In an alarming trend that is increasing each year, secular hospitals are merging with Catholic hospitals and cutting off all reproductive health services. The mergers, which are often done to keep financially-struggling hospitals open, are becoming more and more common. For example, in New York City, a Catholic health maintenance organization purchased a statewide Medicaid-only […]
Yesterday, the Supreme Court refused to reinstate a Louisiana law that requires minors to get parental consent for abortions, agreeing that it caused “undue interference” with young women’s abortion rights. Although the Supreme Court has upheld parental-consent laws in other states, the Louisiana law was unique because it did not explicitly state that judges had […]
Noted radio and television correspondent and independent producer Nancy Dickerson died at age 70 on Saturday. She broke through barriers in the 1950s to be among the first women to cover politics and world affairs. She rejected a job as “women’s editor” at the old Washington Daily News because “writing shopping and food columns…seemed outlandish […]
On Saturday, October 18, over 1000 women and men from all over the country and the world participated in the National March To End The Silence in Washington DC. Organized by the National Silent Witness Initiative, women and men from all fifty states and seven countries marched on Washington in memory of all the women […]
Last month, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hosted a party for foreign ministers with only one requirement — they must be women. At the party of eight women, with two women unable to attend, the foreign ministers discussed the political progress of women. Worldwide, there are only four female heads of government, 10 U.N. ambassadors […]
Four Bronx boys, all 8 and 9 years old, have been charged with sodomy for forcing a 9-year-old girl to perform oral sex on the Public School 44 playground. Bronx detectives are looking for a fifth boy and possibly a second victim. Police say that three boys held the girl down while the other forced […]
Saying that domestic violence “is not just an assault against a citizen, but that it does undermine democracy itself,” Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke on the topic at a conference of mostly women on Monday. “Domestic violence can never again be dismissed, as it so often has in th epast, as part of a country’s traditional […]
At the world’s biggest book fair in Germany last week, 23 feminist writers were awarded the first “Women’s Book Oscars.” An international panel chose non-fiction books that have “changed the world over the past 25 years.” Feminist classics such as Germaine Greer’s “The Female Eunuch,” Kate Millet’s “Sexual Politics” and Gloria Steinem’s “Outrageous Acts and […]
Russia’s interior ministry recently reported that the numbers of reported rapes are dropping, yet rape crisis centers say that the number of calls they receive has been consistent. Rape counselors estimate that fewer than 5% of rape victims report the crime to the police, with even fewer rapes actually being registered by the police. The […]
Michael Griffin, who is on death row for the 1993 murder of Dr. David Gunn, an abortion doctor in Pensacola, Fla., now claims he was framed in a conspiracy involving other anti-abortion activists, the police, and his own lawyer. Griffin contends there was another assailant with a gun, although witnesses testified that Griffin acted alone, […]
The Virginia Military Institute’s first class of women will actively recruit more females for next year’s class, talking to them personally and becoming a part of a marketing campaign to attract more women to the formerly all-male school, say admissions officers. Assistant Director of Admissions Terri Wheaton Reddings said “We’ve got to keep the momentum […]
In a bizarre semantic twist, divorce attorney Rosalie Davies is using Pennsylvania’s law on adultery to argue why her lesbian client should get alimony from her ex-husband. At issue is whether or not lesbian sex, occurring outside of heterosexual marriage, is considered adultery. If it is adulterous, lesbians can be denied alimony under the state’s […]
The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights ruled last week that a church day care center did not violate the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act when it fired a woman for being pregnant and unmarried. Cynthia Bundy had worked at the Fairdale Christian Church Day Care for 18 months when she was fired. The church said she […]
Hillary Rodham Clinton was greeted with applause and cheers by Argentine women for her speech on reproductive health and domestic violence. “Hillary is a radical feminist, and we welcome that here,” said lawyer Liliana Tojo. “Access to quality health care — especially family planning and reproductive health services — is crucial to advancing the progress […]
A jury awarded $875,000 to Tammy S. Blakey, the first woman at Continental Airlines to attain the rank of captain of an Airbus A300 passenger plane, for sexual harassment yesterday. Blakey filed the suit in 1993, alleging that male pilots left pornographic pictures in cockpits, some with her name written on them. One picture left […]
Retiring Judge William A. Norris urged President Clinton to “admit his mistake of judgement” regarding the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays. “Renounce it because it is wrong, it is evil — as you surely know in your heart,” he said at a ceremony where he received a “Liberty Award” from the Lambda […]
In response to complaints brought to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by female police officers, Massachusetts Gov. Paul Cellucci ordered State Secretary of Public Safety Kathleen O’Toole to rewrite the rules regarding pregnant troopers on Wednesday. Four veteran investigators told the EEOC that they were not allowed to work overtime, and that they were only […]
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) has ruled that Pioneer Valley Transit Authority and Hampshire County Transit must pay Joane Rome over $30,000 for being ordered off a bus in 1994 for kissing her lesbian lover. Driver Stephen Follett pulled the bus over and ordered Joane Rome out because she and her girlfriend’s display of […]
A cable station in Contra Costa County in California has pulled a 7-minute film showing women how to do breast exams because it shows naked breasts. Breast cancer awareness activists complained when the cable director refused to air it again after only one viewing and said it wasn’t appropriate for families to watch. County Supervisor […]
The Women in Miltary Service for America Memorial will be dedicated at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday. The memorial features more than a dozen alcoves for exhibits, a fountain, reflecting pool, 196-seat theater, computer database of women veterans and a gift shop. It sits by a semi-circular granite wall that has four […]
