In a ruling Thursday (5-16), Oregon Judge Thomas L. Moultrie barred anti-abortion activist Paul deParrie from having any contact with Jude Hanzo, executive director of All Women’s Health Services. DeParrie’s concealed weapon permit was also revoked. Hanzo has said deParrie, a prominent advocate of anti-abortion violence, harassed her for over a year, calling her at […]
A coalition of women’s groups and cancer advocacy groups are opposing a move by Myriad Genetics to patent the breast cancer gene known as BRCA1. The coalition argues that creating a patent would mean Myriad would control and possibly impede research on the gene. Other cancer advocacy groups have supported the patent application, citing Myriad’s […]
San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano has proposed legislation to force contractors doing business with the city to provide the same benefits to domestic partners of employees as it does to married spouses. Ammiano planned to introduce the ordinance on Monday (5-20) at the City’s board meeting; after that, the ordinance will go through public hearings […]
On Saturday (5-18), President Clinton endorsed a Wisconsin plan to end welfare. Criticized by child-welfare and women’s rights advocates, the plan would eliminate Aid to Families with Dependent Children and would replace the Federal guarantee of cash assistance for poor children with wage subsidies for single mothers who work. Every adult recipient would be required […]
A study financed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has found that a virus-stopping gel applied to the vaginas of monkeys appears to stop transmission of SIV, the monkey version of the AIDS virus. Researchers hope the gel will be effective in humans, suggesting that women could apply the gel before intercourse […]
On Friday (5-17), President Clinton signed Megan’s Law, legislation that will require police to inform communities when convicted sex offenders move into the neighborhood. The law is named for a 7-year-old girl from New Jersey who was raped and murdered by a male neighbor who had a history of convictions for child molestation of which […]
Changes in pension laws are being proposed in the Senate to make the laws more equitable and less harsh on working women and elderly women. Introducing a proposal at a news conference Tuesday (5-14), Sen. Carol Mosley-Braun (D-Ill.) stated that current laws are out-of-date and do not protect the pension rights of divorced women and […]
University of California Provost C. Judson King has admitted that in the last five years, prominent individuals made over 1,000 special requests on behalf of undergraduate applicants’ admission. King maintains that about 60 of those applications received some positive consideration. King also acknowledged that although the UC system discourages letters of recommendation, letters that are […]
According to University of Southern California Scientist Malcolm Pike, a regimen of vigorous exercise to delay puberty and hormone treatments to induce artificial menopause can reduce the risk of breast cancer by as much as 95 percent. The regimen would reduce the amount of estrogen exposed to a woman’s breast tissue by shortening her reproductive […]
On Thursday, a group of 89 Filipino women who were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II rejected all compensation from the privately funded “Asian Women’s Fund.” About 50 of the women, dressed in black, demonstrated Thursday (5-16) outside the Japanese Embassy to protest the Japanese government’s refusal to directly compensate […]
On Wednesday (5-15), a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing met on the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act, part of the 1994 crime law. Asking that the Act be fully funded, chief sponsor of the legislation Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) testified that he had not been able to persuade lawmakers to restore $1.3 million requested […]
Wednesday (5-15) was Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz’ deadline for Catholics in his diocese to quit 12 groups or face excommunication. The list of the groups Bruskewitz deemed unacceptable includes Planned Parenthood, Catholics for a Free Choice, and Call to Action, a group advocating discussion of the ordination of women and married men. Excommunicated Catholics may attend […]
In a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on legislation to allow states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, gay and lesbian rights activists said the measure was divisive and politically motivated. Along with other Democratic colleagues, Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC) accused supporters of the bill, which would define marriage as the “legal […]
On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved the new drug Taxotere to treat breast cancer patients who do not respond to standard treatment, including chemotherapy. Given intravenously every three weeks, Taxotere has demonstrated in trials that it can shrink tumors. Like Taxol, an drug approved in 1994 to treat breast cancer, Taxotere can cause […]
Chief Petty Officer George Powell has been discharged from the Navy. Powell had been convicted of groping two women sailors – one aboard a commercial airplane in October – was penalized in rank and pay, and was sentenced to 89 days in confinement. Powell, 49, will not receive retirement benefits, but he is eligible to […]
The National Basketball Association will be publicizing the U.S. women’s basketball team, the first women’s national team recruited by USA Basketball a full year before the Olympics. NBA Properties markets the team, negotiating deals between it and corporate sponsors, licensees and television partners. It also creates advertising campaigns and helps plan exhibition games for the […]
Postmenopausal women taking estrogen therapy may find reduced accuracy in their mammogram screenings for breast cancer. According to Dr. Mary Laya, a University of Washington assistant professor of medicine, estrogen replacement therapy often increases breast tissue density which increases the overall difficulty in reading mammograms. It may also lead a physician to mistakenly diagnose benign […]
Candice Gingrich urged her brother Speaker Newt Gingrich to “stop this Congressional gay-bashing” on the eve of a House hearing on an anti-same-sex marriage bill. Candace, an out lesbian said, “The raising of this issue now, at the national level, is nothing more than election-year scapegoating of one group of Americans.” While the bill would […]
Efforts to raise the minimum wage are favorable to 81 percent of people polled by USA Today/CNN/Gallup. Democrats are leading the fight to raise the minimum wage. The Republican proposal to repeal the gas tax is favored by 56 percent. Of the 3.66 million workers earning the minimum wage of $4.25/hour, 63 percent are women.
North Carolina state representative Ken Miller was publicly censured by the state House of Representatives Monday (5-13) for sexually harassing women. A House Ethics Committee found that Miller had made unwanted advances and inappropriate sexual remarks to three women, including a 16-year-old volunteer page. The committee recommended the public censure after an expulsions proposal failed. […]
