The Nevada state Senate passed a final version of a bill yesterday that gives domestic partners most of the rights and responsibilities afforded to married couples in the state. The legislation requires domestic partners to file paperwork with the secretary of state, prohibits discrimination against domestic partners, but does not require employers to provide domestic […]
The Supreme Court of Nepal ruled yesterday that the Nepalese government must enact legislation that guarantees women’s access to safe abortion services. The ruling requires the government to create a fund that will cover the costs of abortion services for poor women and to educate health providers and the public on the country’s abortion laws. […]
Judy Chu won the primary race for California’s 32nd Congressional district yesterday. With 89 percent of precincts reporting, Chu won 32 percent of the vote and was trailed by Democratic state Senator Gil Cedillo, who won 24 percent of the vote, reported the Associated Press. A run-off election will be held on July 14th between […]
The Los Angeles City Council voted Monday to approve funds to test the city’s enormous backlog of untested rape kits. Once the mayor approves the budget that authorizes these funds, up to 26 additional employees could be hired to process the kits and some testing could be outsourced to private labs, according to Human Rights […]
Washington Governor Chris Gregoire signed legislation that expands the rights and responsibilities of domestic partners under Washington state law Monday. The new law expands the state’s two-year-old domestic partnership statute, which provided about 160 rights and responsibilities of the approximately 400 granted to married couples. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 250 additional rights and […]
The Supreme Court ruled that maternity leave taken prior to the 1979 Pregnancy Discrimination Act does not have to be credited to pensions in a 7 to 2 decision issued Monday. Retiring Justice David Souter wrote the opinion (see PDF) and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer dissented. According to the Associated Press, the […]
A proposed constitutional amendment to the Tennessee state constitution that would void a 2000 state Supreme Court decision on abortion restrictions was approved by the state House in a 76 to 22 vote yesterday. According to Clarksville Online, the 2000 decision threw out restrictions on abortion including informed consent laws, a 48-hour waiting period prior […]
Iranian journalist Jila Baniyaghoob will receive this year’s International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism Award for her reporting on political and social oppression and her support of women’s rights and freedom of the press in Iran. Baniyaghoob currently works as a freelance reporter and editor-in-chief of the website Kanoon Zanan Irani (Focus on Iranian […]
Kuwait elected its first women lawmakers to seats in Parliament Saturday. Four women, including the country’s first woman cabinet member, former health minister Massouman Mubarak, won seats in an election where Sunni Islamists lost 8 of the 24 parliamentary seats they currently hold. The other women include Rola Dashti, a women’s rights activist, and professors […]
Dalia Grybauskaite was elected to be Lithuania’s first woman president yesterday in an overwhelming victory. According to Agence France Presse, with 99.46 percent of votes counted, Grybauskaite held an overwhelming 69.05 percent of the vote. Grybauskaite ran as an independent and is a former finance minister in Lithuania who currently serves as European Union budget […]
Randall Terry, the founder of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, is planning to “make a circus” out of President Obama’s Sunday commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. A small plane with a graphic banner of an aborted fetus and several trucks with similar images have been displayed above and around the campus […]
The Women’s Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, Kansas, was severely vandalized earlier this month. Dr. George Tiller, medical director, is one of the few late-term abortion providers in the country. According to the Associated Press, Dr. Tiller’s lawyer said that wires to security cameras and outdoor lights were cut and that the vandals also […]
The Oklahoma state House approved a bill known as the Statistical Reporting of Abortion Act on Wednesday in an 88 to 6 vote that bans sex-selective abortions and increases reporting requirements by doctors who perform the procedure. According to Tulsa World, the questionnaires would personally identify patients, list the source of funds for the procedure, […]
A lawsuit filed this week in a US District Court by the ACLU charges that patents of two genes associated with breast and ovarian cancer violate the first amendment and are invalid because genes are a “product of nature.” Myriad Genetics and the University of Utah Research Foundation currently hold patents on the BRCA1 and […]
The Missouri state Senate passed a bill this morning in a 25 to 7 vote that will expand restrictions on abortion access in the state. The bill would require women who are seeking an abortion to be informed of certain information in person 24 hours prior to the procedure, according to NPR. The required information […]
White House sources have confirmed a six-person short list of potential Supreme Court nominees being considered by President Obama to replace retiring Justice David Souter. According to the Associated Press, the short list includes five women: Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Governor Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, and US Appeals Court […]
The New York state Assembly voted 89 to 52 yesterday in favor of a bill that would legalize same sex marriage in the state. The same bill passed the state Assembly, but was defeated in the state Senate in 2007, according to CNN. The New York state Senate is currently ruled by a slim 32 […]
The United States was elected to a three year term on the UN Human Rights Council yesterday. The Council is currently midway through a review of human rights in each UN member state, according to the Washington Post. Susan Rice, US Ambassador to the United Nations said “We ran for the Human Rights Council because […]
A Quinnipiac University coach and student athletes testified yesterday while seeking a temporary injunction to prevent the school from eliminating the women’s volleyball team while their lawsuit against the school is in court. If the injunction is granted, a full trial will be held while the team continues during the 2009-2010 school year, reported CBS. […]
Opponents of same sex marriage have submitted a people’s veto application in Maine to repeal legislation that legalized same sex marriage in the state last week. The application was submitted just one day after Governor John Baldacci signed the law. The law is supposed to go into effect September 15. However, under Maine state law, […]
