News

On Tuesday current employees of Walmart’s Tennessee stores announced a class-action lawsuit against the corporation on grounds of sex discrimination. The case, Phipps, et al. v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., is a class-action suit that alleges that female employees in Tennessee did not receive the same pay or promotion opportunities as their male counterparts at Walmart. […]

On Tuesday, just five weeks before Election Day, a Commonwealth Court judge halted enforcement of Pennsylvania’s strict new voting ID law from going into effect in the pivotal swing state until after this year’s presidential election. The law, enacted in March, requires that every person have a Department of Transportation (PennDOT) photo ID in order […]

The Republican National Committee ended its ties with Strategic Allied Consulting, a firm hired to register voters for the 2012 election, as Florida prosecutors investigate suspected voter fraud. The RNC’s decision to cancel its contract with Strategic Allied, founded by Nathan Sproul, comes just days before voter registration deadlines in many battleground states. This judgment […]

In Uruguay, the Chamber of Deputies voted 50 to 49 last week to legalize abortion. The AP reports that President Jose Mujica will allow the law to pass. Women will be allowed to access legal abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and up to the 14th week in cases of rape or incest. […]

Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which would have provided about 200,000 domestic workers with overtime pay, meal breaks, and a suitable sleeping environment for live-in workers, due to what he claims to be a “number of unanswered questions” that the bill raises. According to Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, […]

Recently, an Illinois Appeals Court ruled in favor of two pharmacists who refused to fill emergency contraception prescriptions on the basis of their religious beliefs. On Friday, September 21, the court determined the plaintiffs’, Luke Vander Bleek and Glenn Kosirog, right to conscience permitted them from dispensing the morning-after pill as required by a 2005 […]

On Saturday California Governor Jerry Brown signed the historic SB 1172, a bill banning so-called “reparative” therapies for LGBT youth, the first bill of its kind to be signed into law in the United States. The bill was authored by State Senator Ted W. Lieu (D) and co-sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, […]

Yesterday, Right Wing Watch released a video from early in Todd Akin’s Senate campaign in which Akin admits to having been arrested for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic. The video, from a “pastor’s briefing” in 2011, features Akin alongside David Barton addressing an audience about when religious values must submit to government authority. […]

Yesterday, the City Council of Austin, Texas, passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage. While the resolution is not a law, the city council’s unanimous vote to officially support marriage equality is the first in the state. Marriage equality activists hope that the council’s decision can lead to more action in the struggle to legalize same-sex […]

A pilot program initiated in private school health clinics in New York City was expanded into 13 public schools. The program called CATCH, Connecting Adolescents to Comprehensive Health, seeks to reduce teen pregnancy by providing contraceptive care. Through CATCH students can receive condoms, pregnancy tests, birth control pills, Depo-Provera (an injection that prevents pregnancy for […]

The Canadian Parliament voted to defeat an anti-abortion motion last night by a vote of 203-91. Motion 312, proposed by conservative Member of Parliament Stephen Woodworth, would authorize investigation into the rights of the fetus. Many pro-choice activists believe the motion would have restricted abortion access in Canada. During discussion on Motion 312, Woodworth doubted […]

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli approved new regulations yesterday designed to force existing abortion clinics to meet the same building codes as new hospitals. The TRAP laws (targeted-regulations-of-abortion-providers) will now head to Governor Bob McDonnell for approval. The Virginia Board of Health met on September 14th and voted 13-2 to reverse their June decision to […]

Congressman Todd Akin (R-MO) has passed the deadline for withdrawing his campaign for the United States Senate, meaning he will officially be on the ballot in November challenging incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO). Many had urged Akin to drop out of the race before today’s deadline after his infamous statements on “legitimate rape.” “For the […]

Following an investigation into the handling of sexual assault reports at the University of Montana in Missoula launched last spring, the university is receiving a $300,000 grant to hire a violence intervention director and expand campus wide programs addressing violence. The director position will be funded for one year, and will work out of the […]

The Chamber of Deputies of Uruguay will vote today on a measure that could legalize first trimester abortion. The measure has already passed in the Uruguayan Senate. The measure would legalize abortions under 12 weeks and 1 day in gestation. However, the measure also requires a five-day waiting period for women seeking an abortion as […]