According a recent report issued by the Guttmacher Institute, 2012 saw a record of anti-abortion provisions enacted into law. The report found that of 122 provisions that related to reproductive health and rights enacted last year, 43 of those were specifically targeted at restricting abortion access. Though the 43 anti-choice provisions came from a total […]
On Wednesday, the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles, CA overturned the rape conviction of a man who impersonated a woman’s boyfriend in order to have sex with her because the woman was not married. The district appeals court found that a law from 1827 that criminalized impersonation of a woman’s husband in […]
Twenty-two high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, will be part of a condom distribution pilot program in an attempt to reduce sexually transmitted infections and diseases (STIs) among Philadelphia teenagers. The schools with the highest rates of STIs among students were selected to be a part of the program that features condom dispensers inside school health […]
Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by Taliban forces for her outspoken support of girls’ education, was released yesterday from Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, UK. She is currently staying with her family at a temporary home in the United Kingdom before going back to the hospital for reconstructive surgery […]
The House of Representatives let the Senate-approved bipartisan Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) expire at the end of the 112th congressional session without ever seeing a vote. This is the first time VAWA has not been reauthorized since it was first passed in 1994. The Senate approved the reauthorization of VAWA in April 2012 and included new […]
On the last day of her term, outgoing North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue (D) granted a full pardon for ten activists who were convicted of firebombing a grocery store in 1972 as part of a civil rights protest. The group, known as the “Wilmington 10,” were comprised of nine black men and one white woman […]
Tom Monaghan, founder of the Domino’s Pizza franchise, was awarded a temporary restraining order by a federal judge on Sunday against the provision under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that requires employers to provide birth control coverage. Federal Judge Lawrence Zatkoff, who issued the temporary restraining order while Monaghan’s lawsuit against the federal government is […]
Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell certified new abortion regulations known as TRAP (targeted regulations of abortion providers) laws on Friday, December 28th. There will be a 60-day public comment period before a final vote by the Virginia Board of Health, likely in March. These TRAP laws were designed to force existing abortion clinics to meet the […]
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 […]
