Papers released on Thursday by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library show that John Roberts, President Bush’s nominee for the Supreme Court, was hostile to measures designed to protect and expand women’s rights. For example, Roberts called state measures to reduce sex discrimination in the workplace “highly objectionable,” including a proposal to require women to be […]
In a challenge to a 1972 abortion law in South Dakota, Planned Parenthood has now reached a settlement with the state, allowing abortions to be performed outside a hospital setting after 12 weeks of pregnancy. The 1972 laws made it a felony to perform an outpatient abortion after 12 weeks of a pregnancy, and Planned […]
The Pennsylvania State Police has announced that Cynthia Transue, who was removed from her position as deputy commissioner in June, has a new position as deputy for special projects. Transue will have an increase in pay, and is set to retire at the end of the year with a pension equal to what she would […]
Nearly 600 Afghan women are running for office in the country’s first legislative elections since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. In an important step forward for women in Afghanistan, the constitution approved last year reserved 25 percent of the lower parliamentary seats for women, with a similar percentage of seats reserved in the […]
A memo just released by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library sheds more light onto John Roberts’ views on abortion rights. In the memo, Roberts wrote that a memorial service for aborted fetuses was “an entirely appropriate means of calling attention to the abortion tragedy,” according to the Washington Post. This latest memo is consistent with […]
Illinois Governor Blagojevich’s (D) emergency rule issued in April requiring pharmacists in Illinois to fill contraceptive prescriptions immediately and without delay will shortly become state law. Yesterday, the Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules approved making Gov. Blagojevich’s temporary rule permanent. The rule states that any pharmacy selling FDA-approved contraceptives, including emergency contraception, must fill […]
DKT International, a nonprofit organization that works to prevent HIV/AIDS worldwide, has sued the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for its retraction of a grant when DKT refused to sign a pledge opposing sex work. In June, DKT applied for a $60,000 subgrant to market condom lubricants in Vietnam. The grant was initially approved, […]
Supreme Court justice nominee John Roberts wrote in strong opposition to a Washington state judge’s effort to address pay equity during his work as associate White House counsel to the Reagan administration. Yesterday, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library released more than 5,000 pages of records from Roberts’ years of service early in the Reagan administration. […]
New data from the Census Bureau shows that women and minority groups are increasing their business ownership at a higher rate than the general population. The number of US business increased by only 10 percent overall from 1997 to 2002, when the Census Bureau conducted its Survey of Business Owners. However, business owned by women […]
Cindy Sheehan, activist and founder of the antiwar organization Gold Star Families for Peace, along with a growing crowd of supporters, has held a vigil outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas for over a week. Sheehan has vowed to continue the protest until President Bush agrees to meet with her to talk about her […]
In rural areas of Iraq, female genital mutilation (FGM) may be far more widespread than previously thought. WADI, a German NGO, conducted a study of over 1,500 women in a Kurdish region known as Germian, and found that 60 percent of these women reported having undergone FGM. In the absence of statistics, estimates had ranged […]
Citing the increasingly anti-contraception climate in Wisconsin, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin has asked the three gubernatorial candidates to state their position on contraception. So far, only current Democratic Governor Jim Doyle has voiced his support for contraceptive access. In the letter to candidates, NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin executive director Kelda Helen Roys writes “Birth control is basic […]
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has declared a state of ‘acute emergency’ for women and children in Afghanistan due to unacceptably high maternal and child mortality rates. UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia Cecilia Lotse said that among children, girls in particular are “very vulnerable,” with one in five children dieing before the age […]
Recent reports on the draft Iraqi constitution raised serious that women’s rights would be severely limited if the draft was not changed prior to its scheduled adoption on August 15. The release of the draft document has proven that the concerns were justified. The draft document includes provisions that would so drastically limit women’s rights […]
In a speech at Golden Gate School of Law in San Francisco yesterday, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) laid out her concerns about John Roberts’ record and views on fundamental issues, including Title IX, the right to privacy, and protections against clinic violence. “[Roberts’] views are not just of interest to me, but they are of […]
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has gone ahead with its highly contested plan to discontinue the collection and publication of data on women workers as of August 5, 2005. BLS discontinued its Women Workers Series as part of what it calls “planned improvements” to its Current Employment Statistics survey, citing a so-called “reporting burden” […]
An unidentified Afghan woman was killed in her home in the southern district of Zabul by Taliban militants yesterday. A spokesperson for the Taliban said that the woman was “a spy for the Americans,” according to Reuters. According to BBC News, after shooting the woman, the assassins abducted her brother and her father. The Taliban […]
As part of a major national campaign to legalize abortion in Ireland, the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) is backing the petition of three Irish women to the European Court of Human Rights. With IFPA’s support, the three women are arguing that Ireland’s abortion ban violates four articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, […]
Leading women’s groups, including the Feminist Majority, held a press conference at the US Capitol today on John Roberts’ role in a clinic violence case in the early 1990s, when Roberts was deputy solicitor general under the first Bush Administration. The case, Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, involved Operation Rescue-led blockades of clinics in […]
Despite the lack of an exception to protect a young woman’s health, the Bush administration advised the Supreme Court yesterday to rule in favor of a New Hampshire law requiring physicians to notify at least one of a minor’s parents 48 hours before performing an abortion. This marks the first time that the Bush administration […]
