In an effort to combat either organized or accidental voter suppression in tomorrow’s election, nonpartisan voter protection organizations such as the Election Protection coalition have launched nationwide projects aimed at ensuring all voters arrive informed and prepared for any problems they might encounter at the polls. Representatives of voter protection organizations are trained to help […]
A report issued on October 27 by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that some recipients of grants from the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Initiative–run by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)–have used the funds impermissibly for abstinence-only education. “HHS officials told us that abstinence education was not allowable under the Healthy […]
New evidence has emerged today that women pay much more than men of the same age for individual insurance policies providing identical coverage. A reporter at The New York Times looked at premiums charged by major providers such as Humana, UnitedHealth and Aetna and found discrepancies of up to 49 percent in the amounts asked […]
The 4th U.S. Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case concerning Virginia’s 2003 ban on the intact dilation-and-extraction procedure used for late-term abortions. A three-judge panel of the court has twice struck down the ban, but Virginia’s anti-choice attorney general, Bob McDonnell, asked the full appellate court to rehear the case. The […]
Although Tzipi Livni announced on Sunday that efforts to form a new government in Israel had failed, new polls published Tuesday show that her Kadima party should triumph over its chief rival Likud in forthcoming elections, thus allowing Livni to become only the second woman prime minister of the country. Currently the foreign minister, Livni […]
A week after a city controller’s audit showed a backlog of 7,038 “rape kits” awaiting testing, the mayor and police chief of Los Angeles announced plans to increase staffing and funding to analyze the stored evidence. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, under the plan the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) would provide $700,000 […]
A new study presented yesterday to the American Public Health Association has found that one in seven women military veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts seeking Veterans’ Administration (VA) medical care report having experienced sexual trauma during their service. Researchers at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System’s National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder […]
In polling released this weekend by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, a measure to ban abortion in South Dakota is currently running dead even. Forty-four percent of 800 registered voters surveyed said they would vote Yes on Initiated Measure 11, and an equal number said they would vote No. Twelve percent remain undecided. Jan Nicolay […]
In an unprecedented ruling, an Egyptian man, Sharif Gommaa, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in jail with hard labor for sexually harassing and groping a woman in the streets of Cairo. The Middle East Times reports that Noha Rushdi Saleh, the 27-year-old victim and a well-known film director, will also receive 5,001 Egyptian pounds […]
The Bureau of Prisons recently announced a policy change that bans shackling of pregnant federal prison inmates except in extreme circumstances. According to the ACLU’s Blog of Rights. Past policy allowed for shackling pregnant women during labor and delivery, a practice that poses significant health risks to pregnant inmates. The new policy applies only to […]
A pharmacy in Chantilly, Virginia has become the seventh pharmacy to be officially certified ‘birth control-free’ by anti-choice group Pharmacists for Life International, as reported by the Associated Press. The Divine Mercy Care pharmacy will no longer stock any form of contraception, including morning-after pills, condoms and birth control pills. Pro-choice groups have expressed their […]
A new poll by the Public Policy Institute of California has found that opposition to the state’s Proposition 4 on the November ballot-which would require parental notification before young women under 18 could get abortions-is growing, but the No on 4 campaign still lags behind. The current numbers are 46 percent of voters in favor, […]
Tzipi Livni, who narrowly won the race for leadership of Israel’s Kadima party a month ago, has been granted a two-week extension, until November 3, to form a new coalition government in which she would serve as Prime Minister. She needs to find support for her coalition from 61 members of the 120-member Knesset, Israel’s […]
Recent polling for The Denver Post shows that 48 percent of Colorado’s citizens plan to vote No on Amendment 48, a November ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to define a fertilized, unimplanted human egg as a full person with all civil rights. Thirty percent of the electorate supports it, and 22 percent […]
Afghan student Parwez Kambakhsh has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for blasphemy, having circulated an article about women’s rights under Islam, reports the Los Angeles Times. Kambakhsh, 24, who also worked as a part-time newspaper journalist in Mazar-i-Sharif, had downloaded the article from the Internet. Originally sentenced to death for his “crime,” an […]
The draft of an audit report from the Los Angeles city controller’s office has revealed disturbing statistics about the handling of sexual assault investigations by the city’s police department. As of September 4, 2008, the city had a backlog of 7,038 “rape kits” waiting in freezers for analysis, according to the audit. Rape kits contain […]
Two weeks ago, opponents of Proposition 8 in California-which would reverse the recent state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage-were concerned over a slippage in the polls. Since then, intensified fundraising, high-profile donations and a barrage of television ads have improved the “No on 8” numbers somewhat, according to a recent poll by SurveyUSA. According […]
Kansas Attorney General Steve Six said in a statement last week that the mishandling of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller’s case should not result in the dismissal of the charges against him. According to the Associated Press, Six criticized the investigation of Tiller by former Attorney General Phil Kline but said the charges against Tiller […]
Esha Momeni was arrested in Tehran last week for reportedly conducting unauthorized video interviews with Iranian women activists. According to Feministing.com, Momeni, a Cal State Northridge master’s student who is a member of the One Million Signatures Campaign is currently detained at Evin prison. The campaign was initiated by Iranian women’s rights activists who seek […]
Saturday the American Civil Liberties Union elected Brooklyn Law School professor and constitutional law scholar Susan Herman to be its president. Herman has served on the ACLU’s National Board for 20 years, including on its Executive Committee and its General Counsel, according to an ACLU press release. “I’m deeply honored to have the privilege of […]
