South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard (R) signed an extreme anti-abortion bill into law Tuesday requiring that women undergo a 72 hour waiting period and mandatory counseling from a crisis pregnancy center (CPC) before obtaining an abortion. Sarah Stoesz, president of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, clarified that CPCs are “they’re not […]
Yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decided to uphold a temporary stay on Proposition 8, which bans same-sex marriage in California. The Appeals Court denied a motion filed by the American Foundation for Equal Rights to set aside a stay on a Federal District Court decision until the 9th Circuit […]
On Monday six current and former employees of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals filed a $100 million lawsuit in a New Jersey federal court, alleging that Bayer AG had discriminated against its women employees. The plaintiffs in the case stated that Bayer denied them equal opportunities for promotion, equal pay, and pregnancy leave. Katherine Kimpel, the women’s […]
Yesterday Senator David Sokola (D) introduced a civil union in the Delaware state Senate. The bill would allow 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 […]
The Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released its findings that the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) engaged in misconduct and violated the Constitution. Following an investigation dating back to May 2010, the DOJ found that members of the NOPD failed to properly investigate accusations of sexual assault and domestic violence. […]
US District Court Judge Deborah Chasanow issued an opinion stating that Montgomery County, MD can no longer require crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to post signs encouraging women who may be pregnant to seek the attention of a licensed medical practitioner. Judge Chasanow upheld the portion of the law stating that CPCs must display signs in […]
Judge Maryann Sumi of the Dane County Circuit Court in Madison issued a decision last Friday temporarily blocking an anti-union law stripping bargaining rights from public workers from going into effect in Wisconsin. Republican Governor Scott Walker signed the bill last week. However, Judge Sumi’s decision prohibits Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette from […]
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour signed a bill mandating that public school districts teach either abstinence-only or abstinence-plus sex education by June 30, 2012. In February 2010, The Mississippi state House passed a bill to allow “abstinence-plus” sex education to be offered in the state. The “abstinence-plus” curriculum focuses primarily on abstinence, but also includes information […]
Following the Senate vote to approve another short-term spending measure yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced that an amendment to defund Planned Parenthood will not be included in the Continuing resolution budget deal for 2011. Senator Reid cited a list of amendments in the House-approved Continuing Resolution to fund the federal government that […]
On Wednesday, the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee voted 7-2 to approve a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks, unless the woman’s life is endangered. The bill will go to the state Senate for a vote. Steven Olsen, the chief of the Idaho attorney general’s civil litigation division, stated that the bill is “unconstitutional under […]
On Tuesday, the Illinois Agriculture Committee voted 13-0 to approve a bill requiring abortion clinics to be retrofitted to comply with the standards for outpatient surgery centers. The bill, sponsored by Darlene Senger (R-Naperville), would require clinics to be equipped with defibrillators and ventilators and would impose new restrictions on hallway and parking lot dimensions. […]
Yesterday a bill passed 80-39 in the Florida House of Representatives that would end the tenure system for new teachers and base their job security and salaries on their students’ performance on achievement tests. The bill has already passed in the state Senate and will now go to Republican Governor Rick Scott to be signed. […]
Yesterday Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA) reintroduced the Repealing Ineffective and Incomplete Abstinence-Only Program Funding Act, which would transfer all funding for Title V abstinence-only program to the Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP). The would strike a provision of the Social Security Act that has enabled funding for abstinence-only programs since […]
Planned Parenthood announced that it would file a lawsuit against South Dakota if Governor Dennis Daugaard (R) signs an anti-abortion bill that would impose a 72 hour waiting period on women seeking abortions. The bill would also require women to receive counseling at a “pregnancy help center” or crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) prior to obtaining […]
A Virginia law requiring clinics that perform first trimester abortions to meet Board of Health regulations on hospitals will become effective just as Republican Governor Bob McDonnell’s six appointees assume positions on the 15 member board. After Governor McDonnell appoints the two additional members in the coming months, he will have appointed eight total members. […]
In Maryland, thousands of teachers and public workers gathered last night at the state Capitol in Annapolis to protest Governor Martin O’Malley’s (D) budget plan, which propose to freeze educational funding and raised employee pension contributions. The protestors chanted, “keep the promise” and “hands off our pensions.” At the conclusion of the rally, Governor O’Malley […]
On Friday, the Maryland House of Delegates referred the state’s same sex marriage bill back to committee. Since the Maryland General Assembly will end its session in early April, the bill will not be up for debate again until January 2012 at the earliest. Governor Martin O’Malley (D) expressed his disappointment about the stalled bill […]
In a vote of 14 to 3, the New Hampshire House Health, Human Services, and Elderly Affairs Committee voted late last week to hold a bill that would prevent the state’s Department of Health and Human Services from establishing a contract with any organization that provides abortion services, such as Planned Parenthood until. The bill […]
In an unusual maneuver, the Georgia Senate Rules Committee met to vote on SB 209, which would ban women from getting abortion in Georgia after 20 weeks, but without any discussion, replaced that bill with another bill that would prohibit women from getting an abortion in any medical facility other than a hospital. Pro-choice supporters […]
The Wisconsin Assembly voted 53-42, with only four Republicans voting against the bill, in favor of Republican Governor Walker’s extreme anti-union bill that proposes take away the right of unions to collectively bargain for benefits, hours, and working conditions. Governor Walker told the Associated Press that he would sign the anti-union bill, “as quickly as […]
