The Population Council filed an application last month seeking to market RU-486, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday (4-1). The review could take up to a year, the amount of time the FDA usually spends on drugs that do not affect life-threatening diseases. Last year the FDA estimated that approval could take as little […]
Anti-Choice Activists Urge Clinton to Sign Abortion Ban
Roman Catholic cardinals led a 500-person anti-abortion protest urging President Clinton not to veto the first abortion ban. Clinton has stated he will veto the bill which would ban a rare form of abortion used to save the life, health, and future fertility of a woman. The bill would make the procedure illegal and punishable […]
D.C Prosecutor Team to Combat Domestic Violence
Calling domestic violence the “number one health threat to women” who live in the District of Columbia, U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder Jr. announced yesterday the creation of a special team of 16 prosecutors to handle all domestic violence cases there. Formerly randomly assigned, all complaints of domestic violence of any degree will now go […]
Third Woman Poised to Join California High Court
California Gov. Pete Wilson nominated Sacramento state appeals court judge Janice Rogers Brown last week to the California Supreme Court. If confirmed, Brown would join two other women on the bench and make California the fifth state with three women on its high court. Brown would also be the first black woman on the court. […]
Polsby Loses Discrimination Case Against NIH
On Friday (3-29), U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow threw out two claims of sex discrimination against the National Institutes of Health. Dismissing the claims as “exaggerated,” Chasanow said the two separate claims by two women lacked substance. Dr. Maureen Polsby, a neurologist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes from 1983 to […]
Abortion Providers to Use Drug to End Pregnancy
A non-surgical form of abortion using the drug methotrexate is gathering support from the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and Planned Parenthood of New York. During its annual meeting in San Francisco this weekend, NAF, the Washington-based group of abortion providers, planned to present instructions to doctors interested in offering methotrexate abortions. The drug has been […]
Judge Awards Victory to Gays and Lesbians in the Military; Rabbis Vote in Support of Same-Sex Marriages
In a blow to the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy toward homosexuals, a U.S. district judge ruled Friday that it is unconstitutional to dismiss homosexuals in the military who openly state their sexual preference. District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong ordered the National Guard Friday (3-30) to reinstate Lt. Andrew Holmes who says […]
Woman to Join North Carolina Administration
On April 1, Revenue Secretary Janice Faulkner will be sworn in as the first Secretary of State in North Carolina. Faulkner, who has a history in the Democratic Party and at East Carolina University, says she intends to restore morale in the department in which the outgoing Secretary is under criminal investigation for lax management […]
Rodham Clinton Urges Equality for All Women
While in Greece, Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed the origins of democracy and said that women must become “equal partners in society” for the system to truly succeed in the U.S. and elsewhere. Urging nations to give women what she called the “tools of opportunity”–better health care, jobs, credit legal protection and political rights — Rodham […]
Poll Shows International Support for More Women Politicians
According to an international Gallup poll on gender and society, many people feel their countries would be better governed if more women were in political office. No country said that its government would be less effective with more women involved. Released Tuesday (3-26), the poll showed that a majority of respondents in 12 of the […]
Motor Voter” Registers One Million Each Month
According to HumanSERVE, the NAACP and the League of Women Voters, about 11 million people have registered to vote or have updated voting records under the “motor voter” law that went into effect on January 1,1995. The 1993 law forces states to make voter registration accessible through motor vehicle administrations, welfare and disability agencies, the […]
One-Third of U.S. Businesses are Owned by Women
New data from the Census Bureau has found that women own one-third of all U.S. businesses, employing 26 percent of the nation’s work force. Sales from the 7.95 million women-owned businesses jumped 236 percent since 1987, and employment in those businesses rose to 18.5 million workers from only 6.6 million in 1987. According to the […]
Rodham Clinton Discusses Women’s Rights While in Turkey
During a goodwill trip through Southeastern Europe, Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke of the need to increase opportunities for women stating, “where women prosper, countries prosper.” Noting that “much remains to be done” to advance women’s rights in every country, including the United States, Rodham Clinton commented that Kemal Ataturk, founder of the secular Turkish republic […]
House Passes Abortion Ban
In a vote of 286-129, the House of Representatives voted Thursday (3-28) to approve a controversial bill that would outlaw a rare form of late-term abortion used to save the life, health, or future fertility of the woman carrying the fetus. The vote fell primarily along party lines with 72 Democrats joining 214 Republicans is […]
Stalker Released By Police Kills Woman, Himself
On March 10 the ex-boyfriend of Karen Mitsoff, a respected teacher in Alexandria, VA broke into Mitsoff’s condominium and threatened to kill her and himself. The stalker, Fisseha Senbet was later charged with burglarly and released on $2500 bond. On Monday (3-25), Mitsoff made good on his threat, breaking into Mitsoff’s home and fatally shooting […]
Asian Women Forced into Sexual Slavery Demand Compensation
According to historians, the Japanese military forced more than 200,000 Asian women into sexual slavery by during World War II. On Thursday (3-28), 69 women from four Asian nations attended a conference in Manila sponsored by Asian Women’s Solidarity and refused an offer from a private fund set up by the Japanese government. The women […]
Domestic Assault Victims Get Help from INS
On Tuesday (3-26), the Immigration and Naturalization Service issued a new rule to allow battered spouses and children to apply for permanent residence in the USA on their own. The rule is aimed at preventing abusive husbands or wives from holding the victims of their abuse captive. According to officials, close to 400 applications from […]
Grand Jury Indicts Anti-Abortion Arsonists
Jennifer Sperle and Clark Martin, Virginia anti-abortion activists, were indicted on federal conspiracy and arson charges for fires at two clinics. Each could face 45 years in prison and $250,000 in fines if convicted of causing the 1994 fire at the Newport News clinic and the 1995 fire at the Tidewater Women’s Health Center in […]
Texas to Ask Supreme Court to Overturn Anti-Affirmative Action Ruling
On Tuesday (3-26), Texas Attorney General Dan Morales announced he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a decision made last week by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that would wipe out affirmative action programs implemented to increase diversity at the University of Texas. Since the ruling could have dramatic effects on institutions […]
House to Send Abortion Ban Bill to Clinton
In the first move to ban any form of abortion since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the House of Representatives was expected to pass legislation Wednesday (3-27) that would outlaw a rare form of late-term abortion used to save the life of the woman carrying the fetus. The procedure, technically referred to as intact […]