The Illinois Supreme Court announced yesterday that they will not hear an appeal related to a state law that requires parental notification 48 hours in advance for women 17 or younger obtaining an abortion. The law, which has never been implemented and has been stalled in the state since 1995, includes a judicial bypass and […]
The case of an unidentified prospective schoolteacher who was denied a job in China because he is HIV positive was the first case of HIV discrimination to be accepted in a Chinese court Monday. The suit alleges that Anquing city’s department of education violated a 2006 national regulation in China prohibiting employment discrimination against people […]
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a discrimination lawsuit against the Maricopa Community College District in Arizona on Monday. The suit is based off of an 18-month DOJ probe that revealed “a pattern or practice of discrimination” by Maricopa, which required approximately 250 job applicants that were not US citizens to present documentation, including green […]
A Missouri law that includes a number of new abortion restrictions was enacted Saturday. The legislation became law last month after Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) avoided signing the law by citing a provision in the Missouri constitution that allows a bill to become law without the governor’s signature, thereby avoiding a direct endorsement of […]
The bodies of five campaign workers who had been working for a woman parliament candidate in Afghanistan’s Herat province were found over the weekend. The workers had been campaigning for incumbent Fauzia Galani, who is one of the few women candidates in the upcoming September elections. According to the BBC, the murdered workers were part […]
Leading Polish activists held a civil hearing at the Polish parliament yesterday on the rising number of Polish women who are traveling abroad to obtain access to abortion. Doctors from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Britain who regularly treat Polish women also attended the meeting. A doctor’s written notice authorizing an abortion procedure is required […]
A Sri Lankan woman, LP Ariyawathie, who worked in Saudi Arabia as a maid for a private residence was tortured by her employers. She has had thirteen nails and five needles removed from her body. X-rays show there are at least 6 more nails in her body. Ariyawathie, who is a 49-year-old mother of three, […]
Ken Mehlman, the campaign manager for George W. Bush in 2004 and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has publicly come out as gay to his friends, family and colleagues. He is the highest profile Republican to ever do so, reports the Washington Post. “It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this […]
Wal-Mart has appealed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’s ruling that a class action gender discrimination lawsuit filed against Wal-Mart can move forward to trial. The case will now go to the U.S. Supreme Court. In April, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that more than one million current and former female employees of Wal-Mart can […]
As a result of a voter initiative passed Tuesday in Alaska’s primary election, women age 17 and under seeking an abortion in state of Alaska must have their parents notified prior to the procedure. The new law does not, however, require parental consent. If a parent does not consent to the abortion, there is a […]
A girls’ school in Kabul, Afghanistan was the target of a gas attack yesterday. The attack sickened 59 students and 14 teachers, reports CNN. Ruqia, a fifteen year old student at the school, said, “I smelled something very, very foul as I was sitting in my classroom. I saw my classmates falling down, my vision […]
A jury found ex-marine Cesar Laurean guilty of first degree murder yesterday in the 2007 death of his colleague, Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, who was eight months pregnant at the time. He was sentenced to life in prison. Lauterbach’s body was found buried in Laurean’s backyard. Prior to her death, Lauterbach had reported that Laurean, […]
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a legal opinion yesterday that empowers the Virginia Board of Health to require women’s health clinics that offer abortion procedures to meet hospital-like standards. The opinion was requested by state Senator Ralph Smith (R), according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Abortion providers in Virginia are currently regulated in the same […]
Rwandan and Congolese rebels reportedly gang-raped between 150 and 200 women and young boys during a raid of eastern villages in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month, humanitarian aids in the region say. Rebels allegedly entered the town of Ruvungi on July 30 and proceeded to pillage the town and systematically rape its […]
Imane Boudlal, a hostess in a Disneyland restaurant, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the theme park because its management allegedly did not allow her to wear a hijab at work. Boudlal decided to wear the hijab, a head scarf, in honor of Ramadan and wore it to work for the […]
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that he will not sacrifice women’s rights in any peace deal with the Taliban. In an interview, President Karzai discussed plans to negotiate peace with members of the Taliban who are willing to break ties with terrorist groups like al-Qaida, according to the Associated Press. Karzai reportedly said that […]
Bangladesh’s High Court ruled late last week that individuals can not be forced to wear religious attire, including the burqa, in workplaces, schools, or colleges. This ruling follows a recent report that Rani Bhabani Women’s College in northern Bangladesh has required that all women wear burqas, according to the Canadian Press. The school has also […]
A federal court yesterday ratified an agreement to block two provisions of a new Louisiana state ultrasound law. The Center for Reproductive Rights and six Louisiana abortion clinics filed a lawsuit challenging the law earlier this month. The agreement is between the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) and the Louisiana state Department of Health and […]
The California Nurses Association (CNA) is bringing a class-action lawsuit against California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC), and Sutter Health, CPMC’s overseeing company, for intentionally engaging in hiring discrimination against Filipina nurses. Three medical center employees submitted statements to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission claiming that between 2007 and 2009, they were instructed not to […]
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning announced yesterday that he will not attempt to defend the state’s new abortion screening law. Bruning has accepted a permanent federal injunction on enforcement of the law, which required women to submit to a full medical screening before seeking an abortion, according to the Associated Press. Brunings’s office announced that […]
