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.

Sen. Shaheen Invites Afghanistan Ambassador as NATO Joint Address Guest

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Senator Shaheen (D-NH) brought Afghanistan Ambassador Roya Rahmani, the first female ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States, as her guest to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s Joint Address to Congress to highlight the need for women’s inclusion in all peace talks involving the U.S. and the Taliban.

“I am thankful for Ambassador Rahmani’s willingness to join me at today’s joint session of Congress with NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg. Her presence is a reminder of how NATO Allies came together on September 12, 2001 to invoke Article 5 of the NATO charter— for the first and only time— in defense of the United States. She is also the first female ambassador of Afghanistan, which not only represents the immense progress Afghanistan has made since that day, but what is at stake if the United States does not push for Afghan women to be included in negotiations with the Taliban. It is the policy of the United States to ensure that women have a place in all such negotiations, and nowhere is this more needed than in Afghanistan,” said Shaheen.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has led recent efforts in Congress to fight for women’s inclusion in Afghan peace talks. In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in February, Senators Shaheen, Leahy, and Menendez demand that the Trump administration include meaningful participation for Afghan women in any peace negotiations with the Taliban. In the letter, the lawmakers write, “we urge you to ensure our investment of time, resources and the lives of U.S. soldiers will not have gone to waste by ensuring that Afghan women are represented and issues central to their rights and needs ae part of any negotiation going forward.”

The recent peace talks between the United States and the Taliban, not the Afghan government, are in direct violation of the 2017 Women, Peace, and Security Act that requires the “meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention, management, and resolution, and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts.”  Donald Trump signed this Act into law in 2017, yet the Trump administration has failed to outline a strategic plan for women’s participation that was required to be sent to Congress in October 2018.

Afghan women fear that negotiations with the Taliban, especially negotiations without women, will leave women vulnerable to losing their rights, which occurred under the brutal Taliban rule of the late 1990s. Women under previous Taliban rule were subjected to public beatings and executions. Women could not leave their homes without a male chaperone and women and girls could not be admitted to a hospital, go to school, or be employed. Women’s rights are one of the most vital issues when discussing peace talks and the end of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, yet women are excluded from these discussions.

 

Media Resources: Press Release 4/3/19; Feminist Newswire 2/28/19; Pajwok Afghan News 2/26/19; Politico 2/5/19

Lori Lightfoot Elected as First Black Woman to Serve as Chicago Mayor

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Lori Lightfoot won the Chicago Mayoral runoff Tuesday, defeating multiple career politicians and prominent local Democratic leaders. Lightfoot will be the first black woman to serve as Mayor in Chicago, as well as the first openly gay person.

The race for Chicago Mayor started with over fourteen candidates. Lightfoot faced Preckwinkle in a historical election for Chicago, with a runoff including two black women, while previously black women had never been elected to the office. Preckwinkle came into the election as a political insider, as a head of the Cook County Board as well as chairing the Cook County Democratic Party. However, with 97% of precincts in, Lightfoot had defeated her runoff opponent Preckwinkle receiving over 73% of the votes, and winning a majority in every precinct.

Lightfoot’s win came as a surprise to many people, as early in the race she had little momentum or name recognition. A former federal prosecutor, Lightfoot has never before held public office. In an election with many established candidates, Lightfoot benefited from her lack of political experience, drawing many people to her campaign because of her outsider viewpoint and fresh perspective on the campaign trail. Recent corruption scandals within the Chicago government also aided Lightfoot’s campaign according to her senior advisor Don Rose, who explained that the news has worked against candidates who were apart of the current political climate.

Lightfoot’s campaign is excited and hopeful for their win, which they have said is a triumph for all Chicago residents. At her acceptance speech Tuesday night Lightfoot declared “Today, you did more than make history, you created a movement for change.”

 

Media: NBC 4/3/2019; NY Times 4/3/2019; CNN 4/3/2019

Alabama Introduces Bill to Outlaw Almost All Abortions in the State

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Alabama legislators introduced the most severe anti-abortion bill in the country on Tuesday that would ban abortions upon knowledge of pregnancy and make performing an abortion at any stage of a pregnancy a felony.

The bill, HB314, would ban all abortions as soon as a woman is “known to be pregnant,” only giving exception if the pregnancy is life-threatening to the woman. However, the bill does not give exceptions for cases of rape or incest. Home tests usually cannot detect pregnancy until about two weeks following conception. The bill already has over 60 co-sponsors in the 105-member Alabama House of Representatives. In addition, the text of the bill itself compares abortion in the country to atrocities such as the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, and Stalin’s gulags.

Rep. Terri Collins, the bill’s sponsor, stated that the bill was meant to challenge Roe v. Wade, saying “Hopefully, it takes it all the way to the Supreme Court to overturn (Roe versus Wade).” Collins noted that the bill actually uses the same language as the landmark decision, outright contradicting the Court’s rulings, which recognizes a woman’s right to an abortion until around 24 weeks.

“These bans are blatantly unconstitutional and lawmakers know it — they just don’t care. Alabamians are just pawns in this political game to challenge access to safe, legal abortion nationally,” said Staci Fox, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast. Pro-choice advocates have quickly criticized the bill, concerned that women’s health is being jeopardized for a long and futile legal battle.

In 2019 only, over 250 restrictive abortion bills have been introduced in state legislatures. Several states such as Kentucky and Mississippi have attempted to pass “heartbeat bills,” which would ban abortions as soon as the sixth week of pregnancy, before most women even know they are pregnant. Both states have already faced legal challenges, and a federal judge has blocked Kentucky’s law. Georgia and several other states are considering similar restrictive bills. Prior to 2019, only two states had enacted a six-week ban with both laws being struck down by the courts.

In addition, six states have also passed “trigger laws” that would automatically outlaw abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned and another eight states have introduced similar bills outlawing abortion.

Despite these restrictions, a Pew Research survey shows that 69% of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned. Feminist activists are fighting every day to stop abortion restrictions at the state and federal levels and to protect family planning clinics that provide reproductive healthcare to some of the most vulnerable people in the United States.

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 1/22/18; Feminist Newswire 3/21/19; AP News 4/3/19; The Hill 4/2/19; HuffPost 4/2/19; CBS News 4/2/19

Democrat Pam Iovino Wins Pennsylvania State Senate Seat in Special Election

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Yesterday, Democrat Pam Iovino, a navy veteran and former Veteran’s Affair aide to President George Bush, was elected to represent the 37th Senate District in the Pennsylvania Senate, representing the South Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh, in a highly contested race against Republican D. Raja. Raja conceded last night to Iovino after she won 54% of the vote.

Iovino will succeed former state senator Guy Reschenthaler who resigned in January to serve in Congress.  Iovino’s election marks a major party flip from a formerly Republican controlled district that heavily favored President Trump in 2016 to a district that elected a female Democratic candidate.

Democrats are now targeting districts, such as Iovino’s district, as a path to winning a Senate majority. Iovino’s election puts Democrats within three seats of winning a Senate majority. Iovino ran on a platform of union support and abortion rights and had the support of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Tom Wolf.

Another special election will be held on May 21, 2019 in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District for a now vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives between Democrat Marc Friedenberg, a university professor, and Republican state representative Fred Keller following the resignation of former Representative Tom Marino. Tom Marino resigned at the start of his term in favor of a job in the private sector.

Media Resources: Pennsylvania Capital-Star 4/3/19; NBC News 4/2/19

Bipartisan Senators Introduce Legislation on Violence Against Native Women

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Today, Senators Lisa Murkowski, Catherine Cortez Masto, and Jon Tester announced bipartisan legislation called the Not Invisible Act to address violence against Native American women and outline a federal strategy to reduce the skyrocketing rates of murdered, missing, and trafficked indigenous women in the United States.

The Not Invisible Act would create an advisory committee, composed of tribal leaders and experts, to research and propose best practices to prevent violence against indigenous women to the Justice Department and Interior Department and recommend how to better use federal resources. Cortez Masto said this bill will help the federal government understand what is happening to Native women, why they are disappearing, where they are going, and better train law enforcement in cases of sex trafficking.

Cortz Masto announced, “I know from working with my tribal communities … that human trafficking is occurring. We need to play catch up on this.”

Indigenous women are murdered at a rate ten times the national average and eighty-four percent of native women will experience violence in their lifetimes. Native women and girls are disproportionately victims of sex trafficking, leading to why native women are disappearing at alarming rates. Since 2010, at least 350 native women have gone missing or been killed in over 70 U.S. cities.

Earlier this year, Senator Murkowski introduced Savanna’s Act in an attempt to standardize protocols for law enforcement agencies regarding violence against Native women and to update data for federal databases relevant to missing or murdered Native American women. Savanna’s Act is named in honor of Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind, a pregnant Spirit Lake tribe member, who was murdered in South Dakota in 2017. Originally, Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota introduced the bill in October 2017 to address the violence that afflicts Native American women. Last year, the act passed in the Senate but was killed by Republican Bob Goodlatte in the House Judiciary Committee in 2018.

 

Media Resources: HuffPost 4/3/19; Feminist Newswire 2/13/19

Today is National Equal Pay Day

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Today is National Equal Pay Day, the day into 2019 that women on average have to work until to earn the same amount earned by their male counterparts in 2018 alone. The National Committee on Pay Equity uses this day to highlight the wage inequality that still exists in the United States.

The 2018 statistics on the wage gap found that women in part-time and full-time positions made 85% of their male co-workers, meaning that women have to work an extra 39 days into 2019 to match what men made in 2018. However, this statistic represents the average for all women regardless of race. Black Women’s equal pay day isn’t until August 22nd, Native American Women’s payday isn’t until September 23rd and Latin American women’s equal pay day isn’t until November 20th. These statistics showcase the real disparities that exist among all women, as Equal Pay Day alone does not tell the whole story.

In 2018, one in four women still reports they make less than a male-coworker for doing the exact same job. However, this is only part of the reason the pay gap still exists. Pew Research Center attributes the pay gap to other factors as well such as educational attainment, occupational segregation, and work experience.

The wage gap also increases with age; full-time workers age 25 and 34 see only an 87% pay gap, while women between 55 and 64 make 75% of their male counterparts. This difference can likely be explained by the difference in educational attainment between generations, as well as gender discrimination that has prevented promotions for women.

While strides have been made to close the gender pay gap, there is clearly more to be done. Equal Pay Day should raise awareness for all women who suffer different pay gaps, as well as highlight the educational, occupational and policy gaps that exist as barriers to pay equality. On Wednesday, the Paycheck Fairness Act, also known as H.R. 7, passed the U.S. House of Representatives, with a final vote of 242-187 that included seven Republicans. The bill must pass the Senate and be signed by the President to become law.

 

Media: Equal Pay 2019; Times 2019; Pew Research 2019; Feminist Newswire 3/28/19

House to Vote on the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization

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The House is set to vote on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act tomorrow. The law expired in February during the government shutdown. A new provision in the bill will prevent convicted stalkers or dating partners convicted of domestic abuse from owning a gun.

The current law only prevents those convicted of abuse and who were married to their victim, live with their victim, or have a child with their victim from owning a gun. The new provision would extend this to stalkers, current or past dating partners, and those with restraining orders. The NAACP has come out in full support of the bill with its new provisions.

The NRA has come out in opposition of the new bill. However, Democratic representatives have been ignoring the current NRA rhetoric regarding the bill. Representative Lucy McBath (GA-06) has stated how most women who have been murdered were killed with guns by their loved ones. A 2017 CDC study found that half of all female homicide victims are killed by “intimate partners,” which include spouses and dating partners. Studies also show that women are 5 times more likely to be killed by their abuser if their abuser owns a gun.

 

Media Resources: New York Times 4/1/19; NAACP 3/31/19; CDC 7/21/17; Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

Michael Brown’s Mother Running for Ferguson City Council

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Lesley McSpadden announced this week that she is running for City Council in Ferguson, Missouri’s 3rd Ward, a position that would allow her to have oversight over the police department that was involved in the 2014 shooting of her son, Michael Brown.

“I wanted to go back and do something right in a place that did something so very wrong to my son, and I think that’s what my son would want as well,” McSpadden said in an interview this morning.

Police accountability will be McSpadden’s top priority if elected to City Council. “I think they should work much harder to prove that they are there to protect and serve, because no one believed that in August 2014 and people are still skeptical,” McSpadden announced. She moved from a neighboring community to Ferguson’s 3rd Ward a year ago in preparation for her run. She said that she “wanted to go back and do something in a place that did something so very wrong to my son, and I think that’s what my son would want as well.” McSpadden wants to see the police engaging with the community, especially the youth, and building stronger relationships “not just when something bad happens and you’re pressured to do it, but to be that civil servant in the community that you signed up to be.”

While McSpadden has never run for office before or held an elected position, since 2014 she has been increasingly more involved in politics: from the 2016 presidential election to testifying at the state house in favor of a bill to increase the use of police body cameras. She endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and spoke at the Democratic National Convention as part of the “Mothers of the Movement.” McSpadden has also been at the front of the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson as well as across the country.

McSpadden said that she “wanted to come back to a place that caused [her] so much pain and did [her] so wrong, and to do something right.”

On August 9, 2014 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed following, what St. Louis County Police said, was a physical altercation between Brown and the officer. The unarmed teen was shot multiple times by local police. St. Louis Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch announced that the grand jury would not charge the Ferguson police officer responsible for the death of the African-American teen. Within minutes, the announcement sparked demonstrations around the country.

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 8/11/14; Feminist Newswire 11/26/14; Feminist Newswire 11/24/14; AP 4/2/19

Trump Administration Detained Hundreds of Migrants Under a Bridge in El Paso

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Photos and videos of migrants in El Paso, Texas surged social media Wednesday morning as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detained hundreds of migrant families in a razor wire fenced enclosure under a bridge in El Paso, arguing that the increasing number of Central Americans seeking asylum have overwhelmed the existing processing centers.

In a press conference about a quarter mile from the enclosure, the CBP commissioner, Kevin McAleean, stated that they are handling a projected record number of migrants and are “facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis all along our southwest border.” As a result, migrants are being held in an encampment, with their stay lasting from hours to a couple of days, until they are able to be processed within the facility which can take hours, despite U.S. law banning that migrants are held in processing centers for longer than 72 hours.

A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman claimed the encampment was a transitional shelter that included tents equipped with basic necessities, saying that “if all of them wanted to sleep inside the tent, they would be able to. A lot of them choose not to for whatever reason.” However, several migrant families have reported that the tent was not large enough to accommodate everyone and supplies were insufficient. Consequently, the hundreds of families held in these encampments, including children, have suffered miserable conditions with dusty winds reportedly stinging families’ eyes and skin as well as temperatures dropping as low as the 40s.

“The situation at the southern border is further proof President Trump’s border security and immigration policies are a complete failure, and his Administration deserves much of the blame for making this humanitarian crisis worse,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). “The Department of Homeland Security continues to block families trying to present themselves at our ports of entry, pushing them to areas between the ports of entry and adding additional stress to our border and immigration system. There is no legitimate reason for migrants to be held in horrid conditions or encamped under bridge.”

Other politicians such as Rep. Veronica Escobar, the Democratic representative who serves El Paso, as well as presidential candidate, Beto O’Rourke, who formerly represented El Paso in Congress, have been outspoken against the encampment. Despite harsh criticism from humanitarian advocates and politicians, the Trump administration continues to instate policies meant to punish and intimidate people seeking asylum.

 

Media Resources: Buzzfeed News 3/27/19; The Cut 3/29/19; The Guardian 3/31/19

Judge Rules Dress Code Requiring Skirts Unconstitutional

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A judge ruled that a North Carolina school’s dress code prohibiting girls from wearing pants is unconstitutional because it violates the equal protection clause, after three girls, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the Charter Day School. Judge Malcolm J. Howard wrote that the, “skirts requirement causes the girls to suffer a burden the boys do not, simply because they are female.”

Judge Howard wrote in his decision that, “The plaintiffs in this case have shown that the girls are subject to a specific clothing requirement that renders them unable to play as freely during recess, requires them to sit in an uncomfortable manner in the classroom, causes them to be overly focused on how they are sitting, distracts them from learning, and subjects them to cold temperatures on their legs and/or uncomfortable layers of leggings under their knee-length skirts in order to stay warm, especially moving outside between classrooms at the school. Defendants have offered no evidence of any comparable burden on boys.”

Galen Sherwin, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project, stated that the “ruling vindicates our young clients, who argued that the dress code policy was both outdated and discriminatory.” “This policy reflected antiquated gender stereotypes, intentionally sending the message that girls are not equal to boys. Such discriminatory stereotypes risk following students throughout their lives, and should have no place in our public schools.”

Baker Mitchell, the founder of the company overseeing the school, stated that the “uniform policy seeks to establish an environment in which our young men and women treat one another with mutual respect.” The school claimed the dress code was established to promote “traditional values,” “instill discipline,” and “promote a sense of pride and of team spirit.” However, Judge Howard wrote that there is “no connection” between these goals and the requirement that girls must wear skirts.

Bonnie Peltier, a mother of one of the students involved in the case, said that “all [she] wanted was for [her] daughter and every other girl at school to have the option to wear pants so she could play outside, sit comfortably, and stay warm in the winter. We’re happy the court agrees, but it’s disappointing that it took a court order to force the school to accept the simple fact that, in 2019, girls should have the choice to wear pants.”

In 2016, the ACLU, on behalf of three girls aged 5, 10, and 14, filed a lawsuit against the school, arguing that the skirt requirement was distracting, inhibiting, and uncomfortable for young girls. The girls were limited in their physical movement, could not sit in the same positions as the boys, and could not stay as warm in skirts as they could if they were allowed to wear pants.

Keely Burks, a plaintiff in the case, initially created a petition to “ask [her] school to change its policy that says girls have to wear skirts to school or risk being punished,” according to a post Burks wrote. She wrote that “[her] friends and [her] got more than 100 signatures on our petition, but it was taken from [them] by a teacher and [they] never got it back. Now [they] are turning to the ACLU for help.”

Burks wrote that “personally, I hate wearing skirts. Even with tights and leggings, skirts are cold to wear in the winter; and they’re not as comfortable as shorts in the summer.” She argued that if she could choose, then she would wear pants every day.

The decision reached this week will now allow girls at the school to have a choice in their attire and focus on their academics.

Media Resources: Buzzfeed News 3/30/19; New York Times 3/31/19; ACLU 3/29/19

Temporary Release Granted to Saudi Arabian Women’s Rights Activists

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Three of eleven women’s rights activists arrested for human rights work in Saudi Arabia have been temporarily released from prison following a bail hearing on Thursday. More are expected to be released this Sunday but the Saudi Arabian media says that these releases are on a temporary basis.

Eleven women were on trial in Saudi Arabia for charges related to human rights work, contacting foreign officials, and violating the countries cyber-crime laws. Some of these women have been held since May 15, 2018, originally with no formal charges against them. While in prison, multiple of these advocates have reported cases of abuse and torture to their families.

ALQST, a UK-based Saudi rights organization, has identified the women released as Eman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef, and Roqaya al-Mohareb. ALQST, along with Amnesty International, have been advocating for the release of these women since their imprisonment in May 2018. Amnesty International has called the charges these women face “bogus.”

Amnesty International is currently calling for the Saudi Arabian authorities to release the other eight women still being held. Additionally, they are calling for the permanent release of the activists and for all charges to be dropped. The organizations fighting for the women are hopeful that the Saudi Authorities will continue to release the wrongfully imprisoned advocates.

 

Media: BBC 2019; NPR 2019; AP 2019; Amnesty International 2018

Paycheck Fairness Act Passes U.S. House

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On Wednesday, the Paycheck Fairness Act, also known as H.R. 7, passed the U.S. House of Representatives, with a final vote of 242-187 that included seven Republicans. The bill must pass the Senate and be signed by the President to become law.

The Paycheck Fairness Act aims to strengthen protections against wage discrimination and amend the discrepancies found in the Equal Pay Act of 1963, which requires men and women to receive equal pay for equal work. However, the Equal Pay Act failed to protect female employees from pay discrimination based on gender. The bill also complements the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which ensured that workers can challenge pay discrimination.

President of the Feminist Majority, Eleanor Smeal said, “It’s 2019 and women are still earning on average significantly less than their male counterparts in the workplace. The Paycheck Fairness Act provides employees with more remedies to challenge pay discrimination, protects employees from retaliation for sharing salaries with colleagues, and prohibits employers from demanding salary history during the hiring process–all factors that contribute to the modern gender wage gap.”

Democrats consider the gender-based wage discrimination and disparity a top priority; statistics show that women that work full time in the U.S., on average, make 80 cents to every dollar their male counterparts make.

If signed to law, the bill would ban employers from asking candidate what their previous salary was, prevent retaliation by employers against workers that discuss their salary with other workers, and ensure businesses get penalized if unequal wages are the result of discrimination against women. The bill also fortifies transparency of employers for workers.

In 1997, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) first introduced the bill; since then, the bill has been introduced by DeLauro 11 times and passed the House twice. However, Republicans tirelessly filibustered and blocked the bill. Advocates of the bill are pushing for it to pass through the Senate.

DeLauro said, “We are in a different environment…We’re looking at the intersection of where the public is on men and women and the workforce, and we’re looking at a body that is over 100 women who are here. Equal pay for equal work is now the center of public discourse today.”

 

 

Media Resources: Feminist Majority Press Release 3/27/19; Vox 3/27/19; Politico 3/27/19; Congress H.R. 7 1/30/29; Feminist Newswire 1/30/19, 4/4/17

Trump Administration Argues the ACA is Unconstitutional

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The Trump Administration is arguing that a federal appeals court should strike down the entire Affordable Care Act (ACA) as unconstitutional, including the popular provisions to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions, the expansion of Medicaid, and the ability for young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until they are 26 years old.

In early 2018, a coalition of state attorney generals filed a lawsuit arguing that the elimination of the fine for not having health insurance, which was included in the new tax plan, made the entire Affordable Care Act unconstitutional. The Trump Administration, instead of following past precedent and defending current law, sided with the coalition of attorney generals that laws prohibiting insurers from denying people health insurance or charging higher premiums is unconstitutional. However, this week the Trump administration went a step further to argue that the entire Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional.

Healthcare was a large voting issue in the 2018 midterm elections; an AP VoteCast survey determined that almost 4 in 10 Democratic voters found healthcare as the most important voting issue among a list of key issues. A Quinnipiac University poll released this week found that 55% of Americans want to see the healthcare system improved, not repealed or replaced.

Donald Trump tweeted this week that, “the Republican Party will become ‘The Party of Healthcare!’.” However, the president is arguing for a complete strike down of the ACA, without offering a replacement plan or safety net for the estimated 20 million people that would find themselves uninsured if the federal appeals court finds the ACA unconstitutional.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand responded to the Trump Administration’s argument that the ACA is unconstitutional by saying that if Trump, “wants to have a fight on healthcare, then it’s a fight we’re willing to have. And it’s a fight he is going to lose.” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats have been “dealing with health care constantly. The public attention has been on the Mueller report, but we have been focused on healthcare.”

Trump has decided to renew his focus on the attacking the Affordable Care Act as Republican Senators and Trump head towards the 2020 election. Many Democrats credit Republican attacks on healthcare as one of the reasons the Democrats won back the House in 2018. Andrew Bates, the spokesman for American Bridge argued that “for Trump to bring this back up is traumatic, and it shines a real light on what the contrast is going to be between him and whoever the Democratic nominee is.”

In 2017, the Republicans unsuccessfully attempted to repeal the ACA. Further, five Supreme Court Justices that upheld the Affordable Care Act are still on the bench, constituting a majority.

Media Resources: Vox 3/27/19; TIME 3/27/19; AP News 11/7/18

NASA Cancels First Ever All-Female Spacewalk over Spacesuit

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On Monday, NASA issued a press release cancelling the historic all-women spacewalk due to a lack of spacesuits. NASA claims only one correctly sized spacesuit will be accessible by Friday, when the walk was scheduled. Anne McClain, one of the two women set for the mission, is now forced to forfeit her place to a male colleague.

NASA is currently under fire by social media users, and a plethora of people are questioning NASA over their limited number of suit sizes. NASA’s lack of smaller suit sizes disproportionately affects women, who tend to be smaller than their male counterparts.

Arianna Huffington tweeted, “We put a man on the moon but we can’t find a spacesuit that fits a woman by Friday.”

Astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch were scheduled for the first all-women spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Friday to swap out batteries. However, during her previous spacewalk, McClain learned that a “medium-sized ‘hard upper torso’ — the part of the modular suits that covers the chest — fit her best.”

NASA did an analysis of spacesuit sizing in 2003, and found that men were not limited by spacesuits, while a third of the women could not fit into the suits, limiting their ability to spacewalk.

 

Media Resources; NPR 3/26/19, NASA 3/25/19, Twitter 3/26/19, NBC News 3/26/19, NBC News 3/6/19

Trump Expands Global Gag Rule, Further Restricting Abortion Access Worldwide

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In a press conference on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the expansion of the Global Gag Rule, also known as the “Mexico City Policy,” which prohibit U.S. funding for foreign aid groups and health organizations that provide or refer patients to abortion, even if they do so with separate non-U.S. resources.

Although President Trump has already expanded the Global Gag Rule significantly beyond any past president, the administration has new modifications to further the dangerous policy. Now the funding ban will not just apply to international non-governmental organizations (NGO) that provide or refer patients to abortion; it will also ban U.S. global health funding to any NGO that uses non-U.S. assistance to support any foreign partners who separately engage in abortion-related work with their own funding. That includes private donors like the Gates Foundation and bilateral funding partners like the Organization of American States (OAS).

“This administration’s obsession with attacking women’s reproductive health is egregious and dangerous,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH). “Further expanding the Global Gag Rule puts international organizations in an impossible position: provide women the full scope of reproductive health care services or deny critical funding that saves lives. That is unconscionable.”

The expanded Global Gag Rule effects approximately $9 billion in aid a year, and major philanthropists like Bill and Melinda Gates have said that there is no amount of increased funding that foundations like theirs could give to bridge the gap left by the expanded Global Gag. International governments are also scrambling to soften the devastating impact of lost U.S. funding, but even they will not be able to scrape together near sufficient funds.

Global health advocates have severely criticized the expansion as clinics in developing countries lose critical funding and are forced to scale back an essential variety of health services. Staff members have been laid off and family planning programs have been eliminated. An Ethiopian NGO ended its program providing vasectomies and tubal litigation to rural populations after the implementation of the Global Gag Rule. Similarly, in Nepal, two clinics have stopped services from four districts and laid off staff. A 2011 Stanford University study also noted that the rule caused abortion rates in African countries to double, with women in countries most affected by the ban to be 2.6 times more likely to have an abortion than countries not affected by the measure.

In February, members of Congress, led by Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), introduced the Global Health Empowerment and Rights (HER) Act. The bill reverses and permanently bans the anti-abortion Global Gag Rule reinstated under the Trump administration, and protects access to healthcare, especially for women and girls, across the globe.

In 2017, Trump took the measure a dangerous step further than any other president, expanding the Global Gag Rule to include all global health assistance programs across all departments and agencies. This meant that the Global Gag Rule would now not only apply to organizations that receive family planning funding, but also, according to the United Nations Dispatch, “NGOs that distribute bed nets for malaria, provide childhood vaccines, support early childhood nutrition and brain development, run HIV programs, fight Ebola or Zika, and much more, must now certify their compliance with the Global Gag Rule or risk losing US funds.”

The Global Gag Rule was first implemented in 1984 by President Ronald Reagan as a means of banning any overseas non-governmental organization (NGO) that receives U.S. family planning and reproductive health funding from providing or distributing information about abortions, even if they were to use non-U.S. government funds in doing so. NGOs must therefore choose between accepting vital funding from the United States or offering information, referrals, and services for abortion. The United States is one of the largest contributors to international aid for reproductive health initiatives with a budget of approximately $607.5 million in 2016.

 

 

Media Resources: Feminist Newswire 2/8/19; Feminist Newswire 2/22/17; Feminist Newswire 1/24/19; Politico 3/26/19; CNN 3/26/19

Michigan Will No Longer Fund Religious Based Adoption Agencies

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Michigan will no longer fund adoption agencies that refuse to provide services based on religious beliefs. Previously, Michigan was one of nine states that provided funding for adoption agencies who refused service based on religious beliefs.

Attorney General Dana Nessell reached the settlement with the ACLU, stating that “discrimination in the provision of foster care case management and adoption services is illegal, no matter the rationale.” As a result, thousands of kids will now be able to find homes since more parents will now be eligible. However, this settlement will not impact private adoption agencies.

Several states, including Texas, Virginia, South Dakota, North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Kansas, all have laws that allow adoption agencies to refuse service based on religious beliefs. The American Bar Association (ABA) has adopted a resolution stating that denying potential parents based on religious beliefs is “state-sanctioned discrimination.” The ABA believes the LGBTQ+ community across the U.S. should have the right to adopt.

 

Media Resources: CNN 3/26/19; NPR 3/22/19; NBC News 2/6/19

Discriminatory IAAF Rule to Monitor Female Athletes’ Testosterone Levels

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The British Medical Journal has released a study stating that the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) rule requiring women track runners with five nanomoles per liter of testosterone in them to take hormonal treatment is not scientifically accurate. The IAAF have delayed the implementation of this rule after a South African runner, Caster Semenya, filed a lawsuit against the rule.

Dr. Sheree Bekker from the University of Bath and Prof. Cara Tannenbaum from the University of Montreal have both written in an editorial that the “medical profession does not define biological sex or physical function by serum testosterone levels alone.” They argue that testosterone levels vary among men and women athletes, with elite athletes having higher averages and that this is a means to police women’s bodies.

This comes after the controversy last year when Serena Williams was drug tested more often than any of her competitors. Williams’ talent continuously comes into question, resulting in her often being drug tested for reasons she believes are discriminatory.

Media Resources: BBC 3/21/19; The Guardian 3/20/19; Washington Post 7/27/18

California Mosque Set On Fire Following Christchurch Massacre

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Early Sunday morning, a Mosque in Escondido, California was set on fire and covered with graffiti with references to the Christchurch shooting. Seven people were inside, but fortunately, no one was injured and the congregants were able to extinguish the fire before officials made it on the scene.

The vandals left behind graffiti which directly referenced the Christchurch shooting, specifically calling out the shooter. The exact language and graffiti used has not been released as it is a part of an ongoing investigation. An accelerant was also used to set the fire, prompting involvement by the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the probe.

Authorities have declared the incident an act of arson, as well as a hate crime. Hate crimes against the Muslim community have been on the rise internationally, with over 95 reported crimes against Muslim communities in response to the Christchurch shooting. At a local level, the Escondido’s growing Muslim population has led to increased anti-Islamic sentiments.

In response to the arson attack, the Escondido community held a vigil that a hundred people attended the night after the attack. Interfaith prayer was included in the vigil, and the crowd drew people of all denominations and backgrounds.

 

Media: Washington Post 2019; San Diego Union-Tribune 2019; Escondido Police 2019

Study Finds About 4 Percent of Women Are Pregnant When Jailed

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A study published in The American Journal of Public Health on Thursday found that about 4 percent of women who were currently incarcerated in state prisons in the United States were pregnant when they were first admitted.

While overall prison rates have declined, the number of incarcerated women has been increasing at about a rate of 800 percent. The study found that in a single year out of the 56,262 women included in the study, imprisoned women had 752 live births, 46 miscarriages, four stillbirths, and 11 abortions. Despite the increasing female population in prisons, there is a severe lack of research on women’s health and no procedure in place to track pregnancies within prisons. Researchers hope that the new data will urge legislators to address incarcerated women’s health.

Pregnant prisoners in US prisons and jails face harsh and sometimes dehumanizing treatment. These women often struggle to access physical and mental health care. In many states, it is common practice to shackle female prisoners while they are in labor or even while they are giving birth regardless of whether or not the inmate has a history of violent behavior. This practice of shackling pregnant women furthers the trauma incarcerated women already endure in the US prison system.

In Maryland, a new bill proposes to ban the practice of involuntarily putting pregnant inmates in restrictive housing. Current policy and practice, automatically places women in their third trimester of pregnancy in a medical infirmary, including women who have not been convicted of a crime yet. Several prisoner rights’ advocates have acknowledged that these infirmaries are actually solitary confinement cells with cases of women being left alone for over 24 hours with no emergency call button and even resulting in in-cell births.

In addition to the mistreatment of pregnancy, incarcerated women, in general, struggle to access feminine hygiene products. In some institutions, pads and tampons are distributed at the leisure of correctional officers and women often have to trade with other inmates in order to obtain them. For most women, they are required to request pads or tampons from correctional officers and they are given products on an “as-needed basis” or are required to purchase products at high prices at the prison commissary. In more severe cases, women are left with improvised supplies such as medical gauze or with no tampons or pads at all.

The Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act and the Federal Bureau of Prison’s policy in 2017 both required all federal prisons with women inmates to provide pads, tampons, and panty liners for free for incarcerated women. The bill also banned shackling pregnant women or putting pregnant women in solitary confinement. However, several state and local institutions have not followed suit. Earlier this month, a GOP state representative in Maine implied that access to free tampons, sanitary pads, and menstrual cups would make prisons like “a country club.”

Women inmates are also often overlooked when discussing sexual violence. Between 2009 and 2011, women accounted for 67 percent of staffer-on-prisoner sexual victimization, but only represented 13 percent of all people in jail. Furthermore, 86 percent of women in jails are already survivors of sexual violence. With two-thirds of female inmates being women of color, sexual violence victims in prison are vulnerable, marginalized, and overlooked, with little to no safeguards or accountability in place for survivors.

“You have people who are primarily men in positions of basically absolute power over a captive – literally captive – population,” said Diana Block, founding member of the California Coalition for Women Prisoners, which is helping with a lawsuit against a state prison where two guards sexually harassed, humiliated, and abused three inmates for hours. “All the dynamics of sexism and patriarchy and sexual violence that are very prevalent in the society as a whole are translated directly into the conduct and behavior within prisons with very little protection or surveillance or recourse.”

 

Media Resources: Think Progress 8/29/18; Glamour 3/20/19; Rewire.News 3/22/19; Associated Press News 3/21/19; Feminist Newswire 8/16/17

Ohio Terminates State Funding For Planned Parenthood

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On Thursday, the Ohio Department of Health(ODH) notified Planned Parenthood locations all across the state that they would no longer be receiving funding starting next month, due to a 2016 state law that was upheld earlier this month by a federal appeals court.

The law forbids the state from providing funding to any affiliations that “perform or promote” abortions that are not considered medical necessity. Planned Parenthood offers other services such as cervical and breast cancer screening, reducing infant mortality rates, sexual assault services, sexually transmitted diseases screening/prevention, HIV/AIDS treatment, and family planning education; despite this, they will be defunded solely because they offer non-therapeutic abortions, which the law bans.

After receiving notice from ODH, Iris Harvey, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio CEO, said that the short notice provided by ODH will “gravely impact patients and communities across Ohio,” she added, “Ohio continues to put politics over people, putting them at greater risk. This isn’t about politics, this is about lifesaving health care.”

Although Planned Parenthood has not announced plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, a U.S. district court ruling agreed with Planned Parenthood that preventing funding to the organization if they continue performing abortion procedures violates Planned Parenthood’s right to due process, and “denying funding for promoting abortion violated its free speech rights.”

DeWine and Planned Parenthood have previously clashed over defamatory allegations; in 2016, Planned Parenthood reached a settlement with the state of Ohio after the healthcare provider filed a federal lawsuit seeking to prevent state Attorney General, now- governor Mike DeWine from unfairly prosecuting the organization.

 

Media Resources; Cleveland Metro News 3/22/19, Cleveland Metro News 3/12/19, Washington Post 3/12/19, Associated Press 3/12/19, Feminist Newswire 6/8/16

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