At Arlington Community High School in Indianapolis, public school officials are separating male and female students even in the hallways, cafeterias, and on buses, in what they claim to be an effort to boost academic performance. Students say that they rarely see those of the opposite sex on school property. According to the Indiana Department […]
The Center for Constitutional Rights and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) filed a case with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials – Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal […]
According to new 2010 census figures released yesterday, the gender wage gap has not changed in the past year, with women still earning only 77 cents to every dollar earned by men overall. African American women earned only 67.7 cents and Latinas earned 58.7 cents on the male dollar. The census report also revealed that […]
On Monday, a disciplinary hearing began in Kansas for Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus, to determine whether she performed adequate mental health examinations on 11 patients (ages 10 to 18) before referring them to Dr. George Tiller for late-term abortions in 2003. The complaint was filed by an Operation Rescue staffer in 2006 before the Kansas […]
Last Thursday, anti-abortion advocates protested at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Maryland. The protestors, who carried signs displaying the picture, phone number, and full name of a sixth grader’s father, who rents a condo to the Germantown Reproductive Health clinic, have been trying to shut down the Reproductive Health Services clinic since December, when […]
“Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in Colombia: Causes and Consequences,” the first report released in approximately twenty years analyzing abortion in Columbia, revealed that approximately “one in 26 Columbian women had an abortion in 2008” and that an estimated one third of pregnancies resulted in an abortion. The study, released by the Guttmacher Institute, indicated […]
On Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court voted seven to two to permit Measure 26, the Personhood Amendment, to be listed on the state ballot in November. The Court ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi, which filed the case, did not meet the legal burden required to block the measure from appearing […]
The Presidents’ job plan would have a positive impact on women’s jobs, woman-owned small businesses, small to medium sized non-profits, and on payroll tax savings for some 78 million employed women, and an extension of unemployment insurance for unemployed workers, including some 2.6 million women. “Many of the proposals for job creation, job retention, job […]
Yesterday the three judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond Virginia unanimously ruled to throw out a lawsuit filed by the state of Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the mandated minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This provision requires that a person purchase […]
Yesterday approximately 3,000 Hyatt employees began a week long strike in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu to protest Hyatt’s outsourcing practices and unsafe working conditions. According to UNITE HERE, a union comprised of over 250,000 hotel and hospitality workers across North America, since its contract with Hyatt Hotels Corporation expired approximately a year […]
On Thursday, the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-NCLF) filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Eastern District of North Carolina against the state over the production of new anti-abortion license plates that read “Choose Life.” The ACLU argues that the production of these plates is “unconstitutional viewpoint […]
On Tuesday, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supported a district court ruling blocking a law eliminating family insurance benefits for same sex partners of Arizona government workers. This ruling comes after a long court battle, which started in September 2009 when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed a law repealing same sex partner […]
In Kansas, Dr. Herbert Hodes, and his daughter, Dr. Traci Nauser, who sought an injunction in July in an effort to keep their medical practice open, indicated that they would consider dropping their lawsuit if Kansas state health officials withdrew some of the state’s arbitrary and hastily-imposed regulations for abortion providers. In July, US District […]
On Tuesday, Rep. Tammy Baldwin ( D-Wis) announced her bid for U.S. Senate which, if successful, would make her the first openly gay senator in U.S. history. Baldwin is a champion of the rights of the middle class, stating, “I’ve decided to run for the US Senate because I believe Wisconsin families need a senator […]
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court heard arguments concerning whether ProtectMarriage, supporters of Proposition 8, banning same-sex marriage in California, have standing to represent the state by defending the law in the pending case in the US Ninth Circuit Federal Appeals Court. ProtectMarriage has requested the standing to challenge Federal District Judge Vaughn 2010 ruling that […]
While visiting refugee camps in Kenya late last week, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin emphasized the dire situation of women as a result of the famine in the Horn of Africa. According to the UNFPA “12.4 million people have been affected by severe drought,” and 3.7 million people have been displaced […]
In California, volunteers for the Stop SB48 campaign have begun to collect signatures for a ballot referendum to repeal the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education law, which will require that school curricula and textbooks include information about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans. In order for the referendum to appear on the ballot, […]
On Friday, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned US District Judge Karen Schreier’s ruling to block a provision in a South Dakota law requiring that doctors tell women seeking abortions that they have “an existing relationship with that unborn human being and that the relationship enjoys protection under the United States Constitution and […]
On Saturday, the Vatican issued a 24 page statement denying accusations made in an Irish government-mandated investigation, the Cloyn report, that the Vatican had thwarted the efforts of Irish bishops to protect children from sexual abuse. The Cloyn report states that the Vatican “effectively gave individual Irish bishops the freedom to ignore the procedures which […]
A new Guttmacher study, entitled “The World at Seven Billion: Global Milestone a Reflection of Individual Needs,” found that empowering women and couples is imperative to addressing the economic, developmental, environmental, and social challenges that will be present when the world’s population reaches seven billion. The United Nations estimates that by the end of this […]
