Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families, just announced, as of November 5, the National Partnership will become the publisher of the Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, currently published the Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser will then include women’s health issues in its Daily Health Policy Report. To sign up for the […]
Not only are President George W Bush’s nominees to the federal bench driving the court backwards on civil rights and women’s rights issues ideologically but an examination of his judicial nominations by race and class reveals that significantly fewer women and African Americans are being named. In fact, the percentage of African Americans named by […]
The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday blocked a grand jury investigation of Dr. George Tiller and his Wichita clinic. The grand jury investigation was the result of a citizen petition circulated by anti-abortion extremist groups. Chief Justice Kay McFarland ordered the proceedings delayed until the Kansas Supreme Court decides if the panel should convene in […]
Pope Benedict XVI on Monday urged a conference of Catholic pharmacists to avoid dispensing emergency contraception or euthanasia drugs by being conscientious objectors. He went on to tell the attendees that they should inform patients of the ethical implications of using such drugs, reports the Associated Press. The pharmacists were in the Vatican for the […]
Argentine President-elect Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s impressive victory in the recent election can be largely attributed to her and her husband”s, current President Nestor Kirchner, economic policies. According to Jocelyn Olcott, a Professor of Latin American history at Duke University, on DemocracyNOW!, they stood up to the IMF and the World Bank and rejected their […]
Tens of thousands of peace activists took part in marches across the country on Saturday, marking the fifth anniversary of the Senate’s vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq. The ‘National Day of Action’ was sponsored by the United for Peace and Justice coalition. Demonstrations took place in at least 11 cities, including New York, […]
Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri (PPKM) filed a second lawsuit last week against a Missouri law that would classify more reproductive heath clinics as outpatient surgery centers, subjecting them to state health department oversight and requiring costly renovations to their facilities. For example, the law would require hallways at the facilities to be at […]
Argentine first lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner made history this weekend as the first female elected President of Argentina. She is the second woman to be elected president in South America in the last two years, after Michelle Bachelet of Chile. Fernandez de Kirchner was a prominent senator even before her husband, Nestor Kirchner, was […]
The Pelosi House of Representatives made history this week as it conducted its 1,000th roll call vote of the year. Never before in the history of recorded House votes has the House of Representatives moved at this pace, reports the Washington Post. The previous record was held by the 1978 House, which held 942 votes. […]
Anti-abortion groups are urging Congress to suspend Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. In a letter to all members of Congress, the groups call for suspension of the funds until the legal action against Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri is resolved. Prospects for this are dim in the Democratically-controlled Congress. The charges against the Kansas and […]
National Right to Life Committee, the well-known anti-abortion rights group, is under fire from anti-abortion Democrats in Congress for refusing to support the State Children’s Health Insurance Program expansion bill. The new version of the bill passed in the House on Thursday with a vote of 265-142. The bill is a re-worked version of the […]
A new study released by the American Psychological Association (APA) shows that stress is increasing all over America, and in women especially. The study shows that more women (35 percent) report feeling extreme stress than men (28 percent). More women also experience the physical symptoms of stress: 82 percent of women and only 71 percent […]
A Congressional hearing on the Global Gag Rule has been rescheduled for October 31. The hearing, titled The Mexico City Policy/Global Gag Rule: It’s Impact on Family Planning and Reproductive Health, will be held by the full House Foreign Affairs Committee. Witnesses at the hearing will include Joana Nerquaye-Tetteh, Ph.D., former Executive Director of the […]
The Orange County, California Catholic diocese will settle 4 alleged sexual abuse cases for almost $6.7 million. The cases, settled earlier this month, involved lay employees of parish high schools, an assistant basketball coach, a teacher and two choir director, and high school girls. The alleged abuse occurred between 1990 and 1999. Officials report that […]
A Senate attempt to filibuster the confirmation of Judge Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit of the Federal Court of Appeals failed this morning, with a vote of 62-35. The Congressional Black Caucus, led by Representative Carolyn C. Kilpatrick (D-MI), together with leading civil rights, women’s rights, and gay and lesbian rights groups held a […]
Rep Henry Waxman, D-CA, chair of the House oversight committee, asserted Blackwater USA may have violated US tax laws and possibly defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars. Waxman is leading the congressional investigations into Blackwater, the US security company that has come under fire recently for its guards’ actions in Iraq, most notably […]
Seaman Anamarie Sannicolas Camacho, 20, and Seaman Genesia Mattril Gresham, 19, were shot and killed October 22 in the barracks of the American military base in Bahrain. The alleged shooter, a male US Navy sailor, is still in critical condition, suffering from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Allegations of sexual assault at the US Naval […]
A new Chicago report released this week offers concrete proposals to address the breast cancer mortality disparity between African American and white women. The Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force, which consists of more than 100 medical professionals and breast cancer experts, was formed in response to a study which concluded that the city’s African-American […]
The Women Deliver conference on global maternal mortality in London has just concluded. The conference called for increased funding and political commitment to decreasing maternal mortality. A consensus “three pillars” were deemed essential for saving the lives of mothers and their newborns: comprehensive reproductive health services, skilled prenatal and obstetric care, and availability of emergency […]
The Senate has blocked a spending bill amendment that would have cut off Title X funding for US family planning to clinics that provide abortions, despite the abortions being funded by non-federal monies. Such a move would have been tantamount to applying the global gag rule within the US, and could have seriously impacted the […]
