U.S. District Judge William Traxler struck down South Carolina’s abortion clinic regulations on Friday, arguing that the laws “unduly burden[ed] a woman’s fundamental right to undergo an abortion.” The regulations were originally passed in 1996 but had been blocked from enforcement pending lawsuits filed by three abortion providers. The regulations applied to all clinics performing […]
Last year, the Philippine National Police received reports of more rapes than ever before. Three thousand and thirty one rape cases were reported last year, an increase of almost 70% since 1990. Sen. Loren Legarda said “We now have what can be described as an epidemic of rape and other forms of sexual violence against […]
Statement of Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority I am proud to join today with national women’s leaders and leading women members of Congress to urge the United States Senate to put an end to this spectacle of hypocrisy and travesty of justice. The 13 House managers want to subject Monica Lewinsky and the […]
On January 29 the Women’s Capital Corporation (WCC), a private company devoted to developing reproductive health products for women, submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) for a progestin-only emergency contraceptive. The two tablet dose contains levonorgestrel, a long-time component of birth control pills and nearly 150 other medications. Unlike “morning after” methods, pills with levonorgestrel […]
One hundred students at the University of Notre Dame began a hunger strike Wednesday night. They were demanding their civil rights, namely an anti-discrimination policy that would ban bias against lesbians and gay men. University trustees will meet this week to consider this policy that has already been approved by the Senate Faculty and the […]
Under Taliban rule in Afghanistan, amputations of hands and feet are common punishment for thieves, while murderers are publically executed and women are tortured for violating Taliban rules. When the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital in September 1996 they brought their own harsh kind of “Islamic” law to the country. Men, for instance, must keep […]
Civil rights organizations have filed suit against the University of California at Berkeley alleging that the university’s new policies, which were adopted as a result of anti-affirmative campaigns, discriminate against minority students. The University is accused of placing too much focus on SAT scores as well as on the amount of honors and advanced placement […]
Washington DC — Today, in Portland Oregon, a jury handed down the precedent-setting decision in the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE ) and RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act) lawsuit, Planned Parenthood of the Columbia/Willamette v. American Coalition of Life Activists et. al. This case originally filed in October, 1995, has resulted […]
In 1994, representatives from 179 governments agreed to participate in a program linking reproductive rights and population concerns, prompting significant policy changes in many countries and granting women increased reproductive freedom. These representatives and others will meet in The Hague next week to discuss what progress has been made so far and to develop additional […]
A federal jury ruled today that creators of “The Nuremberg Files” Web site violated the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act (FACE) and federal racketeering statutes and awarded the plaintiffs with damages in the tens of millions. The suit, originally filed in 1995, charged that Web site creators violated the FACE Act by inciting violence […]
China’s United Nations Ambassador Quin Huasun stated that governmental programs have largely ineffective in reducing the unemployment, poverty, and domestic violence suffered by Chinese women, and especially those in rural areas. In a report to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, Huasun also said that over 100 million women remained illiterate […]
Norwegian bishop Rosmarie Kohn allowed chaplain Siri Sunde to in violation of a 1997 Lutheran Church ruling that stripped Sunde of her post. Siri Sunde was suspended from her post after she married another woman. While lesbian and gay marriages are legal in Norway, the Lutheran Church had ruled that individuals entering into same-sex partnerships […]
In surgery, as in most professions, women still face sex discrimination and are largely confined to the lower-paying, less-prestigious surgical specialties. However, there prospects are improving. Today, women run 6 of Boston’s 9 hospital-based breast centers, and at least 25 woman breast surgeons live and work in the Boston area. Fifteen years ago, Dr. Kathleen […]
Years ago, pregnancies in women ages 35 and over were considered “high risk” and discouraged by doctors. Changes in women’s work and improved contraception have led women to postpone childbearing until later in life. While older women do face more pregnancy-induced health problems than younger women and are more likely to suffer miscarriages, their chances […]
Last Friday, federal agents announced new information regarding the January 29, 1998 fatal bombing of the New Women, All Women Health Care clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. U.S. Attorney Doug Jones reported that the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had determined that the bomb used in the blast was detonated by remote control. Officials […]
President Clinton has announced a new equal pay initiative that would provide the Labor Department and the Equal Opportunity Commission with a total of $14 million to identify wage discrimination, educate employers and workers about women’s right to equal pay, and to recruit more women for higher-paid work. Women earned only 58 cents for every […]
Mirra Komarovsky, a prominent sociologist who dedicated much of her career to the study of gender, family and education, died on Saturday at age 93. Komarovsky taught sociology at Barnard College for 32 years, and served as chair of the sociology department from 1948 to 1968. Eight years after retiring from teaching, Komarovsky returned to […]
The Presbytery of the Hudson River, a group of ministers and lay members from 96 churches in seven New York counties, voted to allow the blessing of same-sex unions by a margin of 107 to 35. Presbyterian ministers in the area are now sanctioned to perform “holy unions” for gay and lesbian couples. These ceremonies […]
A new report conducted by researchers at McGill University and the University of Montreal, Canada, suggests that women’s risk of depression following a heart attack is about 50%, twice that of men’s 25% risk for depression. Researchers explained that, since depression leaves heart attack sufferers more susceptible to future attacks, “the need to provide effective […]
Researchers at Harvard University and Darmouth College suggest that registered nurses’ wages and job opportunities have declined under managed care. In a report published in Health Affairs, researchers wrote, “In particular, it appears that managed care has reduced demand for RNs, first in hospitals and more recently in home health, and as a result has […]
