Two Iranian women, Sakineh Ashtiani who currently faces an execution sentence, and Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is a human rights lawyer and colleague of Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi, are in danger in Iran. Ahtiani, who was sentenced to death by stoning after an adultery conviction, faces a possible execution by hanging, while Sotoudeh a prominent human […]
Flip Benham of Operation Rescue/Operation Save America, goes to trial today for stalking and distributing WANTED posters with the names, pictures, and home and office addresses North Carolina abortion doctors. Benham, who distributed the WANTED posters in the doctors’ neighborhoods and at their homes, is the first to be charged under a new North Carolina […]
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Congress to repeal the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy before the newly elected members take office next year. Nevertheless, Gates expressed doubt as to whether the repeal would occur this year. Aubrey Sarvis, Executive Director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network commented, “the Senate should call up […]
Operation Rescue/Operation Save America’s Philip “Flip” Benham was just found guilty of two charges of criminal stalking with intent to cause emotional distress and disruption of domestic tranquility for residential picketing. Benham and his associates were ordered to stay 300 feet or more from wherever the targeted doctor works and 1,000 from his residence. Benham […]
Pope Benedict XVI ardently expressed his anti-abortion stance and defended the traditional family structure during his visit to the Spanish pilgrimage site, Santiago de Compostela late last week. Pope Benedict denounced what he perceived to be Spain’s growing secularization and spoke out against its laws that permit gay marriage and access to abortions. Pope Benedict […]
The conservative Blue Dog Democratic caucus suffered massive losses – 48 percent of the Blue Dogs or 26 of its 54 public members, including two of its four co-chairs were defeated. Meanwhile, only five percent or four members of their much larger Progressive Democratic caucus lost their seats. The Progressive Caucus has a public membership […]
Justin Carl Moose pled guilty late last week to plotting to bomb a North Carolina abortion clinic. Moose was arrested in early September and charged with “providing information related to the making, use, or manufacture of an explosive,” as stated in his plea agreement. He faces up to 20 years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine. […]
Unquestionably, the biggest loss is the replacement of pro-choice, feminist Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and the pro-choice Democratic leadership team of Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), and Assistant to the Speaker Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). With a virulently anti-reproductive rights leadership team of John Boehner (R-OH), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Kevin […]
There will be at least 85 voting women members of the Congress in January 2011: at least 70 members of the House plus three nonvoting delegates and at least 15 senators. Four House races with women candidates are still too close to call as are two Senate races with women candidates (Senator Patty Murray and […]
In a strong victory for reproductive rights, the Colorado ballot initiative Amendment 62 was defeated by an overwhelming margin of 2-to-1 on Tuesday night. The measure (PDF) sought to amend the state constitution so that “the term ‘person’ [would] apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being.” […]
Last Thursday, a federal court in Eastern Washington sentenced Donald Hertz to be confined to his home for 180 days and receive five years probation for threatening Colorado abortion provider, Dr. Warren Hern, and his family, including his 92 year-old mother. The threats followed three weeks after the tragic May 31, 2009 murder of Kansas […]
A hearing has been set for May for the lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of Montana against the state of Montana over its denial of birth control for teenage girls who are insured by the state’s low-income health insurance program for minors, Healthy Montana Kids. The Associated Press reports that girls insured by Healthy Montana […]
On Monday, a federal appeals court three judge panel ruled two to one that the US military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy will stand indefinitely until the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) appeals process concludes. CNN reports that the ruling, issued by the Ninth District Court of Appeals, granted the DOJ’s request that the court […]
As we close the midterm election season, public opinion polling in close races shows significant gender gaps–“the measurable difference in the way women and men vote for (or favor) candidates and in the way they view political issues” (see Eleanor Smeal, Why and How Women Will Elect the Next President). For example, the L.A. Times […]
On Sunday, Dilma Rousseff of the Worker’s Party defeated Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party by a wide margin and became Brazil’s first woman president. Although she has never held elective office before, Rousseff, an economist, was strongly backed by Brazil’s highly popular current President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. She formerly served as […]
In Arkansas, Midland School District Vice President and state board member Clint McCance, who wrote on his personal Facebook page that he encourages gays to commit suicide, announced his resignation yesterday. He also promised to disown his children if they were gay, and said that he enjoys “the fact that [gay people] often give each […]
David Bahati, a member of the Ugandan Parliament and one of the principle leaders of the Family or Fellowship of C Street fame (see Jeff Sharlet’s latest book on C Street), stated yesterday that a bill, which would impose life sentences or the death penalty for gay people, will become law in the near future. […]
Yesterday, US District Judge Glen Davidson ordered Itawamba County school district in Mississippi to cover the legal fees and expenses of Constance McMillen, who filed a lawsuit after she was banned from taking her girlfriend to prom and from wearing a tuxedo. According to the New York Times, the legal fees amounted to $81,000. In […]
On Tuesday, Hinds County Judge Malcolm Harrison ruled against the ACLU and Planned Parenthood in a case that sought to remove a “Personhood Amendment,” an anti-abortion initiative, from ballots next year in Mississippi. The measure “would amend the Mississippi Constitution to define the word ‘person’ or ‘persons’, as those terms are used in Article III […]
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a ruling stating that breast pumps and other breastfeeding supplies are not subject to the tax breaks offered for other medical expenses. However, the IRS will not recognize the cost of breastfeeding supplies to be eligible for these tax breaks, despite the fact that costs for products such as […]
