Top GOP Congressional leaders are blocking the Hate Crimes Bill, a bill which enjoys widespread bi-partisan support, from reaching the House floor for a vote. The bill would expand current hate crimes legislation to include gay and lesbian people, women and people with disabilities. The bill would also provide state and local officials more power […]
FDA Approval Marks Victory of Science Over Anti-abortion Politics WASHINGTON, D.C. – Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal called today’s FDA approval of mifepristone, formerly known as RU 486, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “a total victory for the U.S. women. At long last, science trumps anti-abortion politics and medical McCarthyism. If this […]
Feminist leaders, including Patricia Ireland, President of NOW; Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority; and Gail Shaffer, executive director of BPW and leading members of Congress including Representatives John Conyers (D-MI), Connie Morella, Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), and Senstors Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Joseph Biden (D-DE), and Paul Wellstone (D-MN) held a press conference today urging […]
A recent report by the Human Rights Campaign indicated an increase in the number of American companies offering health insurance to the partners of their lesbian and gay employees. According to the report, 3,572 companies, colleges and state and local governments offered or have announced they would offer domestic partner coverage, up 25 percent from […]
On Sept. 25, the House of Representatives passed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, a measure that would treat as a person under the law a fetus that is breathing when it leaves the womb, even if during an abortion procedure. The measure passed 380-15 but is unlikely to come to a vote in the Senate […]
Juan Miguel Gonzlez would never have risen to national prominence had he not been the father of an elfin, jug-eared little castaway named Elin, who floated into Florida waters on an inner tube. His mother drowned trying to escape with him from Cuba on a leaky little power boat. You know the story, and it’s […]
In July, the Reverend Vashti Murphy McKenzie became the first woman bishop in the 213-year history of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Women make up 70 percent of the denomination, which represents the oldest community of black Christians in the United States. “This is a victory for everyone who has suffered rejection based on exclusion, […]
Genetically modified foods are everywhere. Grown primarily in the U.S., they’ve become a staple of the North American diet, unmarked and unnoted but found on dining tables throughout the continent. Meanwhile, the major chemical companies that have brought us corn with its own toxic pesticide built in are poised to bring their “Gene Revolution” to […]
Shiva wages her battles from the Himalayan foothills, where in 1982, she created the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy. Her latest book, Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply, looks critically at the impact of biotechnology corporations on the world’s food supply. “The Global North’s industrialized countries became totally […]
There’s nothing more threatening for the state and the corporations than to have a load of people not stopped by fear.” Neth Dao, PhilippinesNeth Dao became active against genetic engineering in the mid-nineties when she joined other groups in the Philippines trying to prevent the importation of genetically engineered rice. She is executive director of […]
The House of Representatives passed an act reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act by an almost unanimous vote of 415Y to 3N. The House vote came after a concerted effort by women members of Congress and women’s rights groups, including the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, National Organization for Women, and Feminist Majority, to […]
The latest film in the PBS independent non-fiction series P.O.V. (Point of View) airs tonight. Live Free or Die follows the life of Dr. Wayne Goldner, a Bedford, New Hampshire, obstetrician who provides surgical abortions as part of his practice. His decision ignites controversy, bringing anti-choice protestors to the small town and striking fear in […]
In the first half of the Millennium Olympic Games, women athletes have broken world records, captured countless medals and participated in the debut of many events, previously open only to men. US women athletes are taking their place in Olympic history along with their international competitors. Stacy Dragila, pole vault world champion and record holder, […]
Just because we organize on a grassroots level doesn’t mean we can’t get active on-line! The Brown, U of Missouri St. Louis, and Stony Brook Leadership Alliance are all online and you can check out the newly constructed web sites at www.feministcampus.org/ac_campusoffices.asp. Interested in setting up an online office for your group? Contact the Campus […]
National Young Women’s Day of Action (NYWDA) is October 25th. This Year, NYWDA will feature a new grassroots campaign, C.A.R.E. 2000, the Campaign for Access and Reproductive Equity. C.A.R.E. 2000 is a two-year, multi-issue, grassroots public education effort to increase awareness of prohibitive federal and state legislation impacting the reproductive health of low-income women, women […]
As students return to school for the Fall Semester, Leadership Alliances nationwide are mobilizing voters on campus with non-partisan voter registration drives! The University of North Texas Leadership Alliance and the Northeastern Illinois University Leadership Alliance had members deputized by the state election commission to legally register voters on-site. Many other Leadership Alliances have begun […]
Last week, the New College Leadership Alliance organized a demonstration to support the Sarasota Women’s Health Clinic, which is repeatedly harassed by anti-choice picketers who with enormous graphic posters. The group mobilized over 40 pro-choice activists who dwarfed the small gathering of anti-choice picketers. Members Carly Earnshaw and Britt Dunn were interviewed by the Sarasota […]
Books that positively depicted gay parents were returned to the shelves in the children’s section of Wichita, Texas public libraries last week after a federal judge struck down a local censorship law. The city ordinance allowed library cardholders to petition to move any children’s book in the public library to the adult section. Both Heather […]
Confirming the arguments of many pro-choice activists, a recent report issued by Political Research Associates analyzes the tactics and membership of the antiabortion movement, concluding that it has attacked “nothing less than women’s autonomy.” The article notes that the antiabortion movement is largely made up of conservative Christians, as well as members of the politically […]
A four-month trial conducted by the University of Edinburgh reveals promising results for the use of mifepristone as a contraceptive. Professor David Baird, faculty in the department of reproductive and developmental sciences, said mifepristone was 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy, and showed no major side effects for the 90 women in the trial. Mifepristone […]
