A ballot measure that would ban unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children has been approved for the November ballot in Arkansas. The measure is aimed at banning gay and lesbian couples from being foster or adoptive parents, but would also apply to unmarried heterosexual couples. The measure states both that “a minor may not […]
Lilly Ledbetter addressed the Democratic National Convention Tuesday and spoke of the wage discrimination she experienced while an employee at Goodyear Tire Rubber Co. Ledbetter’s legal suit against Goodyear went to the Supreme Court (see PDF), where, in Ledbetter’s words, “in a 5-to-4 decision our highest court sided with big business. They said I should […]
The Supreme Court of Mexico is considering a challenge to a Mexico City law that legalized abortion in April 2007. The law allows abortion in the first trimester. According to the BBC there are about 200,000 illegal abortions annually in Mexico and at least 1,500 women die annually from complications. Outside of Mexico City, abortions […]
The constitutionality of a Massachusetts law that expanded buffer zones around abortion clinics to 35 feet has been upheld by a federal judge. Anti-abortion protesters had filed suit and argued that the law had forced them onto the streets and prevents freedom of speech. The law went into effect in November 2007 and expanded on […]
Today, Women’s Equality Day, is also the first day of the Democratic Women’s Caucus at the national convention in Denver. Women’s Caucus events will continue on Thursday. Among the prominent women slated to speak are Michelle Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), and Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of […]
The anti-affirmative action ballot measure scheduled to be on the November ballot in Arizona has been disqualified. After review by Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer and county recorders, the measure (see PDF) fell short of the 230,047 signatures needed to qualify. The measure would have banned affirmative action for women and people of color […]
Hans A von Spakovsky is a new special assistant to the US Commission on Civil Rights. The choice of von Spakovsky is controversial because of his questionable history on voting rights. Most notably, he pushed for the approval of a voter identification law in Georgia that “critics claimed made it difficult for poor people and […]
A lawsuit that challenges the language of the proposed gay marriage amendment in Arizona was filed Friday. Secretary of State Jan Brewer and Attorney General Terry Goddard disagree on the measure’s description. If passed, both agree that the measure would amend the Arizona State constitution and would define marriage as being between one man and […]
Women’s access to contraception and health care would be seriously threatened if draft regulations, released Wednesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, are enacted. The new regulations (see PDF) are justified in the draft with the following rationale: “Despite the fact that several conscience statutes protecting health care entities from discrimination have been […]
More than 150 clergy appealed in an open letter to Senator Barack Obama that he “fulfill the promise and the hopes [he] raised in the early months of [his] campaign.” The letter calls “toning down” Obama’s message and his moving to appeal to the center” a politically disastrous strategy.” The letter calls upon Obama to […]
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) decided Thursday that Senator David Vitter (R-LA) will be able to use campaign funds to pay part of his more than $200,000 in legal and public relations fees stemming from his alleged involvement with the DC Madam scandal. Vitter incurred fees as a result of his association with Deborah Jean […]
Congresswoman Tubbs Jones, a strong feminist and friend of the Feminist Majority has died of a brain aneurysm. We’re “shocked and saddened over the death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She was a strong supporter of the feminist movement, women candidates, and an inspiration for young women aspiring to political leadership positions,” said Eleanor Smeal, President […]
Planned Parenthood and MoveOn submitted a petition to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Wednesday seeking to prevent the approval of draft regulations that would falsely classify contraception as abortion. The petition has over 325,000 names, which were gathered in less than a week. It reads “Contraception is NOT abortion. The Bush Administration’s […]
A new challenge was filed Wednesday to reopen H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College by the founder’s great-great-great-niece, Susan Henderson Montgomery. While working to recover from Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University merged H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, one of the oldest degree-granting colleges for women in the US, with its six other undergraduate colleges. Montgomery, of Franklin, […]
EMILY’s List released a national study Wednesday that examines how “women of different generations view the presidential candidates, politics and life in general.” The study, entitled “From 18 to 80: Women on Politics and Society” (see PDF) focused on the views of four generational groups of women: Generation Y (Gen Y), Generation X (Gen X), […]
The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that doctors cannot withhold care from gay and lesbian patients on the basis of religious belief. The court ruled that “although religious liberty was protected by the constitution, this was not an excuse for unlawful discrimination against others,” according to BBC News. The ruling resulted from a lawsuit […]
The Women’s Rights Project of the ACLU and the National Women’s Law Center will file an amicus brief late in August. Their memorandum on this brief says: “In Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee, the Supreme Court will decide whether a plaintiff who brings a Title IX claim to remedy sex discrimination by a school district […]
A legal challenge of the proposed anti-affirmative action ballot initiative in Arizona was filed Monday. The challenge was filed by Protect Arizona’s Freedom, a coalition of community leaders, organizations, and volunteers. The lawsuit questions “the validity of over 100,000 signatures based on evidence of 13 categories of fraudulent and illegal signature-gathering tactics.” If the lawsuit […]
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, released Monday, found that mifepristone (also known as RU-486) has not received special treatment by US regulators, as some critics have suspected. Mifepristone is sold under the trade name Mifeprex and is a nonsurgical form of early abortion. Senator Michael Enzi (R-WY), Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Representative Roscoe […]
Anti-abortion groups in Indiana are pushing ordinances at the county level that would require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. Similar measures have stalled in the state legislature because they have passed the Senate, but not the House. Mike Fichter, president and chief executive of Indiana Right to Life said that that […]
