After an order by Detroit Public Schools’ Emergency Manager, the Catherine Ferguson Academy will permanently close June 17. Catherine Ferguson Academy (CFA), established in 1986 and one of only three like it in the country, is a high school for pregnant teens and young mothers. CFA provides early education and day care, the young women […]
On Monday, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY-28) and Senator Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced the Military Access to Reproductive Care Act (MARCH) that would remove the ban preventing servicewomen from obtaining an abortion in cases of rape and incest. Anu Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN), indicated her support for the measure: “This […]
Yesterday, the Ohio Senate Finance Committee voted for a two-year state budget after attaching two anti-abortion amendments to it. One amendment would ban abortion services in public hospitals and the other would prohibit public funds for health care plans that cover abortions. The bill is expected to go to the state Senate for a vote […]
AstraZeneca, one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies worldwide, will pay $250,000 in a sex discrimination settlement filed by the US Department of Labor. The amount will be divided equally between 124 former and current women employees. Following an investigation, the US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFFCP) found that the company […]
Thirty years ago on Sunday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the first-ever report on the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), although the disease was not officially named until the following year. The AIDS epidemic in the US has shifted from primarily affecting gay men in the 1980s to disproportionately affecting […]
San Francisco City Supervisor Malia Cohen is currently working with NARAL Pro-Choice California on legislation that would require that crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to display signs indicating whether they offer comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortions and contraception, and whether a licensed medical professional is on staff. Cohen stated, “Legislation is a priority because there […]
Last week the Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee approved a bill that would require that clinics providing abortion services post signs indicating that a woman cannot be forced to obtain an abortion and that her partner is legally obligated to pay child support. The signs must also state that services are available to help […]
State legislators approved a bill Saturday that requires employers to provide paid sick leave for its employees, making Connecticut the first state in the nation to do so. Governor Dannell Malloy is set to sign the bill that allows employees to earn up to five paid sick days per year. San Francisco and the District […]
Yesterday, White House officials announced that current Principal Deputy Counsel to the President Kathryn Ruemmler will replace White House Counsel Bob Bauer, who announced that he will be returning to private practice. Ruemmler is the second woman to serve as White House Counsel. In 2005, Harriet E. Miers became the first woman White House Counsel […]
The United Nations and the World Bank released a joint report, “Opportunity in Crisis: Preventing HIV from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood,” which, for the first time, offers data on HIV infections in young people. It also identifies risk factors for the infection and strategies for prevention. According to the report, 2,500 youth are infected […]
Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) notified Indiana state officials that an Indiana law prohibiting state agencies from contracting with clinics offering abortions violates federal law. Governor Mitch Daniels (R) signed the law on May 10, and in April, the state Senate and House voted to cut about $2 million in federal […]
Yale University may be fined or experience funding cuts for failing to include a complete list of sex crimes that occurred at the university in its annual report to the government. Moreover, according to the US Department of Education, Yale did not issue timely notifications regarding incidents that potentially posed a threat to members of […]
Statement by Eleanor Smeal, Publisher of Ms. and President of the Feminist Majority: The selection of Jill Abramson, an accomplished feminist, as executive editor of The New York Times, which is not only the most influential newspaper in the United States, but also the premier online news platform, smashes a barrier to women’s achievement in […]
Republicans in the Tennessee state Legislature have abandoned attempts to defund Planned Parenthood by attaching an amendment to the state budget after they were advised by the Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey (R) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R) that it is unconstitutional to do so. In Tennessee, the state constitution does not allow changes to […]
Today a law will go into effect in Illinois allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions and attain some of the same benefits enjoyed by married couples, such as the right to visit a partner in the hospital and the right to make decisions about the partner’s medical care. Hundreds of same sex couples […]
Thirty Senate Democrats issued a letter late last week to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius requesting that HHS officials advise Medicaid directors not to implement measures to prevent Medicaid or Title X funding from going to clinics that offer abortion services. The letter stated, “The restrictions threatened by state legislatures blatantly contradict […]
A senior Egyptian general confirmed findings in an Amnesty International report that during the uprisings in Egypt, military officials conducted virginity checks on women who were arrested during the uprisings. The general stated that the virginity checks were conducted so that the women could not claim that they had been raped while in military custody. […]
Attorneys from Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in Sioux Falls against a new South Dakota law requiring that women undergo a 72 hour waiting period and mandatory counseling from a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) before obtaining an abortion. South Dakota […]
Last week, Representative Susan Davis introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would have allowed military health care plans to cover abortion services for service women who had been raped. Currently, Department of Defense policy does not permit military health insurance to cover abortions, even in cases of rape. The House Rules […]
On Wednesday night, Ralph Lang was arrested in his hotel room for plotting to kill doctors and medical personnel at a Madison, Wisconsin Planned Parenthood clinic. Hotel staff notified the police after Lang expressed his concern that someone might have been injured after he accidentally fired his gun in his room. When questioned about the […]
