Katherine Spillar, the executive director and co-founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) and executive editor of Ms. magazine, was presented with the degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, from Texas Christian University (TCU) at the Winter 2018 Commencement last week.
8 hours after 7-year-old Guatemalan girl Jakelin Caal and her father were taken into US Border Patrol custody, the young child died from dehydration after having seizures and her body temperature rose to 105.7 degrees. Emergency responders rushed her to a hospital in El Paso but she died within 24 hours. The hospital’s initial report […]
Yesterday, Congress finally passed a deal to update its sexual harassment policy; the new policy now requires lawmakers to use their own money, not taxpayer funds, to settle suits for workplace sexual harassment. The new policy no longer allows members of Congress to use tax dollars to pay for sexual harassment settlements. Provisions such as […]
This week, Ohio lawmakers passed and sent two anti-abortion bills that would restrict abortion access to Governor John Kasich’s office. Opponents of the two bills, the Heartbeat Bill and the Dilation and Evacuation Ban, stated that both bills are unconstitutional and would have a detrimental impact on the state’s health care system. Neither bill includes […]
Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi announced that she will step down as the House Democratic leader by 2022 in order to secure the votes she needs to become the Speaker of the House in January. Pelosi’s support of leadership term limits won the votes of several Democrats and ensured she would have the 218 votes necessary to […]
Charter school teachers in Chicago are on strike this week, the first formal strike against a charter-school operator, after the Acero Schools charter network failed to re-negotiate their contract with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) on December 4th. Teachers are fighting against low wages, overcrowded classrooms, short lunch and recess breaks, insufficient resources and support […]
Reproductive justice and immigrant rights activist Alejandra Pablos has been denied asylum and ordered to be deported by an immigration judge in Tucson, Arizona. Alejandra has lived in the United States almost her entire life and has been fighting deportation for eight years. Advocates are now calling on Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to pardon Alejandra. […]
Former Baylor University fraternity president, Jacob Anderson, will not serve jail time or be put on the sex offender registry even though he allegedly raped a fellow Baylor student in 2016 at his fraternity’s, Phi Delta Theta, party. Anderson was initially charged with four counts of sexual assault but will only have to pay a […]
In a win for reproductive rights advocates, today the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider a case between Planned Parenthood and the states of Louisiana and Kansas concerning respective state laws that sought to strip Planned Parenthood of Medicaid funding. This decision means that the appeals court rulings that blocked the respective laws from going into effect will remain in place and Medicaid patients will continue to be covered at Planned Parenthood clinics for non-abortion related procedures.
On Thursday, the Tennessee Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Cyntoia Brown–a sex-trafficking victim who at 16 was sentenced to life in prison for killing a 43-year-old Nashville man who bought her for sex–will have to serve at least 51 years in prison before being eligible for release.
A lawsuit was filed on Thursday against the New York Police Department after officers forced a Bronx woman to give birth while shackled and handcuffed in February.
The Asia Foundation has released their annual Afghanistan survey titled Afghanistan in 2018: A Survey of the Afghan People. It showed an improvement in the perception on the rights and participation of women and girls in society, but there are still many challenges faced by women in the region.
Juan David Ortiz, A US border patrol agent, was indicted on capital murder charge for killing four women and kidnapping one woman. Ortiz was also indicted on one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, one count of unlawful restraint with reckless exposure to serious bodily injury, and evading arrest. His charges make him […]
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research released a new study that claims that women today earn only 49 cents to a man’s dollar, not the 80 cents previously stated. While the earnings gap between men and women has narrowed, progress in the past 15 years has decreased. However the study does not break the findings […]
The Republican-controlled Wisconsin state legislature has voted to strip Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers and Democratic Attorney General-elect Josh Kaul of a significant amount of power, a last ditch effort by lame-duck Republican Governor Scott Walker to undermine the democratic process after losing his race in November. Governor Walker is expected to sign the bill into […]
A sports complex in Tijuana that sheltered over 5,000 migrants closed due to health issues and poor sanitary conditions. Since Thursday, migrants have been transferred from the sports complex to a new shelter and by Sunday, most migrants have been transferred. However, CNN officials found groups of migrants camping outside the gates of the sports […]
Today, Russia’s human rights commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova admitted that she regrets Russia’s decision to decriminalize domestic abuse last year and called for new laws to protect women and children from domestic violence. Moskalkova stated today that she “believes that decriminalization was a mistake and we need to adopt a law to combat domestic abuse.” She […]
On Saturday, Oklahoma Senator Joseph Silk introduced the Abolition of Abortion in Oklahoma Act (SB13), a bill that not only criminalizes abortions, but classifies abortions as homicides that can be punishable by life imprisonment. Whilst discussing the bill, Senator Silk equated seeking an abortion to killing a one-year-old child. According to Sen. Silk, SB 13’s […]
Nancy Pelosi promised to pass legislation protecting Dreamers and immigrants with Temporary Protected Status (TPS) once the House Democratic majority convenes in January. Colleagues are urging Pelosi to schedule a vote on bills that protect Dreamers and TPS immigrants from deportation and provide pathways to citizenship within the first 100 days of the new Congress. […]
On Thursday, the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) announced they will introduce the very first National Domestic Workers Bill of Rights when the new Congress convenes next year. The bill, co-sponsored by Representative Pramila Jayapal and Senator Kamala Harris, would increase wages, labor conditions and protections for domestic workers. Domestic workers are often underpaid, and […]
