Beginning today, women’s rights groups – including the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the National Organization for Women (NOW), the National Council of Jewish Women, and others – have launched a campaign and blog carnival to support the Obama Administration’s decision to maintain full contraceptive coverage under the Preventive Care package of […]
Today First Lady Michelle Obama joined US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to announce proposed regulations to update the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) for military families. The changes would entitle family members take up to twelve weeks of exigency leave to assist a relative in the armed forces who is deployed on short […]
The first-ever study of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) in the United States, conducted by the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, revealed that 7 percent of people in the United States are infected with oral HPV. This may account for the growing rate of mouth and throat cancers over the past twenty-five years. According to […]
EqualityMaine, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Main Women’s Lobby announced on Thursday that they have 105,000 petitions signed by Maine voters, which far exceeds the 57,277 required to place a question on the November ballot regarding same-sex marriage. The Secretary of State’s Office now has 30 days to certify that the signatures are […]
A new study, conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Raymond and Dr. David Grimes and published in Obstetrics & Gynecology, indicates that the likelihood of women dying during childbirth is 14 times higher than the likelihood of dying during an abortion. According to the study, between 1998 and 2005, one woman died per every 11,000 pregnancies but […]
Yesterday, the Indiana Senate health committee voted 5 to 4 to further restrict women’s access to RU-486, or the abortion pill. If the bill passes, doctors would be required to conduct an in-person examination of a woman before prescribing the abortion pill, as well as give her written information of the risks of an abortion […]
Arizona Representative Trent Franks (R) introduced the District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act this week that would prohibit women in the District of Columbia from having an abortion after 20 weeks gestation unless her life is in danger. The bill is based on the unfounded notion that the fetus can feel pain at […]
At the first public hearing on same-sex marriage in Washington state, Senator Mary Margaret Haugen (D) announced that she will support legalizing same-sex marriage. With Haugen’s vote, considered the deciding vote, the state Senate will have enough votes to pass its same sex-marriage bill, as will the state House. Moreover, Governor Chris Gregoire (D) has […]
Events have been scheduled around the country to commemorate the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. For those living near the nation’s capital, please join the Feminist Majority Foundation for several events in the next few days. Virtual March, January 20-27, 2012 NARAL’s Blog for Choice, January 22, 2012 World Can’t Wait Celebration Dinner and […]
2011 brought an unprecedented assault by anti-abortion and anti-contraception state legislatures on women’s reproductive health—135 reproductive rights laws were enacted in 36 states, 68 percent of which restrict access to abortion. Reproductive-rights groups are fighting back with a simple but powerful pro-choice message: Trust women. The Silver Ribbon Campaign to Trust Women, a coalition of 42 […]
Operation Rescue, an extremist anti-abortion group, has launched a website – abortiondocs.org – which lists the photographs and addresses of abortion providers, as well as maps to find their places of business. The website, which describes itself as the “largest collection of documents on America’s abortion cartel,” aims to list every abortion provider in the […]
Yesterday, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Ron Paul via webcast spoke at a forum in South Carolina, hosted by Personhood USA, to discuss birth control, abortion, and the personhood amendments, which may appear on many state ballots. Mitt Romney did not attend the forum due to a prior commitment. Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, […]
Four bills have been introduced in the Virginia General Assembly that, if passed, would require that women seeking abortions first undergo an ultrasound. NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia said in a statement, “Virginia women should have the option of an ultrasound if they request it or if their doctor recommends it. Politicians should not be allowed to […]
Twenty-five Members of the Kansas House of Representatives announced that they will co-sponsor a personhood amendment in the state. The amendment requires two-thirds vote of both the Kansas House and Senate, and if passed, it would grant full individual rights to fertilized eggs. Personhood amendments threaten emergency contraception, birth control pills, IUDs, and abortions – […]
After San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimia was charged with three misdemeanors resulting from his alleged spousal abuse, the <i>San Francisco Gate</i> released an article indicating that law enforcement officials physically abuse their wives and female partners twice as frequently as civilians. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that incidents of domestic violence occur […]
According to the Washington Post, Randall Terry, the founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, will be campaigning for president in order to take advantage of a Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Communications Act that allows candidates to run even graphic campaign ads in the 45 days prior to the primary election in the state. Terry’s […]
In Florida and Montana anti-abortion initiatives or referenda will appear on state ballots in 2012. In nine additional states, initiatives or referenda to restrict women’s reproductive rights may appear on the 2012 November ballot. Initiatives and Referenda that Will Appear on State Ballots Montana-A parental notification initiative, requiring that the parents of a minor be […]
The Ohio Ballot Board approved the language purposed by anti-abortion rights groups for a personhood amendment, which proposes to give constitutional rights to a fertilized egg. The petitioners must now collect 385,245 signatures from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties in order for the initiative to appear on the state’s November ballot. If the personhood initiative […]
On Tuesday, a three judge panel of the Fifth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to uphold a Texas law requiring that doctors describe ultrasounds in detail and play the sound of the fetal heartbeat, if a heartbeat is present, to women seeking abortions. In doing so, the Fifth Circuit overturned Federal District Court Judge […]
Florida Representative Scott Plakon (R) introduced a bill, called the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination and Equal Opportunity for Life Act, to prohibit women from seeking abortions “based on sex or race of child or race of parent of that child.” The bill also specifies that abortion providers who perform an abortion […]
