The South Dakota state House passed a bill that could extend the time women seeking an abortion must wait before having the procedure Wednesday evening. House Bill 1237 would exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from being included in the already-mandated 72 hour waiting period. This could greatly extend the time a woman would have to […]
Universal Orlando, a Florida based theme park based on Universal Studios films, will not offer health benefits to part time employees beginning next year, citing provisions in Obamacare. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Universal Orlando currently offers part-time employees limited insurance benefits that feature a cap on payouts. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance […]
The first female members of Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council were sworn in by King Abdullah on Tuesday. The Shura Council, composed of 150 members, councils the government in decisions regarding legislation. However, the Council does not have legislative powers itself and all members are appointed by the king. 30 women now hold seats on the […]
An Alabama lawmaker justified a new TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) that could potentially shut down the handful of clinics currently open in in the state by arguing that a fetus is the largest organ in the female body on Tuesday. In an interview about the legislation, state Representative Mary Sue McClurkin (R-Pelham) told […]
Earlier this month six Georgia lawmakers, Representatives Dustin Hightower (R), Mike Dudgeon (R), Buzz Brockway (R), Josh Clark (R), Kevin Cooke (R) and Delvis Dutton (R) introduced legislation that would repeal the Seventeenth Amendment. The Seventeenth Amendment ensures that senators will be selected by voters rather than chosen for them by state legislatures. House Resolution […]
When I was a little girl, I always wanted Bangladesh to be famous. I did not like that whenever people asked me where I was from I would have to explain, “Bangladesh, this tiny country on the East of India.” Why could people not just know where my Motherland was? At the age of 18 […]
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) will include a section on expanding and protecting abortion rights in the state of New York as part of a Women’s Equality Act. The Reproductive Health Act would expand the conditions under which a woman could have a late abortion in the state to include when the mother’s health is in […]
Mississippi finally officially ratified the 13th Amendment to the United State Constitution, which banned slavery in 1865. The state legislature unanimously voted on a resolution to ratify the amendment in 1995 and was the last state to do so. However, the resolution was never filed with the US Archivist in the Office of the Federal […]
Tens of thousands of people marched on Washington over the weekend in the largest demonstration on climate change in the history of the United States. More than 50,000 people marched through the streets and demonstrated on the National Mall as part of the “Forward on Climate Change” rally organized by the Sierra Club and 350.org. […]
The Illinois state Senate voted 32 to 21 in favor of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday. The law would redefine marriage as the legal union of two people, not specifically a man and a woman. It would also convert civil unions to marriages within a year’s time. Religious institutions and individuals […]
Senate Bill 2795, also known as the “Women’s Health Defense Act,” [PDF] passed in the Mississippi Senate yesterday on a 39 to 12 vote. The Mississippi State Medical Association, concerned that the regulations would potentially criminalize abortion providers, released a memo which stated, “Mississippi physicians have strong and serious concerns about SB 2795.” The language […]
The Arkansas “heartbeat” bill that is currently being debated in the Arkansas state House could ban abortion after 12 weeks and be voted into law without the governor’s approval. Earlier this month, the Arkansas state Senate passed the Human Heartbeat Protection Act on a 28 to 6 vote. This act would require women who are seeking to […]
The Northeast School Cooperation will not discipline a teacher who told media sources that LGBT students have no purpose in life. Earlier this week Sullivan High School came under scrutiny as students, parents, and faculty rallied to create a “traditional” prom that would exclude gay students. The group met last Sunday at Sullivan First Christian […]
In a report released on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that many aboriginal women in British Columbia have been the victims of discrimination, aggressive use of police force, and even sexual assault by members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The report, titled “Those Who Take Us Away,” features in depth interviews with […]
It is over a week now that crowds refuse to die down in Shahbagh Square in the heart of Dhaka, Bangladesh. While most of the “western media” has either ignored the swelling numbers of ordinary Bangladeshis joining the movement, others have wrongly labeled it as a mass demand for capital punishment. This is perhaps the biggest misconception about […]
The Oklahoma State House Public Safety Committee passed three abortion-related bills Tuesday that make it more difficult for girls under the age of 18 to receive an abortion without parental consent. In a 7 to 3 vote, the Committee approved two bills that would eliminate the ability for an underage girl to have a judge […]
In an announcement made last week, Brown University announced it will join 35 other US colleges that cover gender-reassignment surgery in their student health plan starting in August. The new health insurance plans covers “14 different sexual reassignment surgery procedures” reports the Brown Daily Herald. Jeanne Hebert, Director of Insurance and Purchasing Services, told the […]
In his first State of the Union message since his reelection, President Obama urged quick passage of legislation the women’s movement has supported for many years. This legislation includes: passage by the House of the Senate’s Violence against Women Reauthorization, for Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act (which was filibustered in the Senate by […]
An amendment which would have severely restricted protections for Native American women under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was defeated yesterday evening. The amendment, proposed by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), would have removed a new provision of VAWA that would allow Native American tribal courts to try non-Native Americans for cases of violence against […]
On Friday, a federal judge overturned an Arizona law that prohibited funds from the state’s Medicaid program from going to Planned Parenthood because they are affiliated with abortion providers. U.S. District Judge Neil Wake wrote in his ruling, “The Arizona Act violates the freedom of choice provision of the Medicaid Act precisely because every Medicaid […]
