Students in the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at the University of Texas, El Paso are working with the Coalition on Violence Against Women and Families to organize a silent protest against the murders of hundreds of women in Juarez, Mexico, across the border with El Paso. Students will then host a major concert to raise […]
The anti-abortion extremists who allegedly provided money, shelter, and support to former fugitive James Charles Kopp will now stand trial July 30 for obstruction of justice. Loretta Marra and Dennis Malvasi are suspected of helping Kopp, who is charged in the 1998 murder of Amherst, New York abortion provider Dr. Barnett Slepian, elude law enforcement […]
Two men, who claim to have been sexually abused by priests as teenagers, have filed lawsuits in Florida and Oregon that accuse the Vatican of conspiring with church dioceses and religious orders to protect sex offenders and pedophiles operating within the church. The suit is not the first attempt to sue the Vatican in connection […]
The first issue of the Afghan women’s magazine Roz (The Day) was sent to the presses earlier this week. Featuring articles on society, law, cooking, and fashion, the magazine hopes to “help educate women and teach them how to help each other,” says editor-in-chief Lailoma Ahmadi. Funded by the French magazine Elle, this new magazine […]
Emergency rooms in Washington state hospitals will now be required to provide emergency contraception (EC) to victims of rape. The bill, which was signed into law last week by Washington governor Gary Locke (D), establishes a statewide protocol for treating rape survivors in hospital emergency rooms. At issue, however, are the state’s Catholic hospitals and […]
The latest research from the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Center for Women & Policing confirms what many police and feminist leaders have known for some time: women officers are substantially less likely than their male counterparts to use excessive force in encounters with citizens. Whether measured by the number of citizen complaints, sustained allegations, or […]
China and Vietnam have pledged to work together to eradicate sex trafficking between their borders, a crime that has victimized tens of thousands of women in the region. The two countries will step up efforts to police their borders while launching a public education initiative on the issue. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will […]
A state judge ruled last week that a North Dakota abortion clinic could distribute information stating that there is no established link between having an abortion and getting breast cancer. Judge Michael McGuire relied on testimony from leading epidemiologists and endocrinology experts who confirmed statements made in the clinic brochures refuting this common claim among […]
In a recent study released by the Harvard School of Public Health, binge drinking at women’s colleges has increased over the last eight years from 24% in 1993 to 32% in 2001. However, binge drinking still remains significantly lower at women’s college than at coed colleges nationwide. The study found that women at coed schools […]
One of Ireland’s most well-known bishops, Bishop Brendan Comiskey, announced his resignation yesterday amid allegations that he protected a pedophile priest from prosecution. Comiskey’s announcement came on the eve of a documentary debut chronicling the story of the Father Sean Fortune, a priest who was accused of sexually abusing dozens of boys in the 1980’s […]
Fearing a possible defeat for his nominee in committee, President Bush used his power to make appointments during Congressional recesses to name Gerald A. Reynolds to head the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education. The regulatory lawyer from Kansas holds very little experience in educational and civil rights issues and is a […]
The commission appointed by Afghan Interim Chairman, Hamid Karzai, to faciliate the assembly of the loya jirga, announced plans today to set aside 160 seats for women — 11% — at the national gathering to determine the next stage of the Afghan transition government. The 1500 member loya jirga is scheduled to take place June […]
Ambassador for War Crimes Issues, Pierre Prosper, stated Thursday that the Bush Administration is considering “unsigning” the treaty authorizing the soon-to-be launched International Criminal Court (ICC). The Court will achieve the additional four ratifications necessary to enter into effect on April 11, 2002. “Unsigning” the ICC treaty would mean that President Bush would send a […]
While raising money for the Republican Party and various Republican candidates for Senate seats, President Bush announced his resolve to push for conservative judges to the federal courts. On his three-state fundraising tour, Bush told crowds, “We’ve got to get good, conservative judges appointed to the bench and approved by the United States Senate.” Earlier […]
Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) collected data from 10 international studies concerning women with cervical cancer to find that women infected with the human papilloma virus (HPV) who had used oral contraceptives for more than five years were 2.82 times more likely to develop cervical cancer than women who had not used oral […]
The United Nations’ Special Representative on human rights in Afghanistan, Kamel Hossain, called for an immediate expansion of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan to help ensure the establishment of stability and democratic institutions. Hossain, who has made several trips to Afghanistan, cautioned that, “Security lapses could jeopardize the whole transition process” and […]
Announcing that, “A woman’s right to choose must never be held up by red tape,” California Governor Gray Davis ordered the state’s health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to cover emergency contraception (EC). The California Department of Managed Health Care will alert all HMOs that they will now be required to cover EC distributed through pharmacists within […]
In spite of pleas from both the United Nations and the Afghan Administration for an expansion of the 4,800-member International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the United States and France made their opposition official by telling the UN Security Council that the ISAF would not be expanded. U.S. representative James Cunningham and French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte […]
A couple from Silver Spring, Maryland received nine years in prison yesterday for enslaving a teenage girl from Cameroon. The couple was also ordered to pay the girl $105,306 as compensation for three years of unpaid labor that the girl was forced to perform in the couple’s home. The couple, originally from Cameroon themselves, brought […]
By a 19-6 vote, the US House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would make it a crime for anyone except a parent to assist a minor in crossing state lines to obtain an abortion if the minor’s home state employs a parental notification law. The full House is expected to vote on the so-called […]
