Events have been scheduled around the country to commemorate the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. For those living near the nation’s capital, please join the Feminist Majority Foundation for several events in the next few days. — National Organization for Women (NOW) Vigil at the Supreme Court Bring battery-operated candles (note: traditional candles are […]
A coalition of pro-reproductive rights groups, including the National Organization for Women (NOW), NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, Catholics for Choice and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, have joined to encourage the Maryland Health Care Commission to reject Holy Cross Hospital’s proposal to build a hospital in Montgomery County, Maryland. The coalition objected to […]
Yesterday the House voted 245 to 189 in favor of the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act that if it becomes law wills have particularly negative consequences for women. Three Democrats and 242 Republicans voted in support of the bill. The bill is unlikely to come up for a vote in the Senate, however, which has a […]
The House is scheduled to vote on the Patients’ Rights Repeal Act that if passed would have particularly negative consequences for women. The bill is unlikely to come up for a vote in the Senate, which has a Democratic majority. The Feminist Majority Foundation and other women’s rights groups, including the National Partnership for Women […]
Yesterday the US Supreme Court declined to hear a case filed by Bishop Harry Jackson, the National Organization for Marriage, and the Alliance Defense Fund challenging the District of Columbia’s law allowing same-sex couples to marry. The groups filed the lawsuit after the DC Board of Elections and Ethics refused a ballot measure allowing residents […]
The Military Leadership Diversity Commission announced plans to recommend that the Pentagon change its policies to allow women in combat. The Commission, established by Congress in 2009, is comprised of senior retired and active military officers. Members of the Commission stated that the report will be given to Congress and the White House by March. […]
On Wednesday, Nancy Pelosi handed over the speaker’s gavel to John Boehner, who is charged with leading the “Tea Party Congress” in their efforts to repeal health care reform, disband the Select Committee on Global Warming, defund Planned Parenthood and do a bunch of other things that people who have never held elected office think […]
Proposed regulations to the Credit Card Act, issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in November 2010 and may go into effect in 2011 have created a firestorm. Today Congresswomen Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), chief author of the Credit Card Act, and Louise Slaughter (D-NY), the principal proponent of the act’s provision […]
Zohre Elahian, a member of Iran’s parliament, stated yesterday that Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani’s hanging sentence had been commuted to a 10 year prison sentence. Ashtiani’s hanging was scheduled for early November, but as a result of massive international protest, her execution was suspended. In 2006, Ashtiani was convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to […]
Nasrin Sotoudeh, an Iranian Human Rights lawyer, received an 11 year prison sentence. Sotoudeh was arrested in September and went to trial on November 15 for allegedly acting against state security, assembling, and collusion with intent to disrupt national security. She was also charged for working with the Center for Human Rights Defenders, which was […]
The Military Leadership Diversity Commission announced plans to recommend that the Pentagon change its policies to allow women in combat. The Commission, established by Congress in 2009, is comprised of senior retired and active military officers. Members of the Commission stated that the report will be given to Congress and the White House by March. […]
Medical regulators for the state of Iowa announced yesterday that they will not punish a Planned Parenthood doctor for prescribing mifepristone, also known as RU-486 or the abortion pill, remotely through telemedicine. Last year, Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, filled a formal complaint with the Iowa State Board of Medicine arguing that the video method […]
Late last week, Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act in the House. If passed, the bill would amend Title X of the Public Health Services Act and ban any organization that performs abortions, except in cases or rape, incest, or if the woman’s life is endangered, from receiving family […]
A recent study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute indicates that the decline in abortion rate from 1990 to 2005 has leveled off. Guttmacher surveyed approximately 1,800 abortion providers and found that medical abortions, performed by giving the woman a combination of two medications by pill form, have increased. The study also showed abortions are occurring […]
For a while there it seemed as if most of the world had forgotten about Haiti (again). This week, by all indications from the news media, the ongoing tragedy has not been completely forgotten. Unfortunately, I can’t help but feel discouraged when nearly half of the people I speak to about Haiti are sure that […]
Yesterday, the Arizona State Legislature passed legislation to ban protestors from coming within 300 feet of the funeral services of the victims of the Tucson shootings. Governor Jan Brewer signed the bill that day. The bill was proposed in response to the Westboro Baptist Church’s announcement of its plans to picket the funeral of nine-year-old […]
A committee realignment will likely ensure that the marriage bill will finally move to the Senate floor for a vote. In the 2010 election, Democrats gained two Senate seats, which would facilitate the passage of the marriage bill this year. If the bill is passed by the state legislature, Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD) has publicly […]
A budding feminist and nine-year-old elementary school politician, Christina Taylor Green, was the youngest of six killed in the shooting that occurred at the “Congress on Your Corner” event sponsored by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) in Tucson, Arizona, on Saturday. Born on 9/11 and featured in a book entitled Faces of Hope: Babies Born on […]
Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour suspended Jamie and Gladys Scott’s life sentences on the condition that Gladys donates a kidney to her sister. Barbour cited the high cost of Jamie’s dialysis treatment, which totaled approximately $200,000 per year, in his announcement of the women’s release. The women left the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility on Friday after […]
Arizona Democrat Gabrielle Giffords is fighting for her life in a Tucson hospital after having been shot in the head by a gunman while she conducted a “Congress on Your Corner” event in front of a market. Although she was listed in very critical condition after surgery, Dr. Peter Rhee, medical director of the trauma […]
