A federal judge in San Francisco today declared that the abortion procedures ban passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush last year is unconstitutional. In her ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Ashcroft, US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton barred the enforcement of the law at any of Planned Parenthood’s 900 clinics nationwide, […]
Young female refugees in the Congo who were raped by militiamen are now allegedly being sexually exploited by United Nations peace troops. According to the Independent, UN peacekeepers are giving girls as young as 13 food in exchange for sex. Testimonies from both aid workers and teenage girls say that young girls in the Internally […]
Michelle Wie, a 14-year-old Hawaiian golf prodigy, received a special exemption this week from the US Golf Association (USGA) to play in this year’s US Women’s Open. This is the first time a woman has received such an exemption and the first time an amateur player has been granted this waiver into the largest tournament […]
A Mexican woman who served 22 years in prison for the murder of the man who bought and raped her in 1976 was released and allowed to remain in the United States after pressure from various human rights group and members of Congress. According to the Associated Press, Maria Suarez was sold into sex slavery […]
Northern Ireland’s Family Planning Association (FPA) has issued an appeal asking the Department of Health to release guidelines regarding its abortion laws. The FPA argues that women who are entitled to an abortion in Ireland are often turned away because of lack of clarity in the laws, according to BBC News. Last year, the High […]
California’s Supreme Court yesterday considered whether to invalidate marriage licenses given to more than 4,000 lesbian and gay couples in San Francisco earlier this year. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had directed the county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, arguing that the California state law defining marriage as a union between a […]
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has found that some recipients of federal financial assistance are not complying with important provisions of Title IX regulations. Specifically, regulations for Title IX, the landmark 1972 law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education, requires that every recipient of federal funding designate and adequately […]
Pakistani civil society organizations, members of Parliament, and members of political parties recently staged a protest in Peshawar, Pakistan against the rise of violence against women in the province. According to the Associated Press, the Aurat Foundation (a non-governmental organization) worked with other local partners calling for strict legislation to punish the perpetrators of honor […]
Women legislators in California staged a protest on Monday over remarks that it was “sinful” for them to leave their children at home while they served in the state legislature. The sexist remark came from Pastor Ralph Drollinger, president of the evangelical Capitol Ministries, who leads a weekly Bible study session with lawmakers and staff […]
The Canadian province of Ontario has approved the use of Islamic law, otherwise known as sharia law, to resolve civil legal disputes, angering Muslim women’s rights activists. According to the Toronto Star, Ontario’s Arbitration Act of 1991 has previously allowed religious groups such as the Hassidic Jews and Catholics to resolve civil disputes. Ontario’s Attorney […]
John Burt, an anti-abortion extremist and convicted child molester, will be released on a $10,000 bond pending appeal of his conviction. Burt, 66, was sentenced this month to more than 18 years for molesting a 15-year-old girl who was in his care at his so-called home for “unwed” mothers, Our Father’s House. Under the terms […]
In a first for Florida, an African-American woman has been confirmed to serve on a federal district court. The US Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination of Marcia Cooke on Tuesday, who is also the first African-American woman to be nominated to serve on a federal court in Florida. Cooke’s confirmation followed shortly after Senate Democrats […]
A prominent Afghan woman leader is one of the recipients of this year’s Profile in Courage Awards from the Kennedy Library Foundation, which will be presented at a ceremony in Boston, MA tonight. Dr. Sima Samar has been a leader for women’s rights and human rights in Afghanistan. A physician who defied Taliban edicts and […]
Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D) last week vetoed a bill that would have defined a fetus as a person and made it a separate crime to kill a fetus at any stage of development. The Courier reports that Gov. Vilsack vetoed the bill because Iowa already has laws that address fetal death. Abortion rights groups […]
A government witness has been charged today with committing perjury in his testimony in the case against Martha Stewart. Larry F. Stewart (no relation), an ink expert who works in the Secret Service, was found to have made eight separate false statements about two different subjects, according to the Associated Press. Women’s rights advocates, including […]
A new report states that while there has been a decline of female genital mutilation (FGM) on women in the West African country of Burkina Faso, there has been an increase in the number of young girls under the age of seven who are undergoing FGM. According to Planned Parenthood International, 66 percent of women […]
In an interview on Wednesday, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said that he would consider nominating anti-abortion judges to “some” federal courts. Kerry told the Associated Press, “I will not appoint somebody with a 5-4 court who’s about to undo Roe v. Wade. I’ve said that before É But that doesn’t […]
Democrats in the House of Representatives sent a letter last week to Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington criticizing the recent decision of some bishops to deny communion to pro-choice Catholics. The letter, signed by 48 Catholic House members, including some with anti-abortion voting records, warned that the Church will suffer if bishops continue to speak […]
Iran’s current reformist parliament, which will be replaced with conservatives this month, approved a bill that grants women equal inheritance rights to men. The proposed law states that a woman is entitled to all of her husband’s estate if there are no other heirs. Under the current law in Iran, a widow receives only one-eighth […]
Senate Democrats and the White House announced a deal on Tuesday that will allow 25 federal court nominees to receive votes in the full Senate. In exchange, President Bush has promised he will make no more recess appointments of controversial judicial nominees through the end of his current term in office. This ends a seven-week […]
