By Mara Einstein Breast-cancer charity Susan G. Komen’s decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood–an organization that provides subsidized breast cancer exams for lower-income women–leaves me scratching my head. Komen claims to be withholding funds because of new criteria barring it from providing grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal […]
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Department of Labor Announces Equal Pay App Challenge
The US Department of Labor, in partnership with the National Equal Pay Task Force, announced that it will launch a new Equal Pay App Challenge, to encourage web developers to create a software application to educate users about the pay gap and work to eliminate it. The winners of the challenge will be announced on […]
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Komen Foundation to End Partnership with Planned Parenthood
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the largest breast-cancer charity in the United States, announced that it will end its partnership with Planned Parenthood affiliates. This will prevent Planned Parenthood affiliates from receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars to conduct breast cancer screenings annually. According to Planned Parenthood, its clinics received $680,000 last year […]
HERvotes Blog Carnival: No Religious Exemption for Birth Control Coverage
Despite enormous pressure from the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Obama Administration recently decided not to broaden the religious exemption for contraceptive coverage under the Preventive Care package of the Affordable Care Act. This demand for additional exemptions, would have denied millions of American women contraceptive coverage, including students, teachers, nurses, social workers, and […]
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Seven Things You (and the Media) Need to Know about Birth Control
by Jacqueline M., Planned Parenthood Action Fund We were thrilled with President Obama’s decision a few weeks ago to protect access to birth control for women who work at religiously affiliated universities, hospitals, or institutions. By not further expanding a refusal clause to the birth control coverage benefit under the Affordable Care Act, he is […]
One more time…
by Jill Morrison, National Women’s Law Center Abortion. [uh-bawr-shuhn] Contraception. [kon-truh–sep-shuhn] These are not the same. Yet I’ve repeatedly seen claims that the HHS decision on contraceptive coverage requires religious employers to cover “abortifacients.” Clearly, those opposed to the preventive services rule know they are on shaky ground when it comes to rallying their troops against […]
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Blog Carnival Will Support VAWA Reauthorization in Advance of Senate Action
A blog carnival is beginning today in support of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), sponsored by Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID). A Senate briefing was held last week on VAWA, which is due to expire at the end of this year. The legislation is scheduled to be marked […]
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Women’s Rights Groups Launch Campaign to Save Birth Control from Catholic Bishops
Beginning today, women’s rights groups – including the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Council of Jewish Women, and others – have launched a campaign and blog carnival to support the Obama Administration’s decision to maintain full contraceptive coverage under the Preventive Care package of […]
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Department of Labor Seeks Comments on Family Leave for Military Families
Today First Lady Michelle Obama joined US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to announce proposed regulations to update the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for military families. The changes would entitle family members take up to twelve weeks of exigency leave to assist a relative in the armed forces who is deployed on short […]
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HERvotes Blog Carnival: Reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act
by Emily Alfano, National Council of Jewish Women For the eighth #HERvotes blog carnival, our coalition of women’s groups is joining forces for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey found alarming rates of sexual violence, stalking, and domestic […]
Joining Forces – Women Veterans Speak Out: The Trenches, Remembered
by Joan Grey, Business and Professional Women’s Foundation Mentoring Liaison We all have our stories. Maybe these narratives, rather than DNA, are really what make us human. On the topic of military sexual trauma, I turned to my West Point women classmates for their input. Ours was the first co-ed class. Out of over 900 […]
First-Ever Oral HPV Study Conducted
The first-ever study of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) in the United States, conducted by the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, revealed that 7 percent of people in the United States are infected with oral HPV. This may account for the growing rate of mouth and throat cancers over the past twenty-five years. According to […]
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UN Secretary General Promotes Women’s Rights, Gay Rights
In a speech to the African Union Summit in Ethiopia, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the end to discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. General Ban Ki-moon encouraged renewed efforts to ensure women’s greater representation in parliaments in African countries and stated the importance of ensuring that women are part of the […]
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Same-Sex Marriage Referendum Likely to Appear on ME Ballot
EqualityMaine, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Main Women’s Lobby announced on Thursday that they have 105,000 petitions signed by Maine voters, which far exceeds the 57,277 required to place a question on the November ballot regarding same-sex marriage. The Secretary of State’s Office now has 30 days to certify that the signatures are […]
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Abortion Medically Safer than Childbirth
A new study, conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Raymond and Dr. David Grimes and published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, indicates that the likelihood of women dying during childbirth is 14 times higher than the likelihood of dying during an abortion. According to the study, between 1998 and 2005, one woman died per every 11,000 pregnancies but […]
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IN Senate Committee Votes to Restrict Medical Abortion Pill
Yesterday, the Indiana Senate health committee voted 5 to 4 to further restrict women’s access to RU-486, or the abortion pill. If the bill passes, doctors would be required to conduct an in-person examination of a woman before prescribing the abortion pill, as well as give her written information of the risks of an abortion […]
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AZ Congressman Introduces Bill to Restrict Abortion in DC
Arizona Representative Trent Franks (R) introduced the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act this week that would prohibit women in the District of Columbia from having an abortion after 20 weeks gestation unless her life is in danger. The bill is based on the unfounded notion that the fetus can feel pain at […]
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WA Gains Necessary Vote to Pass Same-Sex Marriage Bill
At the first public hearing on same-sex marriage in Washington state, Senator Mary Margaret Haugen (D) announced that she will support legalizing same-sex marriage. With Haugen’s vote, considered the deciding vote, the state Senate will have enough votes to pass its same sex-marriage bill, as will the state House. Moreover, Governor Chris Gregoire (D) has […]
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Abortion Rate Stalls Worldwide
“Induced Abortion: Incidence and Trends Worldwide from 1995 to 2008,” a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization and published in the Lancet, indicates that since 2008, the decline in the worldwide rate of abortions has stalled. According to the study, “between 1995 and 2003, the overall number of abortions per […]
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Political Parity Launches Year of Women Campaign
A coalition of women’s rights leaders has launched a bipartisan campaign to double the number of women elected to the highest levels of government by 2020. Political Parity held a press conference on January 19th to announce the initiative chaired by Swanee Hunt and Kerry Healey. Healey dubbed the campaign a “grand experiment”. Speaking at […]