On Monday, a Texas judge denied Planned Parenthood’s request for a temporary restraining order against enforcing a new measure that prevents the organization from receiving state funding for cancer screenings and well-woman visits. A hearing in a lawsuit regarding the funding restrictions is scheduled for mid-January. As a result, almost 50,000 poor women in Texas […]
The brutal gang rape and death of a 23-year-old female medical student in India has prompted global outrage, Reuters reports. The physiotherapy student was tortured and raped by a group of six men who were armed with a metal bar on a private bus in New Delhi on December 16th. The woman was raped for […]
Today the National Rifle Association held its first press conference since the tragic shooting in Newtown, CT in Washington, DC. At the conference, Executive Vice President of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, called for armed police officers in every school in the United States and creation of a national database to track those with mental illness […]
Earlier this month, Florida state Representative Lori Berman (D-Lantana) filed legislation to have Florida be the 36th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Currently only 35 states have ratified the ERA since it was introduced for state ratification in 1972. The last state to ratify the ERA was Indiana in 1977. To be […]
On Wednesday, Park Geun-hye was elected President of South Korea. She will be the first woman to ever hold the position in that country. Park, the leader of the country’s conservative party, defeated liberal Moon Jae-in by 3.5 percent and promised to return the conservative leadership to a more moderate stance than her predecessor Lee […]
Protests erupted in India yesterday in response to a violent gang rape on a bus in South Delhi. Protesters, mostly students and women’s organizations, held protests in streets of the city of Delhi and demonstrated in front of the city’s police headquarters calling for new attitudes towards rape. Protesters who gathered outside of the home […]
On Monday, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley appointed Representative Tim Scott as the successor to retiring Senator Jim DeMint. Tim Scott will be the only African-American Republican in Congress after the defeat of Representative Allen West in Florida in the November election. Scott has a record of social and fiscal conservatism that is similar to […]
On Tuesday, the Irish government announced that it will draft new legislation to clarify the country’s restrictive abortion ban. The news comes after international pressure and two on-going inquiries following the death of Savita Halappanavar after she was denied an abortion while miscarrying. In a statement released by the Irish health department, the government affirmed […]
According to a new report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the gender gap in wages increases drastically after a woman has a child. The report looked at the economic standing of women in 34 of the developed member country and found that on average all women earn 16% less than […]
On Monday, the Montana Supreme Court decided that a case brought by six couples and the ACLU urging the court to extend partnership benefits to same sex couples was too broad and violated separation of powers. The case, which featured six same sex couples denied rights under various statutes such as bereavement leave, protections in […]
Toy company Hasbro will release a gender-neutral Easy-Bake Oven at the Toy Fair in February after meeting with a thirteen year old girl who sparked an internet outrage over the toy. McKenna Pope from Garfield, N.J. created an online petition that gathered over 40,000 signatures after she went shopping for an Easy Bake Oven for her little […]
Yesterday the Philippine House of Representatives passed the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill), which will provide government-funded sex education and birth control across the country. After sitting in the Philippine Congress for almost 15 years, the RH Bill will be sent to President Benigno Aquino on Wednesday after a reconciliation committee condenses differences between the […]
In light of the massacre in Newton, Connecticut last Friday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has announced that, on the first day the new Congress convenes in January, she will propose new legislation to restrict assault weapons access. On “Meet the Press” yesterday, Feinstein explained that she will propose a bill in the Senate that would restrict the […]
In his segment on Fox News on Saturday, former Governor Mike Huckabee blamed the elementary school shooting in Newton, Connecticut on America’s systematic rejection of religion as evidenced by “tax-funded abortion pills.” Huckabee back-tracked on comments he made Friday when he linked a lack of religion in schools to the massacre earlier that day. After stating that bloggers “jumped […]
The factory fire in Bangladesh last month that killed over 100 people has been ruled by officials as “sabotage.” 112 workers died in the factory that was producing clothes for Walmart and other Western retailers were originally attributed to an electric short-circuit, an official investigation ruled that the fire was deliberately started. Main Uddin Khandaker, […]
In a conference call on Tuesday to Latino leaders, President Obama announced that after reaching a settlement with Congress about the fiscal cliff, the White House will devote itself to reforming America’s immigration policy. One participant in the call, Brent Wilkes of the League of United Latin American Citizens comments that while Obama’s first term focused on […]
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Friday in which he endorses over the counter birth control and calls for fellow Republicans to do the same and take contraception out of political debates. In his opinion piece, Governor Jindal supports the statement from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecology […]
Yesterday the Michigan Senate approved HB 5711, a sweeping package of anti-abortion legislation that will enforce everything from TRAP laws to requiring a risk assessment prior to a procedure. “Super Bill” HB5711 was first proposed in June, and has been in the Senate since August. Yesterday the bill was approved on a vote of 27 to 10, […]
Women’s rights activists are protesting the draft constitution proposed by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi that will be voted on by the general public on December 15th, 2012. Many activists are worried that the draft constitution does not protect women’s equality under the law and instead inserts women into the law as defined by traditional roles. […]
On Thursday, the Philippine House of Representatives passed the second reading of a controversial bill known as the Reproductive Health Bill (RH Bill) which would provide contraception to poor citizens free of charge, despite pressure from the Roman Catholic church. The RH Bill requires that the government provide contraceptives to the poor free of charge […]
