Ashley Judd, a well-known actor and feminist activist, testified at a recent Congressional hearing on the urgent need to address issues of gender equality in the fight against HIV/AIDS in developing countries. At a hearing primarily focused on the potential for developing an AIDS vaccine, Judd spoke on behalf of young women and girls, bringing […]
The US House of Representatives voted 284-140 yesterday to reject a proposed $100 million cut to federal funding for public television and radio stations, with 80 Republicans voting against the cut. However, a $100 million cut to separate public broadcasting programs, including the very popular PBS children’s shows, was left intact in the bill, according […]
An Afghan girls school was attacked yesterday in the Logar province, the most recent in a series of attacks on girls’ education in Afghanistan. Armed men tied up two school guards and set the Padkhwai Raghani School building and two tents on fire. Local men are being questioned, but authorities do not yet know who […]
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has just been appointed by South African President Thabo Mbeki to be South Africa’s first female deputy president, the highest political position held by a woman in the country’s history. Mbeki said that this is “an opportunity further to strengthen the participation of women in the executive” branch, according to the BBC. President […]
Both houses of New York’s state legislature have approved a bill that would make emergency contraception (EC) available without a prescription. The bill, which now heads to Governor George Pataki (R) for a signature, would allow pharmacists, nurses, and midwives to dispense EC after receiving a blanket prescription from a physician for any customer, according […]
Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) introduced legislation in the Senate and House yesterday to increase funding for uterine fibroid research and to begin an educational campaign for women and their doctors. The Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act would authorize $30 million in research funding for the National Institutes of […]
Security concerns on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border have resulted in the closing of 16 Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan over the past two weeks. These closings will affect over 110,000 Afghan refugees, the overwhelming majority of whom are women and children. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reports that they have returned over 2.4 million […]
The American Medical Association (AMA)’s policy-making House of Delegates passed a resolution on Monday in support of requiring pharmacists to fill prescriptions. The resolution states that pharmacists should either be required to dispense prescription medications without delay or to make an immediate referral to another pharmacy, reports the Chicago Tribune. Further, the AMA will back […]
Young women may soon have to wait five days or more before obtaining contraceptives, so that their parents can be notified. On Tuesday, a bill known as the “Parents Right to Know Act” was introduced in both the US Senate and House of Representatives (S 1279, HR 3011). This legislation would require clinics receiving federal […]
At a speech at the American University in Cairo, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice endorsed women’s rights in the Middle East but said the United States had “some boundaries about what it is we are trying to achieve”. These boundaries include activities that Rice said might be tied to a society’s “custom” or “tradition.” Answering […]
The US House of Representatives will vote as early as tomorrow on legislation that would cut federal funding to public broadcasting by 46 percent. This would entail a $100 million cut to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a nonprofit that distributes government funds to individual PBS and NPR stations. According to the Los Angeles […]
A study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reveals high levels of sexual and physical violence committed against women and girls in the Pabbo camp for internally displaced persons (IDP), Uganda’s largest war refugee camp. The study, “Suffering in Silence: A Study of Sexual and Gender Based Violence,” found that 60 percent of women […]
Kuwait’s first woman cabinet minister, Massouma al-Mubarak, officially took office on Monday despite protests from conservative and Islamic Members of Parliament (MPs). Her swearing-in ceremony was met with loud dissent from opposition MPs and cheers from supporters. Al-Mubanak begins her role as minister of planning and administrative development just over a month after Kuwaiti women […]
The Wisconsin Assembly approved a bill (AB 343) last week that if signed into law would prohibit health centers in the University of Wisconsin System from advertising, prescribing, or dispensing emergency contraception (EC). According to Wisconsin Attorney General Peggy A. Lautenschlager, the language of the bill is so vague that it could also be interpreted […]
Fourteen years after first being nominated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, controversial US District Court Judge Terrence Boyle will face a vote on the Senate floor. Boyle was first nominated by President George H. W. Bush in 1991, but Democrats blocked the nomination, setting off a chain of events in which former Senator […]
New Hampshire Governor John Lynch (D) signed a bill (SB 30) yesterday to make emergency contraception (EC) available to women without a prescription. Known as behind-the-counter access, this law will allow pharmacists to write prescriptions for EC on a voluntary basis after receiving training provided by the state Board of Pharmacy, reports the Kaiser Network. […]
Human Rights Watch (HRW) released an 85-page report yesterday documenting how health professionals and judges severely restrict women’s ability to make family planning decisions in Argentina. The report, entitled “Decisions Denied: Women’s Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina,” calls this lack of reproductive choice an abuse of internationally recognized human rights laws. Although abortion […]
Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Jon Corzine (D-NJ) held a press conference yesterday to announce their introduction of the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies (CARE) Act. This bill would require hospitals receiving federal funds to provide emergency contraception (EC) to rape victims, as well as to provide necessary treatment to prevent […]
After significant international pressure, the Pakistani government has removed travel restrictions it had placed on the survivor of an infamous gang rape. Government officials had placed Mukhtaran Bibi on its Exit Control List (ECL)—a measure typically implemented to control political opponents. Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz told The Guardian that the move was a ‘security […]
Italy’s referendum to loosen a restrictive fertility law failed on Monday due to low voter turnout in a vote that the Pope urged Catholics to boycott. Not only does Monday’s referendum vote uphold what women’s rights and reproductive health groups are calling the most restrictive fertility laws in Europe, but it has also led to […]
