A bill was introduced in the South Dakota state legislature Tuesday that would require mandatory consultation between a woman seeking an abortion and the doctor who would perform the procedure a day prior to the procedure. Republican Representative Roger Hunt, who supports the bill, told the Aberdeen News that “It only seems reasonable to assure […]
Two anti-choice bills were passed by the House Health and Human Services Committee in the Utah state House last week. According to the Associated Press, the first bill would restrict abortions after 20 weeks only to cases where the life or health of the mother would be compromised or in cases where there is a […]
In Iraq’s provincial elections held Saturday, 4,000 women were candidates and, as a result of an electoral quota system, women are guaranteed to win at least one third of the open seats. In a recent International Crisis Group report (see PDF) the quota system in place is described as requiring parties “to give every third […]
US Attorney Thomas P O’Brien has launched a federal investigation into the way the Los Angeles archdiocese, led by Cardinal Roger M Mahony, dealt with priests accused of sexual abuse. A federal grand jury will determine if some church leaders, including Mahony, violated federal law by inadequately responding to abusive priests and simply reassigning them […]
Johanna Sigurdardottir, Iceland’s new interim prime minister and the first woman or openly gay person in this position, was officially appointed yesterday by Icelandic President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson. Sigurdardottir served as the welfare minister under former Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who resigned last week as a result of Iceland’s economic collapse. Sigurdardottir is currently the […]
Female genital mutilation (FGM), partial or total removal of external genitalia, continues to be practiced illegally throughout Africa. FGM is practiced as a rite of passage in 28 African countries. Approximately 3 million young women annually are forced to undergo FGM as an initiation into womanhood. Liberian government health worker Mary Mah told IRIN that […]
A proposed bill in the South Carolina state legislature would require women to wait for 24 hours after viewing an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. The legislation was approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee and will now move to the South Carolina state House Judiciary Committee. Currently, South Carolina requires a one hour waiting […]
A new study shows that the 2008 presidential election resulted in an increased interest in political and civic participation among American youth. The study, conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute (GSRI), collected 3,284 online interviews from young people aged 13 to 17. According to the study, girls’ confidence levels spiked as a result of […]
The Senate approved a bill to expand and reauthorize the Children’s Health Insurance Program in a 66 to 32 vote yesterday. President Obama plans to sign the legislation. The current bill is similar to legislation that had been vetoed by President Bush twice, according to the New York Times. The House of Representatives passed the […]
The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed this morning by President Obama and is the first bill he has signed while in office. The House passed the final version of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (H.R. 11) in a 250-177 vote Tuesday after the Senate passed the Act (S. 181) by […]
The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against California State legislators Tuesday that charges that insurers who use the practice of gender rating are discriminating based on sex. Gender rating allows insurance companies to charge different premiums to women than to men. Earlier this month, San Francisco attorney Dennis Herrera notified California Attorney General […]
The 4th District Court of Appeals ruled that a private California high school legally expelled two students in 2005 based on suspicions that the students were lesbians. Kirk Hanson, the students’ attorney, told the San Francisco Chronicle that his clients may consider a Supreme Court appeal on the ruling (see PDF). The ruling argues that […]
The House passed the final version of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (H.R. 11) in a 250-177 vote yesterday. The Senate also passed by a strong majority the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 (S. 181) last week after defeating a series of Republican hostile amendments. President Obama is expected to […]
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that employers cannot fire workers in retaliation for cooperating in investigations of sexual harassment under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The case, Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (see PDF), involved Vicky Crawford, an employee who had worked for a Tennessee school system […]
Wyoming state legislators voted against a bill Wednesday that would have extended the definition of homicide victims to include “unborn children” in the state. The bill (see PDF), entitled the “Unborn Victims of Violence Act”, is viewed as potentially undermining abortion rights by critics and as expanding protections of victims of violent crime by supporters. […]
A newly released study finds that cesarean sections are linked to increased childbirth complications. The study, published in the current issue of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, compared births in 1998-99 and 2004-05 and found that, with an increase in C-sections, the need for blood transfusions leaped ninety percent and pulmonary embolisms increased fifty […]
A provision in the proposed economic stimulus package that would expand family planning coverage under Medicaid has drawn harsh criticism from Republicans and may be removed from the proposed stimulus package as early as today. President Barack Obama has reportedly told congressional Democrats to remove the provision and may offer this move as a concession […]
President Obama pledged on Friday to restore United States funding to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in upcoming appropriations. Bush-era withholding of UNFPA monies that had been authorized by Congress accounted for 13 percent of the total funding of UNFPA yearly for programs that improve access and quality of reproductive health care including family […]
New York Governor David Patterson appointed Representative Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) to replace Hillary Clinton in the US Senate on Friday. Gillibrand supports abortion rights, stem cell research, and co-sponsored the Healthy Kids Act (H.R. 2147) which aims to provide health insurance for every child in the US. In the past, Gillibrand consistently leaned to the […]
A new report published this month by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) indicates that teen pregnancy rates are rising. The CDC, reported significant increases in the teen pregnancy rate in 26 states in 2006, ending a 15 year decline in teen pregnancy statistics. Regionally, the northeast has the lowest and the south and southwest […]
