The Obama administration will sign the UN Declaration on Gay Rights that the Bush administration opposed in 2008. The declaration is a “resolution for a universal decriminalization of homosexuality” that calls for the UN Human Rights Council “to request a universal abolition of the so-called ‘crime of homosexuality’, of all ‘sodomy laws’, and laws against […]
A bill to authorize federal funding for comprehensive, medically accurate sex education programs was introduced yesterday by Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA). The bill, the Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, would create a grant program for comprehensive sex education programs that would provide medically accurate, age appropriate information about both […]
The Vatican is now defending comments made by Pope Benedict XVI indicating that condoms “increase the problem” of AIDS. After arriving in Yaounde, Cameroon, Pope Benedict reportedly said “You can’t overcome this problem of AIDS with just money. It helps, but if there is no soul, the money cannot help. You cannot overcome it just […]
Former US Representative Marilyn Musgrave will be the new program director of a campaign that will target pro-choice congressional incumbents in the 2010 election cycle. The program, called “Votes Have Consequences,” is part of the Susan B. Anthony List, which aims to elect anti-choice women to Congress. Musgrave was unseated in 2008 largely as a […]
Legislative hearings on a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Vermont began this week. Vermont currently allows civil unions, but the current bill would expand benefits offered to same-sex couples. Former state Representative Republican Tom Shelburne, who chaired the House Judiciary Committee in 2000, testified that “The question before this committee is if Act […]
Khamisa Sawadi was convicted last week in Saudi Arabia of fraternizing with men who are not within her immediate family and has been sentenced to 4 months in prison, 40 lashes, and deportation. The men reportedly brought bread to Sawadi, 75. According to the Arab News, one of the men, who was also sentenced to […]
Jury selection in the criminal trial of Dr George Tiller of Wichita, Kansas, begins today. Dr. Tiller faces 19 misdemeanor charges for allegedly violating a state law requiring an “independent” second physician’s concurring opinion before performing later term abortions. Tiller is one of the few late-term abortion providers in the US that serves women with […]
President Obama announced Saturday Dr Margaret Hamburg, New York City’s former health commissioner, as his choice for Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore’s current health commissioner was named Deputy Commissioner Saturday. In a statement, Michael Jacobson, Executive Director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that Hamburg “has […]
Jinus Sobhani, an employee of women’s rights activist Shirin Ebadi, was released last week from prison in Iran after being held in solitary confinement for nearly two months. She had been denied the right to speak with attorneys or her family while confined and was finally released on €60,000 bail. Sobhani worked as a secretary […]
Michael Steele, the new Chairman of the National Republican Committee, is now drawing criticism from anti-choice forces and members of his own party after he called abortion an “individual choice” in an interview with GQ magazine. In the interview, Steele said “The choice issue cuts two ways. You can choose life, or you can choose […]
A poll released this week found that registered voters in California remain sharply divided on a constitutional amendment that would allow same-sex marriage in the state. According to the Associated Press, the poll found that 47 percent favor keeping the ban imposed by Proposition 8 in place, 48 percent support repealing the ban, and 5 […]
A team of all-female marines who are part of the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force in Afghanistan has conducted their first mission. The team mirrors similar operations in Iraq and was formed because it is culturally taboo for male marines to interact with Afghan women. The team’s leader, 2nd Lieutenant Johanna Shaffer, said […]
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted regulatory approval to a second generation female condom (FC2) after preliminary unanimous approval by a FDA panel late last year. The device is cheaper than existing female condoms, is easier to produce, and uses a soft new material. Serra Sippel, Executive Director of the Center for Health […]
Barbara Liskov, the first woman to earn a PhD in Computer Science in the United States, was named this week as a recipient of the Turing Award. Liskov is the second woman to win the award, which is one of the highest honors in computing and technology. Dr. Dame Wendy Hall, President of the Association […]
President Obama signed the 2009 fiscal year omnibus spending bill yesterday, which included a provision allotting $50 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). In the first days of his term, Obama pledged to restore US funding to UNFPA in upcoming appropriations. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said in a press release that […]
President Obama announced today the formation of a White House Council on Women and Girls. Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal attended the announcement, where the President signed an executive order creating the office. “The mission of the Council will be to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and […]
The Senate passed the 2009 fiscal year omnibus spending bill yesterday with a provision that will restore contraceptive pricing laws that drastically lower birth control prices on college campuses and community clinics. Since 2006, prices for birth control have skyrocketed as high as $50/month at clinics and college health centers as a consequence of the […]
Afghan student and journalist Parwez Kambakhsh’s sentence of 20 years in prison for blasphemy after he circulated an article about women’s rights under Islam was recently upheld by Afghanistan’s Supreme Court. According to the Human Rights Watch, the court made the decision to uphold the sentence on February 11, 2009, but did not allow Kambakhsh’s […]
The Australian government announced a decision yesterday to repeal a foreign aid ban that mirrored the Global Gag rule in the US. Australia’s current policy dates to 1996 and prohibits “any overseas development funding from being used for activities which involve the termination of a pregnancy,” according to Foreign Minister Stephen Smith. In a statement, […]
A senior Vatican cleric defended the Catholic Church of Brazil’s plans to excommunicate those who aided a child pregnant as a result of rape. According to the BBC, the church plans to excommunicate the girl’s mother and several doctors who helped to secure a medically necessary abortion for the girl, who is 9 years old […]
