Author: Feminist Newswire

The Feminist Newswire has provided a daily feminist perspective on national, global, and campus news stories since 1995. You can receive a weekly feminist news digest when you subscribe here.

Shutdown Threatens to Halt Rape Kits in DC

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Victims of rape in Washington, DC may soon be unable to get sexual assault forensic evidence (SAFE) kits, often called rape kits. DC’s budget is under federal control, so if the federal government’s shutdown continues much longer, some of the city’s necessary programs–including those intended to help rape victims–may be temporarily discontinued due to lack of funding.

via Ms. Magazine
via Ms. Magazine

After an assault or rape, a victim can go to the hospital for an exam, where forensic nurses collect DNA, photographs, and other forms of evidence that may be used in court. Timeliness is important to collect all of the evidence possible. “If we don’t have funds, no rape kits get done, there’s no medical forensic exam,” said Heather Devore, executive director of DC Forensic Nurse Examiners, one of two groups that make up the DC Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program (SANE). “It’s especially important because we know that DNA degrades quickly; we only have a short time in order to obtain this evidence.”

Victims also receive the services of an advocate who helps them through the exam process and with any other administrative, employment, or housing issues that may arise–crucial assistance that will not be available if funds run out.

The organizations that conduct rape kits are currently running on a contingency fund provided by the DC government, after Melissa Hook, director of the DC Office of Victims Services made the case to the city administrator that rape kits and exams should be deemed essential. The funds are expected to last only through the end of October.

Domestic violence programs all over the nation are also threatened by an extended government shutdown. Many domestic violence shelters and crisis centers rely solely on funding from the federal Office on Violence Against Women. The shutdown means that organizations that receive federal grants cannot request payment or draw funds.

Media Resources: Huffington Post 10/11/13; ThinkProgress 10/11/13; Slate 10/11/13

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

Unpaid Intern Not Protected From Sexual Harassment

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A New York federal court ruled that a woman cannot sue the broadcasting company where she interned for sexual harassment because she was unpaid.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

According to the court’s memorandum and order, the former intern, Lihuan Wang, sued after an incident that occurred in January 2010 when she was a 22-year-old Master’s Degree student at Syracuse University interning with Phoenix Satellite Television U.S. in New York. Wang’s direct supervisor, Zhengzhu Liu, based in Washington, DC, had invited Wang and her co-workers to lunch. Liu asked Wang to stay afterwards to discuss her work performance. After getting her alone, Liu asked Wang to come with him to his hotel room so he could drop off some personal belongings. In the car ride to the hotel, Liu made sexual comments that made Wang extremely uncomfortable. When they arrived at the hotel, Wang attempted to talk more about her internship, but she alleges that Liu instead asked her to name her most beautiful feature and told her her eyes were beautiful. When he asked her to go to his hotel room, Wang went, explaining to the Court that she felt uncomfortable but compelled to go because he was her supervisor. In the hotel room, Liu removed his shirt jacket and tie, put his arms around her, held her tightly, tried to kiss her by force, and squeezed her butt. She pushed him away, saying “I don’t want this,” and she quickly left the room.

After the incident, Wang, a Chinese citizen, alleges that Liu no longer expressed interest in hiring her permanently once she completed her Master’s Degree. Liu started emphasizing that he could not sponsor her to work with them because there was a “visa quota.” At the time, Liu supervised both the Washington, DC and New York City bureaus of Phoenix. He exercised complete authority over the hiring, termination, and interviewing of all employees and interns.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Wang was not protected from sexual harassment by the New York State Human Rights Law or New York City Human Rights Law because she was unpaid. The Court explained that like Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the state law required that interns receive remuneration, like compensation or benefits, to be protected.

Media Resources: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Bloomberg Businessweek 10/8/13; ThinkProgress 10/9/13; U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

UMD Mandates Sexual Assault Education for University Community

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The University of Maryland, College Park Senate voted 70-1 yesterday to approve a sexual misconduct policy that includes mandated sexual assault education for every member of the university community.

via Governor O'Malley
via Governor O’Malley

“This is a really important day for the university, and today was the first step in changing a culture that blames the victim before it blames the perpetrator,” said Lauren Redding, a 2013 university graduate, former Diamondback editor-in-chief, sexual assault survivor, and current Feminist Majority Foundation online communications associate.

After Redding authored the education mandate bill last winter, a university legal team drafted the policy using recommendations from the senate’s Sexual Harassment Task Force. President Wallace Loh temporarily ratified it in August while he awaited Senate approval.

The sexual misconduct training will be offered through different platforms, including fraternities and sororities, dormitories, freshman level courses, and potentially the Internet. The trainings will cover sexual assault and rape culture, including bystander intervention techniques that students can use on campus to eradicate sexual violence.

While the education mandate will not take effect until the university’s spring semester, the CARE to Stop Violence program will run a smaller pilot program for the next few months in order to inform a long-term plan. Officials will measure and compare the impact of online and in-person training among 300 to 600 incoming undergraduate students.

Media Resources: The Diamondback 5/11/13, 9/27/13, 10/11/13; Feminist Newswire 9/6/13

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

California Governor Signs Bill Expanding Abortion Access

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California Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill on Wednesday that expands access to abortion in the state. The bill, AB 154, allows trained nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants to perform abortions during the first trimester.

via Ohad Ben-Yoseph
via Ohad Ben-Yoseph

This expansion will help alleviate a shortage of abortion providers in the state, where over half of the counties have no abortion provider. “Timely access to reproductive health services is critical to women’s health,” said Assemblymember Toni Atkins, who introduced the measure. “AB 154 will ensure that no woman has to travel excessively long distances or wait for long periods in order to obtain an early abortion. I appreciate Governor Brown’s support of women’s health.”

By expanding abortion access, California bucks the national trend of passing legislation that restricts abortion access. The New York Times reports that according to the Elizabeth Nash, state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, 68 restrictions on abortion have been passed by states so far this year.

Media Resources: California Legislative Information; Reuters 10/10/13; Feminist Newswire 9/3/13; Assemblymember Toni Atkins Press Release 10/9/13; The New York Times 10/10/13

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

President Obama Nominates Janet Yellen to Lead Federal Reserve

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President Obama nominated Janet Yellen to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve yesterday. If she is approved by the Senate, Yellen will be the first woman to head the United States’ central bank in its 100-year history. She will also be the first Democrat to be the chair of the Federal Reserve since Paul A. Volcker stepped down in 1987.

via International Monetary Fund
via International Monetary Fund

Yellen, 67, is the current vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, and she has a long history of experience with central banking. She has taught at Harvard University and the London School of Economics, and she has held several senior administrative positions in the US. She will replace Ben Bernanke, who has lead the Fed since 2006 and will step down in January.

In a press conference, Yellen signaled that if confirmed, she would focus on strengthening the economy, by focusing on jobs and controlling inflation. “The mandate of the Federal Reserve is to serve all the American people, and too many Americans still can’t find a job and worry how they will pay their bills and provide for their families,” Yellen stated. “The Federal Reserve can help, if it does its job effectively. We can help ensure that everyone has the opportunity to work hard and build a better life. We can ensure that inflation remains in check and doesn’t undermine the benefits of a growing economy. We can and must safeguard the financial system.”

Praising her nomination, Senator Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Chair of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, said, “Today is a historic moment for the Federal Reserve, for women everywhere and for all of us who care about job creation.” He continued, “Governor Yellen will work to prevent future bailouts, boost our housing markets, and give the Fed’s mandate to maximize employment the attention it deserves. In the midst of a fragile economic recovery, it will be more important than ever to have a steady hand and consensus builder at the helm of the Fed.”

Media Resources: BBC News 10/9/13; The Washington Post 10/8/13; ThinkProgress 10/9/13; NBC News 10/8/13; Federal Reserve Press Release 10/9/13; Senator Brown Press Release 10/8/13

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

Nebraska Supreme Court Denies 16-Year-Old Foster Child an Abortion

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The Nebraska Supreme Court refused on Friday to grant a 16-year-old foster child’s request to get an abortion without parental consent.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

A 2011 Nebraska law requires minors under 18 to obtain notarized parental consent in order to obtain an abortion. Minors may receive a judicial waiver of this requirement under three circumstances: if there is a medical emergency, if the minor is a victim of abuse or neglect, or if a judge finds by clear and convincing evidence that the minor is sufficiently mature and well-informed to decide whether to have an abortion. The 2011 law replaced the state’s parental notification law, which did not require notarized consent.

The girl, who is not identified in court papers, was 10 weeks pregnant when she sought a judicial waiver of the parental consent requirement. She needed a waiver because, as a ward of the state, she did not have legal parents who could give consent for her to obtain an abortion. Nebraska had earlier terminated the parental rights of her physically abusive biological parents, and although the girl and her two siblings live in a foster home, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services remains her legal guardian.

After advising the girl that “when you have the abortion, it’s going to kill the child inside you,” lower court judge Peter Bataillon denied her request for a waiver. Bataillon, who according to RH Reality Check, had been an attorney for extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, found that the girl was not mature and informed enough to make the decision to have an abortion. He also found that the girl should have sought consent from her foster parents, even though the girl’s foster parents are not her legal guardian and the state regulations governing the Department of Health and Human Services gives minors in its custody the right to consent to abortion, without seeking permission from the Department.

During her judicial bypass hearing, the girl testified that she could not financially support a child or “be the right mom that [she] would like to be right now.” She also stated that she feared that she would lose her foster placement if her foster parents, who are anti-abortion, knew of her pregnancy, and that she felt that carrying her pregnancy to term and placing the child up for adoption “would be worse for her and her family because her foster parents would have resentment toward her,” according to court papers.

The state Supreme Court denied the girl’s appeal, meaning that the government would force a 16-year old girl to carry a pregnancy to term. Jill June, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland said the ruling was “concerning” because it eliminated “a safe and legal option for a woman in a dire circumstance.”

Media Resources: The Houston Chronicle 10/4/13; RH Reality Check 10/6/13; Nebraska Supreme Court; Omaha World-Herald 10/5/13

Feminist Majority Hosts Women, Money, Power Summit Tomorrow

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Feminist Majority will host the 2013 Women, Money, Power Summit tomorrow at the Capital Hilton in downtown Washington, DC. The Summit brings together feminist leaders, advocates, and decision-makers to exchange ideas and maximize our effectiveness in making women’s equality a priority.

wmpfbad2

The 2013 Summit will feature House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi who will highlight the House Democrats’ economic agenda for women and families, When Women Succeed, America Succeeds, and pay tribute to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, a champion for equal pay for women.

Feminist Majority will honor Congresswoman DeLauro as well as Barbara Arnwine, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Texas State Senator Leticia van De Putte with Fearless Trailblazer Awards. Congresswoman DeLauro is a champion of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. She has worked tirelessly to achieve full pay equity for women, to ensure that all employees have access to paid sick days, and to expand access to affordable, quality child care. Arwine is a champion of civil rights and racial justice issues and is leading the charge for voters’ rights. Senator van de Putte played a critical role in the June filibuster of anti-abortion legislation in Texas and is a courageous fighter for reproductive rights, women’s rights and civil rights.

The Summit will include General Assembly Sessions throughout the day that will focus on stopping the War on Women’s health, improving global reproductive family planning policies, ending violence against women and implementing the Affordable Care Act. Speakers will include Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, President of Feminist Majority Eleanor Smeal, President of National Organization for Women Terry O’Neill, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation Melanie Campbell, President of Catholics for Choice Jon O’Brien, Susan Burke, a chief litigator of survivors of sexual assault, President of American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten, and many more.

Federal Suit Challenges Pregnant Woman’s Arrest Under Personhood-Like Law

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Attorneys for Wisconsin woman Alicia Beltran filed a petition in federal court this week seeking her immediate release from state custody. The suit challenges the constitutionality of a 1997 state law that gives Wisconsin courts jurisdiction over any pregnant woman who “habitually lacks self-control” in using alcohol or drugs “to a severe degree” such that the physical health of her “unborn child” will be “seriously affected or endangered.”

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

Beltran was arrested after she sought early prenatal care and told health care workers about her prior use of painkillers and her attempts to stop use on her own. Instead of receiving support, she was arrested in July 2013, when she was only 15 weeks pregnant. Beltran was brought to court in shackles for her initial hearing, and without a right to counsel, she had no attorney for her initial hearing–even though an attorney had been appointed to represent her fetus. Without hearing any testimony from a medical expert, the court ordered Beltran to be detained at an inpatient drug treatment program two hours from her home.

The petition argues that there have been numerous violations of constitutional rights, including the right to physical liberty, the right to due process notice, and privacy in medical decision-making, among several others. This is the first constitutional challenge to such a law. Statements from medical experts supporting the petition say the arrest and detention of Beltran actually increases risk to the pregnancy and has no medical justification.

Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women and co-counsel for the case, said, “This kind of dangerous, authoritarian state-action, is exactly what happens when laws give police officers and other state actors the authority to treat fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses as if they are already completely separate from the pregnant woman.”

Minnesota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wisconsin have similar laws allowing the detention of pregnant women alleged to have used alcohol or drugs.

Media Resources: Wisconsin Legislative Documents; RH Reality Check 10/3/13; National Advocates for Pregnant Women Press Release 10/2/13

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

Wendy Davis Announces Run For Texas Governor

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Wendy Davis announced yesterday that she will run for Texas governor in the November 2014 elections. Second-term Senator Davis (D-Fort Worth) became an overnight icon in June, with the help of social media, when she successfully filibustered a restrictive anti-abortion bill that bans abortion at 20 weeks and places unnecessary restrictions on medication abortion, among other things. The bill later passed, but it is beingchallenged by women’s health centers and reproductive rights organizations across Texas.

via Nicholas Wilson
via Nicholas Wilson

The current Texas Governor, Republican Rick Perry, will not run for reelection, so Davis’ most likely opponent will be Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. He is heavily supported by conservatives and has already amassed a large amount of campaign funds. His anti-abortion policies mean he and Davis may go head-to-head over abortion rights in the race. In a recent poll conducted for the Texas Lyceum, Abbott leads Davis 29 percent to 21 percent, but half of the voters polled said they didn’t know who they would support.

In Davis’ announcement, she emphasized improving education, creating jobs, and building a better, more equal Texas. On her Twitter account yesterday, Davis wrote, “Texas deserves a leader who understands that making education a priority creates good jobs for Texans and keeps Texas on top” with the hashtag #TeamWendy.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 6/26/13, 10/3/13; Reuters 10/3/13; Texas Lyceum 10/2/13; The Washington Post 10/3/13; Twitter

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

Supreme Court To Consider Scope of Domestic Violence Gun Ban

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The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Tuesday to consider the scope of a federal law that bans people who have been convicted of domestic violence from owning a gun.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

In 2001, James Castleman pled guilty in Tennessee state court to misdemeanor domestic assault against the mother of his child and was sentenced to supervised probation for 11 months and 29 days. Then, in 2008, law enforcement agents found that Castleman and his wife were purchasing firearms from gun dealers and selling them on the black market. Castleman was subsequently charged in federal court with possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” and with making false statements to a federally licensed firearm dealer.

Castleman moved to dismiss the federal charges, arguing that his domestic assault conviction was not a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” as defined in the federal law because his state court conviction did not establish that Castleman had used physical force against the victim. A lower court and court of appeals agreed and threw out the indictment. The United States petitioned the Supreme Court for review.

The Supreme Court will now decide when the federal law banning gun ownership will apply to individuals convicted of domestic violence crimes. The Obama administration argues that if the Court upholds the lower court decisions, it will invalidate the federal domestic violence gun prohibition. The administration also argues that any assault that results in bodily injury includes some degree of physical force.

Oral arguments in United States v. Castleman have not yet been scheduled.

Media Resources: The Supreme Court of the United States

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

NYC Council Passes Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

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The New York City Council unanimously passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act last week. The bill extends current protections against employer discrimination to pregnant workers and expands the city’s Human Rights Law to include pregnant workers.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

Employers will now be required to provide reasonable accommodations for a worker’s needs related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions. Those accommodations can include rest breaks, a period of recovery from childbirth, and help with manual labor. Employers must also give pregnant workers written information about their rights.

These protections for pregnant women are vitally important. Almost two-thirds of first-time mothers work while pregnant, and 90 percent of those women continue to work into their last two months of pregnancy, reports ThinkProgress. Low-income women and women of color are more likely to be affected by this kind of discrimination, because they are more likely to hold low-paying jobs with limited flexibility.

The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) reports, “When women face a physical conflict between work and childbearing, they will often lose their job, and their families will lose income at the very moment their financial needs increase.” For example, one pregnant woman who was a Wal-Mart sales associate started experiencing urinary and bladder infections, so she started to carry a water bottle at work under her doctor’s advice to stay hydrated. She was fired because of a Wal-Mart rule that only cashiers could have water bottles. She challenged her termination in court and lost.

According to New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a fifth of discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are related to pregnancy. Last year alone, over 3,700 were filed. Under the new bill, if employers fail to follow the new bill’s requirements, employees can bring actions in civil court or bring a complaint to the city’s Human Rights Commission. Employers could be fined up to $250,000, face jail time, or be required to change their practices, provide compensation, or re-hire employees, among other remedies.

Currently only a handful of states provide protections for pregnant workers. A federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act was reintroduced in Congress last May.

Media Resources: Gotham Gazette 9/24/13; ThinkProgress 5/14/13, 9/30/13; National Women’s Law Center

Health Insurance Marketplaces Open Today

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The government shutdown did not prevent one of the centerpieces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) from going into effect: health insurance marketplaces opened today.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

Individuals and families can access their states’ marketplaces through Healthcare.gov. The marketplaces will allow consumers to shop for and compare healthcare plans available in their state, find out if they qualify for lower costs, and learn about coverage options. To qualify for coverage in 2014, individuals must enroll by March 31, 2014.

“At last, 50 million Americans without health insurance, most of whom are women, will have access to low-cost health insurance plans,” said Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal. “Don’t be fooled by the scare tactics. If you have insurance, you won’t lose it, but for the 50 million who do not, this is a great deal.”

Insurance plans will be offered in four categories that reflect the level of coverage and price: bronze, silver, gold, and platinum. Most eligible individuals will be able to purchase a plan for $100 or less per month. The federal government will subsidize plans by offering tax credits to individuals and families within 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level- $11,490 and $45,960 for an individual and $31,322 and $94,200 for a household of four. Twenty states have also decided to expand Medicaid eligibility under the ACA. People with incomes below 133 percent of the federal poverty level and able-bodied adults will no longer be excluded from the program as long as they meet income eligibility.

Young adults and those in need of lower-cost options will be able to choose catastrophic plans, which are designed to help cover unexpected, high medical costs, and have higher deductibles but lower monthly premiums. Adults under 26 may also remain on their parents’ insurance plan.

Under the Affordable Care Act, plans offered must cover ten essential benefits, including ambulatory patient services, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, prescription drugs, and pediatric services including vision and dental care, among others. Plans must also cover the cost of preventive services without copays, coinsurance, or deductibles, including annual well-woman visits, contraceptives, HPV testing, HIV counseling and screening, domestic violence screenings, and mammograms, among others. Dental and vision coverage are included in some plans, but may also be purchased as separate stand-alone plans.

Media Resources: Healthcare.gov; Feminist Newswire 9/17/13, 9/27/13

California To Gradually Raise Minimum Wage

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California enacted a law Wednesday that will gradually raise the minimum wage from $8 to $10, making Californians the highest-paid hourly workers in the U.S. The rate will increase to $9 on July 1, 2014, and to $10 on January 1, 2016.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

Over 90 percent of California’s minimum wage workers are over the age of 20, and women of color are disproportionately employed in industries paying minimum wage. The increase, the state’s first since 2008, will boost a full-time worker’s income by $4,000 to about $20,000 a year. “For millions of California’s hard working minimum wage employees, a few extra dollars a week can make a huge difference to help them provide for their families,” said Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg in a statement earlier this month.

California’s law follows protests around the U.S. by fast food and Wal-Mart workers demanding higher wages. President Obama has also pushed for a federal minimum wage raise, from the current $7.25 to $9, with indexing for inflation.

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 10/10/2013, 7/31/2013, 8/27/2013; CNN 9/25/2013; Feministing 9/26/2013

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

95 Percent of Uninsured Will Have Lower Healthcare Premiums than Projected Under Obamacare

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Health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will be even more affordable than planned. When the health insurance marketplaces open on October 1, millions of uninsured individuals will be able to choose healthcare plans with lower premiums than originally projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

A report released by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this week revealed that 95 percent of consumers purchasing health insurance through the marketplace live in states with average premiums below CBO estimates. Some monthly premiums are now projected to be more than 16 percent lower than originally estimated, meaning that people will soon enjoy inexpensive, quality health care options that they did not have before.

Tax credits will make health insurance even more affordable. The federal government will subsidize plans by offering tax credits to families and individuals within 100 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level, up to $45,960 for an individual and $94,200 for a family of four. These credits will be paid directly to insurance providers, so consumers will not have to front that cost. Factoring in these tax credits, about 6 in 10 uninsured individuals will be able to purchase health insurance through the marketplace for $100 or less per month.

In a speech yesterday, President Obama emphasized that once the marketplace opens, shopping for health insurance will be as easy as booking a plane ticket or hotel room online. Each state’s marketplace, accessible through Healthcare.gov, will offer several plans from which to choose. Health insurance providers will display instant price quotes, and individuals will be able to see right away if they qualify for tax credits or other lower costs.

Enrollment begins on October 1, 2013 and runs through March 31, 2014.

Media Resources: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; The White House

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

New Trial for Marissa Alexander

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Marissa Alexander, the African-American Florida woman sentenced to 20 years in prison for discharging a gun in self-defense, will get a new trial. Alexander fired her gun into the ceiling because she was afraid her abusive husband, Rico Gray, would kill her. Alexander claimed protection under the “Stand Your Ground” law, the same law relied upon to acquit George Zimmerman of the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

via Steve Rhodes
via Steve Rhodes

Gray has a history of abusive behavior with Alexander and other women. At the time of the incident in August 2010, Alexander had a restraining order against him, and had been previously hospitalized due to injuries sustained from his abuse. On the day she fired the warning shot into the ceiling, Alexander had gone to her old home to retrieve some personal items when Gray began to threaten her. Alexander locked herself in the bathroom for safety, but Gray broke through the door, grabbed her by the neck, and shoved her before she was able to break away and run to the garage. When she could not open her garage door, Alexander grabbed her gun, for which she had a concealed carry permit. When Gray saw the gun, he told her he would kill her, so she fired a shot in the air to warn him to stay away. She thought it was “the lesser of two evils.”

The jury took only 12 minutes to convict Alexander, a mother of three, of three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon–even though nobody was hurt and she did not aim her gun directly at her husband.

To parallel Alexander’s case with the Zimmerman trial produces disturbing questions about race, gender, and the justice system in Florida and across this nation. “The Florida criminal justice system has sent two clear messages today,” said Representative Corrine Brown after Alexander’s sentencing. “One is that if women who are victims of domestic violence try to protect themselves, the ‘Stand Your Ground Law’ will not apply to them. The second message is that if you are black, the system will treat you differently.”

A Florida appeals court ordered a new trial after finding the lower court had issued improper jury instructions on self-defense.

Media Resources: MSNBC 9/26/2013; Feminist Majority Foundation Blog 7/18/2013; Scribd

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

Native American Woman Nominated to Federal Court

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President Obama announced last Thursday his nomination of Diane J. Humetewa to the U.S. District Court of Arizona. If she is confirmed, Humetewa – a member of the Hopi tribe in eastern Arizona – will be the only active member of a Native American tribe to serve as a federal judge and the first Native American woman to do so.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

Humetewa, an expert in federal Indian law, natural resources law, and federal criminal law, previously served as a U.S. attorney in Arizona, a position for which she was nominated by President George W. Bush at the recommendation of Senator John McCain (R-AZ). She was the first Native American female to be appointed to that position. Humetewa also served from 2002-2007 as an appellate court judge for the Hopi Tribe Appellate Court. She is currently Special Advisor to the President and Special Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Arizona State University and a professor at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

“Diane Humetewa will make an excellent judge. She was a very capable US Attorney for Arizona and a capable career prosecutor before that,” said Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn, a Chicksaw Nation citizen. “She is tough, but compassionate, and I know that she can gracefully handle the stress of being the first Native American woman to travel this path. This is a historic nomination.”

According to Indian Country Today Media Network, Humetewa hopes her nomination will encourage more young Native Americans to consider careers in the legal field.

IHS Expands Plan B Access for Native American Women

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Indian Health Services (IHS), the agency that provides most primary health care services for American Indian and Alaska Native people free of charge, will now provide emergency contraception without a consultation or prescription at its federally-operated facilities. This is a victory for reproductive health advocates who have worked to expand Native American women’s access to Plan B for years.

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

IHS does not have any retail pharmacies, so women seeking emergency contraception must wait at emergency care clinics, urgent care centers, or emergency rooms to obtain a prescription, then take it somewhere to have it filled. The time this takes can prevent some women from getting Plan B within the recommended 72-hour window.

Access to Plan B is especially important for Native American women because of the high rates of sexual assault they face. According to the US Department of Justice, about one in three Native American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, a number that is greater than any other racial group in the United States.

Women’s health advocates applaud the news but will still push for a formalized policy. IHS is only under a verbal directive right now to offer Plan B for women 17 years and older, which could easily be revised or rescinded. They also want IHS to adhere to the Food and Drug Administration’s new emergency contraception guidelines that make Plan B available without a prescription to women of all ages.

Charon Asetoyer, the director of the Native American Women’s Health Education Resource Center, said, “We’ve made some progress, and we have to acknowledge that, but there’s still more. They’re still violating our rights to access by denying women who are age 16 and under . . . We have to ask, why are we being treated differently?”

Media Resources: Think Progress 9/23/2013; Associated Press 9/19/2013; Feministing 9/23/2013

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

SNAP: Pope’s Comments Do Not Protect Children

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) sharply criticized Pope Francis for failing to make child sexual abuse in the church a top priority. Pope Francis made headlines last week for remarking that the Catholic church had become obsessed with gay rights, abortion and birth control, and for putting moral doctrines before serving the poor and marginalized. He described his vision of the church as a “home for all.”

“It’s good to make adults happier,” said SNAP director David Clohessy. “But it’s better to make children safer. That should have been the pontiff’s top priority on day one. It should become his top priority now. He’s done nothing to protect children, expose predators and deter cover ups. Not as a priest, bishop, archbishop or cardinal. Not as the pope.”

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

SNAP stressed that the Pope has not confronted the church’s history of child sexual abuse and cover ups, despite statements he made after his election that he wanted to root out the sexual abuse of children and punish perpetrators.

According to BishopAccountability.org, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has counted 16,795 individuals who have alleged that they were abused as minors by priests between the years of 1950 and 2013.

Media Resources: New York Times 9/20/2013; Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests Media Statement 9/20/2013; NBC News 4/5/2013; BishopAccountability.org 5/9/2013

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

WATCH: Conservative Group Releases Creepy Anti-Obamacare Ads

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

Generation Opportunity, a conservative organization that’s funded by billionaire extremists David and Charles Koch, has launched a series of advertisements to convince young people to “opt out” of Affordable Care Act enrollment.

The first two online ads were published yesterday. One features a young woman going in for a gynecologist appointment. As she settles into the stirrups, ominous music plays and a cartoonish-looking Uncle Sam appears, holding a metal spectrum. The ad reads: “Don’t let the government play doctor.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=R7cRsfW0Jv8&list=PLs2QceHTXzgzzxtFeycNmTbPYWSzOnStV

Backlash for the ads was swift yesterday, with several progressive and pro-choice organizations calling them hypocritical. “This ad is brought to you by the same people who force the government between our legs when it comes to abortion access, forced ultra-sounds and birth control,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue said.

If Americans do not enroll in the healthcare program, they will have to pay a penalty. Generation Opportunity is trying to persuade young people that it’s cheaper to pay the fine than to enroll. However, new federal subsidieswill drastically cut the cost of coverage for Americans earning less than $44,000 per year. Low cost, high-deductible plans will also be available to those under thirty.

Recent data shows that over 6.4 million Americans can receive healthcare coverage under the ACA for $100 or less per month.

Media Resources: NPR, 9/19/2013; Time, 9/19/2013; Wall Street Journal, 9/19/2013

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

House Republicans Vote to Cut $40 Billion from Food Stamps Program

Posted on by Feminist Newswire

House Republicans voted last night to cut $4 billion annually from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for the next ten years – totaling a $40 billion loss for the program. SNAP, also known as “food stamps,” is currently in use by over 47 million Americans. The legislation passed 217-210, mostly along party lines.

The House bill requires able-bodied adults between 18 and 50 to find a job or enroll in work-training in order to receive benefits if they do not support children, and gives them 90 days to do so before losing their eligibility. Under the legislation, states are also permitted to require 20 hours of work activities every week from any able-bodied adult with a child over the age of one (if they have childcare in place) and for all parents who children are over six and enrolled in school. The bill also requires recipients to undergo drug testing and restricts people enrolled in other social programs from being eligible for SNAP. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that three million recipients would be cut from the program each year with the new restrictions in place. Four to six million people would be cut when the legislation first took effect.

The legislation has little chance of making it through the Senate, with Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) calling it “a monumental waste of time” and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) calling it “hateful, punitive legislation.” Reid said “the Senate will never pass” such a measure. The bill also faces a veto threat from President Obama, and a White House statement on the bill discredited it for targeting “Americans who are struggling to make ends meet, including working families with children, senior citizens, veterans, and adults who are still looking for work.”

Despite data that shows SNAP recipients continuing, at large, to work after enrollment, conservative lawmakers utilized a message of dependency and laziness to promote the legislation. “This bill makes getting Americans back to work a priority again,” said House Speaker John Boehner. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said the bill would “put people on the path to self-sufficiency and independence.” Representative Stephen Fincher (R-TN) added, “the one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”

via Shutterstock
via Shutterstock

Persons are eligible for SNAP if they earn up to 3% more than the federal poverty level each year, or $11,490 for a single adult. Single adult recipients of SNAP receive $5.10 a day for food on average. Enrollment in SNAP has doubled since the Great Recession, leading 1 in 7 Americans to currently rely on the program.  The US Department of Agriculture reported in September that 14.5 percent of households were “food insecure” in 2012, an increase from 11.1% of households prior to the recession. 22% of children  or more live in food insecure households, and the typical family that qualifies is a working mother with two young children. An editorial by the LA Times Editorial Board attacked the lawmakers who supported the legislation for “punish[ing] those who simply can’t find jobs at a time when there are three applicants for every opening.”

“It’s a sad day in the people’s House when the leadership brings to the floor one of the most heartless bills I have ever seen,” said Representative James McGovern (D-MA). “It’s terrible policy.”

Media Resources: New York Times 9/8/2013, 9/19/2013; LA Times 9/19/2013; CBS News 9/19/2013; AP Newswire 9/20/2013; Feminist Newswire 9/10/2013

This post was originally published on the Feminist Newswire. If you’d like, you can subscribe to the Feminist News digest for a weekly recap of our newswire stories.

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