An Iraqi women’s rights activist from Canada, Yanar Mohamed, received a death threat for campaigning for the repeal of the US-backed Iraqi Governing Council’s Resolution 137. Mohamed recently appeared on Iraqi television denouncing the Governing Council’s decision to cancel current family laws and place family law under the jurisdiction of Islamic (sharia) law. According to […]
A federal judge on Monday struck down a Virginia abortion procedure ban. US District Court Judge Richard L. Williams ruled that the law was unconstitutional, finding that it violates the right to privacy, “impermissibly infringes on the fundamental right to choose abortion,” and endangers women’s health, according to the Washington Post. Like the federal abortion […]
The South Dakota House Health Committee on Monday rejected 11-1 a proposal to require hospitals to offer rape survivors emergency contraception. “Little else can compound the already immense trauma of rape than facing the possibility of bearing the rapist’s child,” testified Shirley Adelstein, the granddaughter of the prime sponsor of the bill, according to the […]
Leading health policy experts released a report stating that investing in women’s reproductive and sexual health services results in huge medical benefits and could save more than a million lives every year. According to the report, written by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the gaps in sexual and […]
Yesterday, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the legislature’s proposed civil union bill would not be sufficient to satisfy its November decision that the state must afford homosexuals equal rights in marriage. “Separate is seldom, if ever, equal,” the court said in its 4-3 ruling yesterday. “For no rational reason the marriage laws of […]
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent a report to Congress last week recommending that abstinence or monogamy should be used as the primary prevention strategy for human papillomavirus (HPV), angering women’s rights and health advocates. According to Kaiser, the report did not recommend using condoms as a primary prevention strategy for HPV. […]
A pharmacist in Denton, Texas drew protestors for refusing to fill a prescription for emergency contraception for a victim of rape. The Eckerd pharmacist claimed it would violate his moral beliefs to fill the prescription, according to Reuters. Eckerd Corp. reportedly disciplined the pharmacist. “A pharmacist is obliged to fill a prescription if it is […]
The Utah Senate last week passed an abortion procedures ban that does not include an exception for a woman’s health. The bill, SB 69, is “virtually a carbon-copy” of the federal abortion procedure ban signed into law by President Bush last year, the Deseret Morning News reports. Utah Democrats argue that the bill was unnecessary […]
The United States is withholding millions of dollars in military aid to Ecuador because of Ecuador’s reluctance to sign an agreement with the US that would grant US military immunity from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Last July, the US stated that it would freeze military aid, such as the $15 million for Ecuador, to […]
Members of the United States-appointed Iraqi Governing Council started debating a proposed constitution for Iraq’s interim government. According to the Washington Post, the plan calls for a three-member presidency and for at least 40 percent of the assembly and constitutional convention to be women. The deadline for the document’s completion is February 28. Iraqi officials […]
Anti-abortion activists launched a petition drive in Michigan to overturn Governor Jennifer Granholm’s (D) veto of an abortion procedure ban passed through the state legislature. The so-called “People’s Override” Campaign began collecting what it hopes will be 254,206 signatures on January 22, the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that […]
The director of the National Institute for Health, Elias Zerhouni, sent a letter to members of the House and Senate defending NIH’s funding of research on sexual behavior because of the impact such studies make on public health. This past fall conservative members of the House questioned 10 NIH grants, including a grant to study […]
The Senate on Thursday approved an omnibus spending bill that included $34 million for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The House approved this bill (HR 2673), including the UNFPA funding, in December. UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid thanked the US Congress, saying, “This critical funding will help save women’s lives around the world, through […]
Portuguese abortion rights activists have collected over 100,000 signatures to force Parliament to consider a decriminalization referendum that would make abortion legal during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy. According to Kaiser, a recent poll stated that nearly 75 percent of people favor a referendum on abortion law and more than 67 percent would vote […]
Before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Afghanistan’s stabilization and reconstruction, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) announced her introduction of the “Afghan Women Security and Freedom Act 2004.” The act authorizes $300 million for each of the fiscal years 2005, 2006, and 2007, earmarking $20 million for the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs and $10 […]
Saudi Arabia’s religious authority has denounced calls for greater women’s rights, asserting that greater rights violate Islamic teachings. The Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh also criticized leading businesswomen for attending an economic conference, stating that, “allowing women to mix with men is the root of every evil and catastrophe – mixing of men and women […]
The Netherlands Christian Democratic-led government instituted a new law requiring women over the age of 21 to pay for contraception, ending its policies of free contraception for all women and widespread sexual education in the country. The new law came into force on the first of this month. The President of the Dutch Society for […]
Yesterday, the San Francisco Police Commission voted unanimously to nominate Assistant Police Chief Heather Fong as the city’s Interim Police Chief. Mayor Gavin Newsom picked Fong for the position on Sunday and is expected to have her sworn in today, NBC11 reports. The mayor told the San Francisco Chronicle that he hopes Fong will be […]
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), flanked by pro-choice leaders, today announced new federal legislation to codify women’s right to choose abortion. “The Freedom of Choice Act of 2004 (FOCA) would establish a statutory right to choose within the same parameters articulated by the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade,” said Sen. Boxer on the 31st anniversary […]
Rio de Janeiro’s municipal government’s decision to start distributing free birth control pills and condoms through the mail to low-income women, men, and minors was dropped due to pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. The mayor of Rio de Janeiro has denied that the Church pressured him to end the program, though his decision was […]
