Two women’s names have been released as candidates for posts in the transitional Afghan government. Negotiators meeting in Bonn named Dr. Sima Samar to be one of five deputy prime ministers as well as the minister of women’s affairs. Samar, a women’s rights advocate and medical doctor, fled the country in the 1980s during the […]
Fugitive anti-abortion extremist and domestic terrorist Clayton Lee Waagner has been apprehended at a Kinko’s in Springdale, Ohio. He is currently in custody of the United States Marshals Service. Waagner is the prime suspect in the two waves of anthrax threats sent to abortion providers and reproductive rights advocacy organizations nationwide. In October 2001, more […]
While infertility clinics often target college students to become egg donors, experts are now arguing that older women who have already had children are likely to be better choices for donors, citing their previous experience with childbirth and assumed level of responsibility and maturity. Still, many infertile couples prefer the eggs of younger women, especially […]
Mifepristone, known as RU-486 in France, is now available in the U.S. under the brand name Mifeprex™ (manufactured by Danco Laboratories, LLC). Mifepristone causes abortion in early pregnancy, providing women with a medical alternative to aspiration (suction) abortion. In the United States, medical abortion using mifepristone may be provided by a physician or other clinician […]
Women leaders from Afghanistan and around the world convened in Brussels yesterday for the beginning of a three-day conference on the role of Afghan women in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Conference attendees, including representatives from the Feminist Majority Foundation, pledged to work together to ensure that women have a significant voice in the rebuilding of […]
The Feminist Majority Foundation hosted its annual Choose to Laugh, Laugh to Choose comedy event yesterday in Hollywood, CA to benefit its National Clinic Access Project, which works to stop anti-abortion extremist violence and keep women’s healthcare clinics open. Over 300 pro-choice supporters attended the event which was emceed by popular actress Cybill Shepard and […]
Lt. Col. Martha McSally has filed suit against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in an effort to overturn a U.S. policy requiring female military personnel to wear Islamic dress when off base in Saudi Arabia. McSally claims that the policy is unconstitutional as it discriminates against women and infringes on religious freedom by forcing women to […]
Feminist Majority Foundation leaders met with Catherine Bertini, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), who indicated that the WFP would be sending workers into Kabul to conduct a survey of the area in an effort to assess the growing humanitarian need and to deliver food supplies to 180,000 people. According to […]
In a study performed by researchers at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, a new permanent contraceptive device that blocks the fallopian tubes was shown to be safe and effective. Conceptus, Inc. designed the device, a fallopian tube microcoil that encourages tissue growth in the fallopian tubes, to be an alternative to surgical tubal ligation. […]
Benjamin Matthew Williams and his brother James Tyler Williams were sentenced last Friday in conjunction with the 1999 arson of three synagogues and the firebombing of Choice Medical Group, a women’s reproductive health clinic that performs abortions in Sacramento, California. Benjamin Matthew Williams received a mandatory sentence of thirty years in a federal prison, and […]
The Feminist Majority has received reports from Bonn revealing all but the final document setting forth the interim administrative body for Afghanistan. According to sources, among the five vice chairs of the interim administrative body, one will be a woman. There will be twenty-three other members of the body, and women will occupy some of […]
An Islamic court of appeals in Sokoto state, Nigeria has granted Safiya Hussaini a stay of execution, allowing Hussaini to appeal the decision of a lower Islamic court sentencing her to death by stoning. Charged with adultery, Hussaini claims that she was raped three times by a male assailant, resulting in the birth of an […]
“We are not waiting any longer to be invited to sit at these tables where peace is being discussed and the reconstruction of our economy,” said Sima Wali, a feminist delegate to the United Nations talks on Afghanistan in Bonn and Vice President of Sisterhood is Global. Three Afghan women are now participating as delegates […]
Several Afghan women spoke yesterday on Capitol Hill at the Forum on the Future of Women in Afghanistan about the need for women to participate in the reconstruction process within Afghanistan once the Taliban has collapsed. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) hosted the forum, which was also attended by Feminist Majority leaders as well as […]
In conjunction with World AIDS Day 2001, Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) launched a new public education campaign, Condoms4Life, to urge Catholic bishops to end their ban on the use of condoms. According to CFFC, the Catholic hierarchy lobbies governments worldwide as well as the United Nations to severely limit the availability and accessibility […]
Despite a decrease in teenage pregnancy over the past decade, the United States still has significantly higher rates of teen pregnancy than other developed countries, according to a study conducted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI). The study suggests that lack of information about and access to effective contraceptive methods and other reproductive health services […]
On Wednesday, the Texas Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging Texas’ decision to deny low-income women state funding for medically necessary abortions. Texas pays for all medically necessary procedures for low-income men. The plaintiffs, a group of clinics and physicians, claim that Texas’ policy violates Texas’ Equal Protection Clause, which prohibits discrimination on […]
Fifty Afghan women leaders will convene in Brussels, December 4-5, to attend an Afghan Women’s Summit for Democracy. The women represent a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and hail from all sectors of society, including the fields of education, healthcare, and politics. Three of the participants, Sima Wali, Seddige Balkhi, and Amini Afzali, are now […]
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 408-6 in favor of the Clean Diamond Trade Act, which would give the President the power to impose sanctions on countries that sell diamonds illegally to fund regional conflict and terrorist activities. The Act also prohibits countries from exporting diamonds to the United States unless they have implemented a […]
Obstetricians and Family Practice physicians in Mississippi are increasingly finding themselves in the difficult position of having to quit their obstetrical practices due to the skyrocketing costs of malpractice insurance, which has risen 20-400 % over the past year in many cases. Alongside the rising cost of healthcare in general, Mississippi’s legal climate has also […]
