Before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, “donor development aid for Afghanistan’s public health system was approximately six times the government’s own expenditure on health.” Since August 2021, after the Taliban took power by force, international funding has significantly decreased as many donors pulled their funds. Given Afghanistan’s heavy dependence on international aid to […]
The Strategy and Advocacy of the Modern ERA Movement
Since Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) on January 15, 2020 — becoming the 38th and final state needed to ratify the constitutional amendment — there has been a resurgence in enthusiasm among activist groups to finish the job that was started more than 100 years ago: publishing the ERA in the Constitution once […]
30 Years of Progress: The Evolution and Impact of the Violence Against Women Act
On September 13th, 1994, thirty years ago, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was signed into law. The monumental act has been a lifeline for women across the country, making history as one of the most influential pieces of legislation for women’s rights ever to be passed. Enacted and upheld for the last three decades, […]
Rolling Back Progress: What the End of Affirmative Action Means for Women’s Equality and Racial Justice
In a devastating blow to progress, the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to overturn affirmative action in college admissions has begun to unravel decades of hard-won gains for women and students of color in higher education and beyond. Recent statistics from Brown University reported a 40% drop in Black student enrollment in their 2024 freshman class, […]
Abortion Rights on the 2024 Ballot: Key States Where Voters Will Decide the Future of Reproductive Freedom
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, reproductive rights are now in the hands of the states and advocates have begun working to enshrine abortion rights in state constitutions across the nation. Since the Dobbs decision, voters in 6 states, California, Kansas, Kentucky, […]
The Impact of Gender Violence on Kenya’s Female Athletes
Ugandan Track and Field Olympian Rebecca Cheptegei was murdered by her partner, Dickson Ndiema, just weeks after returning from the Olympic games. The initial dispute between the couple concerned land she had purchased in Kenya to live closer to training facilities; Ndiema quickly turned violent and doused Cheptegei with petrol and set her on fire. […]
Apartness: How South Africa’s History of Apartheid Guides the Future for Afghanistan’s Women and Girls
In 1973, after decades of racist policies by South Africa’s National Party, the United Nations ratified a document that officially defined racial apartheid. This convention defined the crime of apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons […]
Ohio Man Sentenced to 66 Months in Prison After Threatening a Planned Parenthood
On Wednesday July 24, the United States Department of Justice released a statement about the recent sentencing of a man charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act). The convicted 33-year-old, Mohamed Waes, was charged concerning threats he made against the Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio in 2022. Waes made […]
Mifepristone: More Than Just an Abortion Pill
Mifepristone, often dubbed the “abortion pill,” has been a topic of heated debate since it was approved for use in the United States in 2000. The drug was developed by the French pharmaceutical company Roussel Uclaf and has since revolutionized abortion care, now accounting for almost two-thirds of all abortions in the United States. However, […]
The High Costs of Pregnancy
Over the past decade, the cost of giving birth in a hospital has skyrocketed, leaving many new families burdened with medical debt on top of the stress of caring for a newborn. On average, hospital births cost $18,865, encompassing pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum care. Even with private insurance, families can expect to pay around $3,000 […]
Georgetown Law Unpacks the Supreme Court’s 2024 Term: Civil Rights, Reproductive Health, and the Fight for Democracy
Georgetown Law’s O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law hosted an event, sponsored by Ms and Feminist Majority Foundation, on July 1st reviewing the Supreme Court’s 2024 term and discussing the current crisis of health and democracy due to the Dobbs decision. In honor of the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, […]
Project 2025: A Dystopian Future
Project 2025. What exactly is it? The 920 page document was written by The Heritage Foundation– a conservative think tank that has outlined their goals for the transition period if Donald Trump were to be elected President in November. Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts has made it clear that the focus of the plan […]
Taliban: Female athletes do not represent Afghanistan at the Paris Olympics this month.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited six Afghan athletes – three women and three men – in “consultation with Afghanistan’s largely exiled national Olympic committee.” However, the spokesman for the Taliban government’s sports directorate, Atal Mashwani, said “only three athletes are representing Afghanistan.” He continued, “in Afghanistan girls’ sports have been stopped. When girls’ […]
The Impact of the Supreme Court’s Presidential Immunity Ruling
On July 1st, the Supreme Court released its last round of decisions before their summer recess. One of these decisions, Trump vs. the United States (2024), changed the future of the executive office, and possibly our democracy. After the January 6th insurrection in 2021, Special Council Jack Smith was assigned to investigate Trump’s involvement in […]
Increased Flogging of Women by the Taliban: The Urgent Need for International Accountability to End the Brutality
In March of this year, the Taliban’s Supreme Leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, announced that the Taliban regime would resume the public stoning of women for crimes like adultery. The Taliban argues that this is “in line with Sharia and Islamic law” and will also punish other “moral crimes” in a similar fashion. Since the Taliba […]
U.N. Report: Taliban’s Treatment of Women is Gender Apartheid
On June 18, the United Nation’s Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, presented a mandated report to the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report states that the “phenomenon of an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls,” is Gender Apartheid. […]
Abortion Bans and the Effect on Infant Mortality Rates
There is no doubt that abortion bans are dangerous – for the women whose choice is ripped away from them, for the doctors who are unsure how to provide proper care within the limits of restrictive laws, and especially for the women who are forced to give birth to a baby that is clearly unable […]
Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Case On Transgender Affirming Care For Minors
On Monday, June 24th, the Supreme Court inserted itself into the fight over transgender rights. The court agreed to hear a Biden administration appeal to a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care to transgender minors. The state law, enacted last year, restricts puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery for minors and imposes civil penalties for […]
Supreme Court Upholds Federal Law Protecting Survivors of Domestic Violence
On June 21, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in favor of a federal law prohibiting those with a domestic violence restraining order against them from possessing a firearm. The federal law in question under United States v. Rahimi (2024) was the 1996 Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, often referred to as “the Lautenberg Amendment,” after […]
Louisiana Passes Law Requiring Public Schools to Display the Ten Commandments in Classrooms
On June 19, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a Republican-sponsored bill requiring public schools — from kindergarten to university — to display a poster of the Ten Commandments in all classrooms by 2025 to maintain state funding. The law specifies that the poster must be at least 11 feet by 14 feet, with the 10 […]
