused in 1999 of having a sexual relationship with a teenage girl, has recently been removed from his parish in Los Angeles. The vicar of clergy, Msgr. Michael Myers, also announced his resignation.

After having been contacted multiple times by Reverend O’Loghlen, Julie Malcolm filed a lawsuit against the priest and his religious order, the Congregation of Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, and received a settlement of $100,000. Nevertheless, despite its knowledge of Reverend O’Loghlen’s sexual addiction and the abuse, the Los Angeles archdiocese did not remove O’Loghlen and allowed him served on a sexual abuse advisory board of the archdiocese.

Cardinal Mahony told the California Catholic Daily, “The failure to fully check records before granting priestly faculties is a violation of archdiocesan policy. We owe it to victims and to all our faithful to make absolutely certain that all of our child protection policies and procedures are scrupulously followed.” Four years ago the Los Angeles archdiocese paid $660 million in a settlement to 508 people claiming to have been sexually abused by priests as children.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced yesterday that it would allow nursing mothers to receive a tax break for pumps and other breastfeeding supplies. Nursing mothers can now use their pretax dollars from flexible spending accounts to pay for these items. Women without flexible spending accounts can deduct breastfeeding costs if such expenses are more than 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income.

This announcement reverses the IRS’s ruling in October stating that breast pumps and other breastfeeding supplies are not subject to the tax breaks offered for other medical expenses, such as acne medications and denture adhesives.

Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) stated, “This is good news for nursing moms, and a welcome recognition of scientific fact by the IRS: breastfeeding has significant health benefits – it helps prevent disease, and is good for moms and for babies. Anything we can do to encourage healthy choices is a good thing – and this ruling definitely qualifies!”

Breastfeeding advocates and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have emphasized the preventative health benefits of breastfeeding, backed by recent research. According to a study published in April, breastfeeding will prevent more than 900 infant deaths each year and will save an additional $13 billion in health care costs. Many mothers also receive health benefits from breast feeding.

Representative Hal Rogers (R-KY), Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, announced a list of 70 spending cuts to be included in the FY 2011 Continuing Resolution bill, including a $327 million cut in family planning funds. In 2010, $317 million in federal funding was allocated to family planning programs. Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, explained that the Continuing Resolution would eliminate the Title X family planning program, which gives millions of women access to primary and preventive health care, including cancer screenings, and STI testing and treatment.

Richards stated, “Under the guise of cutting the budget, the House leadership is launching an all-out assault on women’s health. The simple fact is, family planning programs like Title X save money. For every public dollar invested in family planning, taxpayers save nearly $4.”

The total amount of the spending cuts in the bill will exceed $74 billion. The bill also includes a proposed $210 million cut in maternal and child health block grants.

The Raleigh school board recently decided to end its diversity policy in favor of establishing neighborhood schools, prompting much criticism and protest. The North Carolina NAACP, accusing the school board of re-segregation, filed a civil rights complaint.

Reverand Dr. William J. Barber, NC NAACP State President, stated, “The segregation of schools by socioeconomic status inevitably undermines our goal of high-quality experienced teachers for all students. By reducing the interaction between working-class Blacks and Whites, the re-segregation of schools stands to curtail the progress made by these groups to band together and focus on commonalities which affect all North Carolinians.”

On February 27, the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP will hold the Fourth Annual “Historic Thousands on Jones Street” People’s Assembly, which will focus on ending the re-segregation of Raleigh’s public schools.

US Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), Al Franken (D-MN), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) held a press conference yesterday to speak out against two extreme anti-women’s rights measures introduced by House Republicans to restrict women’s access to health care and reproductive health services.

The House Judiciary Committee’s Constitution Subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” (HR 3), introduced by Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ), Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair with the support of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). Today the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing on the “Protect Life Act” (HR 358), sponsored by Representative Joe Pitts (R-PA).

Senator Boxer stated, “We are sending a clear message to House Republicans that their agenda on women’s health is extreme, it breaks faith with a decades-long bipartisan compromise and it risks the health and lives of women. It also punishes women and businesses with a tax hike if they wish to keep or buy insurance that covers a full range of reproductive health care. We want the women and families of America to know that we will continue to defend women’s health and, with a bipartisan effort, we will stop an agenda that would do them harm.”

HR 3, the “No Tax Payer for Abortion Act,” is misleading and dangerous. It goes way beyond the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited federal funding of abortion since 1976. If passed, the bill would permanently ban women in the military from obtaining an abortion in a military hospital overseas, even if they pay for it with their own (not federal) money. Taxes will be increased for individuals and small businesses whose private health insurance plans include abortion coverage. Federal workers who pay their own insurance premiums out of pocket would be prohibited from having abortion coverage in their insurance. HR 3 would take the premium assistance promised by health reform away from people who choose a private insurance plan with abortion coverage.

HR 358, the “Protect Life Act,” would “prohibit federal funds from being used to cover any part of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion services” under the Affordable Care Act.

Reproductive Rights groups, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Partnership for Women and Families, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the National Abortion Rights League oppose HR 3 and HR 358, which would place extreme limitations on women’s access to reproductive health services.

A joint program between the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that over 6,000 communities in Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Guinea and Somalia have abandoned the practice of female genital mutilation/ cutting (FGM/C).

Nafissatou Diop, coordinator of the UNFPA-UNICEF program, stated, “We are working in 12 out of 17 priority African countries and have seen real results…In Ethiopia, the prevalence rate has fallen from 80 percent to 74 percent, in Kenya from 32 percent to 27 percent, and in Egypt from 97 percent to 91 percent.”

FGM is the partial or total removal of external genitalia. The practice both increases the risk of HIV transmission and increases infant and maternal mortality rates. In many cases, FGM decreases women’s sexual satisfaction. Approximately 3 million young women annually are forced to undergo FGM as a form of birth control and as initiation into womanhood. FGM is practiced as a rite of passage in 28 African countries.

Representative Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) introduced a bill that would change the language of state criminal codes to refer to those who file charges for rape, stalking, and domestic violence as accusers, not victims, until there has been a conviction. Carolyn Fiddler, communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, explained recent outrage regarding the bill, “Burglary victims are still victims. Assault victims are still victims. Fraud victims are still victims. But if you have the misfortune to suffer a rape, or if you are beaten by a domestic partner, or if you are stalked, Rep. Franklin doesn’t think you have been victimized.”

Representative Franklin’s bill is the second piece of rape-related Republican legislation to provoke heavy criticism this month. Following an outcry from women’s rights groups and others last week, House Republicans removed the word “forcible” to describe the rape exception in H.R. 3, an anti-abortion bill introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair, with the support of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

HR 3, which purports to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and ensure that the healthcare reform law does not cover the cost of abortions, had provided for an exception only when the woman’s life is endangered, in cases of “forcible” rape, or in cases of incest if the woman was a minor. The exemption in the bill will now cover all forms of rape.

A recently released study from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) revealed that in 2009 the US teen birth rate reached the lowest level ever recorded. Although the decline in the teen birth rate had stalled from 2005 to 2007, the study indicates that declining trend has resumed. The study supports the government’s preliminary report on teenage pregnancy released in December.

Between 2007 and 2009, the teen birth rate decreased 8 percent to 39.1 births per 1,000 teens between the ages of 15 and 19. For teens 18-19 years old, the birth rate fell in 45 states and decreased overall six percent, which represents the greatest decline in one year since 1972.The birth rate has also decreased for teens younger than 15 years old.

The researchers noted declines in the birth rate for teens across racial and ethnic groups. In 2009, the rate of births to Hispanic teens reached an all-time low in the two decades that data has been recorded for the group. Although the reason for the drop in the rate of teenage pregnancies remains unclear, some suggest that this might be a result of the recession.

The Pennsylvania state Senate will vote today on Senate Bill 3, introduced by Senator Don White (R-11), which would prohibit private insurance plans sold in the Pennsylvania health insurance exchange from covering abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is endangered. The Senate Banking Committee passed the bill on January 25.

Women’s groups, including Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania and the Women’s Law Project, criticized the bill, which would decrease women’s access to abortion services in Pennsylvania and potentially lead them to seek low-cost, poor quality abortion services . Rebecca Cavanaugh, vice president of public affairs at Planned Parenthood, explained, “A lot of women may be driven to a provider who may not be very good. Women become very desperate in these situations.”

On Saturday, 40 women gathered at the Interior Ministry in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to call for the release of prisoners who were being detained without a trial. The prisoners are being held as part of the Saudi government’s campaign to contain al Qaeda insurgents.

Mohammed al-Qahtani, an activist, told the New York Times, “The women demand to free people imprisoned in the campaign against terrorism. Many people have been held up for a long time without trial, or have nothing to do with al Qaeda.”

Gulf News reports that Saudi officials will speak to the women’s guardians and request that they “sign an undertaking to prevent the women from being involved in any similar activity in the future.” The legal guardianship system in Saudi Arabia requires that women, both minors and adults, be accompanied by a male guardian outside the home. If women wish to conduct themselves in public business, work, or to drive, they must obtain permission from or be accompanied by their male guardian, who may be her husband, father, brother, or even a minor son.

Following an outcry from women’s rights groups and others, House Republicans have removed the “forcible” to describe the rape exception in H.R. 3, an anti-abortion bill introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Congressional Pro-Life Caucus Co-Chair, with the support of House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

The bill, which purports to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and ensure that healthcare reform law does not cover the cost of abortions, had provided for an exception only when the woman’s life is endangered, in cases of “forcible” rape, or in cases of incest if the woman was a minor. The exemption in the bill will now cover all forms of rape.

HR 3, which has a short title of “No Tax-Payer Funding for Abortion Act,” goes far beyond that issue. If passed, the bill would permanently ban women in the military from obtaining an abortion in a military hospital overseas, even if they pay for it with their own (not federal) funds. This is particularly important to women stationed in areas where local clinics may be unsafe. Moreover, Americans who have private insurance plans that include abortion coverage would have to pay tax penalties, and federal workers who pay their own insurance premiums out of pocket would nonetheless be prohibited from having abortion coverage in their insurance.

Organizations including the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Women’s Law Center, Emily’s List, and MoveOn.org, criticized the Smith bill, for changing the definition of rape to exclude statutory rape, date rape, drug-facilitated rape, and other instances when the woman was unconscious or otherwise unable to give consent. Steph Sterling, a lawyer and senior adviser at the National Women’s Law Center, explained, “It speaks to a distinction between rape where there must be some element of force in order to rise to the standard, and rape where there is not. The concern here is that it takes us back to a time where just saying no was not enough.”

The Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing next Tuesday on the bill.

Yesterday, Green Bay Dressed Beef of Wisconsin, a division of American Foods Group LLC, agreed to pay $1.65 million to 970 women who were barred from general laborer positions at the plant in 2006 and 2007. Following an investigation, the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFFCP) found that the company had violated Executive Order 11246, which states that federal contractors cannot discriminate on the basis of gender in their hiring and employment practices.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said, “This is the 21st century in the United States of America. There is no such thing as a ‘man’s job.’ I am pleased that my department has been able to work out a resolution with Green Bay Dressed Beef, and that the settlement not only compensates the victims of discrimination but also provides jobs for many of these women.”

Each woman in the original class will receive approximately $1,700 to cover back wages, interest, and benefits. The company will also offer 248 jobs to the women once the positions become available.

Yesterday, the Senate voted along party lines to block the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act, with all 47 Republicans voting for the bill, 51 Democrats voting against it, and two Democrats not voting. Since the bill failed to achieve the necessary 60 votes to pass, it is considered dead in Congress.

On January 19, the House voted 245 to 189 in favor of the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act. Three Democrats and 242 Republicans voted in support of the bill.

Some provisions of the act have already gone into effect. Currently under the Affordable Care Act, Medicare recipients no longer have to share costs for preventive care including mammograms, cancer screenings, annual physicals and immunizations. Other provisions have already begun to close the so-called “doughnut hole,” or gap between the initial coverage limit and the threshold for receiving catastrophic coverage. In 2010, young people were permitted to remain on their parents’ health insurance policies until age 26 unless they have other coverage and children with preexisting conditions can no longer be denied coverage.

President Obama signed the final version of the Affordable Care Act in March. If the law is not repealed or declared unconstitutional, it will in 2014 add insurance coverage for 32 million people and extend Medicaid coverage for 16 million Americans. Significantly, the act will ban sex discrimination in health insurance pricing. Currently, women on the average pay 48 percent more for health insurance coverage. The act, when fully implemented, prohibits the exclusion of maternity coverage. Approximately 80 percent of policies currently exclude maternity coverage.

McCaskey East High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has abandoned its pilot “mentoring” program that that separated students by race and gender in their homeroom classrooms following much controversy and negative media attention.

Pedro Rivera, the superintendent, continues to defend the segregation, saying, “The intent…by educators was to serve students. They identified a need and were innovative and forward-thinking around how they were going to provide a quality education to kids here at the high school.” However, the Lancaster school district rescinded the pilot program after “blistering” criticism of the blatant segregation and racial stereotyping. Unfortunately, few pointed out the sex stereotyping and segregation, which is a violation of Title IX.

The Feminist Majority Foundation is currently working to rescind the 2006 Bush-era Title IX regulations that make it significantly easier to allow single-sex classrooms in public schools (pdf).

Live Action, an anti-abortion rights group, is distributing an edited undercover video that appears to show an employee at a Planned Parenthood clinic in New Jersey advising paid actors posing as a pimp and a prostitute on where they can obtain abortion services for girls under the age of 14 and illegal immigrants.

Stuart Schear, the Vice President of Communications for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement that 12 clinics in 6 different states were visited in January by individuals claiming to be involved in sex trafficking. Planned Parenthood reported each incident to the Department of Justice and sent a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder on January 18 expressing its concerns regarding possible sex trafficking. In the letter, Planned Parenthood also raised questions as to whether the visits were part of a hoax by Live Action based on an identification of one of the visitors.

Lila Rose, the president and founder of Live Action, formerly worked with James O’Keefe, a conservative activist who released a similar video in 2009 in which he and a colleague acted as a pimp and prostitute and sought to discredit the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). ACORN, an organization that provides housing services to low-income populations, has since filed for bankruptcy. Later it was determined that the O’Keefe video had been so heavily edited that it was ultimately declared a hoax.

The Senate Ethics Committee announced yesterday that it will appoint a special counsel to investigate Senator John Ensign (R-NV), who allegedly used his political power to hide his affair with the wife of a top former political aide. Carol Elder Bruce, a criminal defense lawyer at K&L Gates who specializes in white collar crime, will lead the investigation. This is the first time in 20 years that special counsel has been appointed by the Senate Ethics Committee to conduct an investigation of a senator.

Senator Ensign remarked in an interview yesterday that he had not committed any wrongful acts, stating, “The Justice Department saw it that way; FEC saw it that way, that I broke no laws. And I don’t think I broke any Senate ethics rules, and we’re hoping they see it the same way.”

In Florida yesterday, Federal District Court Judge Roger Vinson ruled the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unconstitutional because it penalizes Americans for not having health insurance beginning in 2014. Judge Vinson stated in his opinion that the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision, which requires that a person have minimum health coverage or face a modest monetary penalty beginning in 2014, is beyond the scope of Congress’ regulatory powers as established in the Commerce Clause of the Constitution. Judge Vinson did rule the Act remains in effect until the appeal process has ended.

The Vinson decision appears to be out of the judicial mainstream. So far, 12 federal judges, according to the White House, have dismissed such cases and two judges have upheld the law. One court has ruled the “individual responsibility” provision is unconstitutional but not the entire act. Nevertheless, this decision insures the US Supreme Court will have the final say.

The case was filed by 25 Republican Attorneys General and Governors. The American Cancer Society Action Network, the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Nurses Association filed amicus briefs in support of the Affordable Care Act.

In December, Virginia federal judge Henry Hudson ruled in a case filed in March by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli that just the Minimum Essential Coverage Provision of the Patient Protection is unconstitutional, not the entire Act. The provision and the entire Act have previously been challenged and found constitutional by another court in Virginia and one in Michigan. Judge Hudson’s ruling is the first to find the provision unconstitutional.

Currently under the ACA, certain preventive procedures, such as mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears, tobacco cessation services, and obesity prevention services, no longer require a co-payment or other direct costs. President Obama signed the final version of the Affordable Care Act in March. The final law will eventually add coverage for 32 million people, increasing access to family planning and preventive care.

United States District Court Judge Marvin Garbis ruled yesterday that a Baltimore ordinance requiring that “limited-service pregnancy centers” display signs in both English and Spanish indicating that they do not provide or make referrals for abortions or comprehensive birth control services was unconstitutional. Judge Garbis stated that the ordinance violated the Freedom of Speech Clause in the Constitution.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Greater Baltimore Center for Pregnancy Concerns, which is provided space from the archdiocese at no cost, filed the lawsuit in March 2010. The Catholic Church owns two crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), according to the Associated Press, that would have been required under the ordinance to post signs.

Stephanie Toti, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, stated, “We plan to immediately appeal today’s court’s decision and we are confident we will prevail. Baltimore’s ordinance is a common sense measure designed to protect consumers from a long-standing and documented pattern of deceptive practices by crisis pregnancy centers.”

Currently, there are an estimated 3,500 CPCs nationwide, most of which are affiliated with one or more national umbrella organizations. CPCs often pose as comprehensive health centers and offer “free” pregnancy tests. Some CPCs coerce and intimidate women out of considering abortion as an option, and prevent women from receiving neutral and comprehensive medical advice. These clinics are typically run by anti-abortion volunteers who are not licensed medical professionals.