Speak Out for Women, sponsored by the Virginia Coalition for Women’s Health, attracted hundreds yesterday in Richmond with to protest draft regulations for the state’s abortion providers. The Virginia Board of Health will vote today on ideologically-driven unnecessary regulations requiring abortion clinics to meet hospital-like standards and building requirements. If passed in their present form, […]
The Center for Constitutional Rights and Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) filed a case with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials – Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal […]
According to new 2010 census figures released yesterday, the gender wage gap has not changed in the past year, with women still earning only 77 cents to every dollar earned by men overall. African American women earned only 67.7 cents and Latinas earned 58.7 cents on the male dollar. The census report also revealed that […]
On Monday, a disciplinary hearing began in Kansas for Dr. Ann Kristin Neuhaus, to determine whether she performed adequate mental health examinations on 11 patients (ages 10 to 18) before referring them to Dr. George Tiller for late-term abortions in 2003. The complaint was filed by an Operation Rescue staffer in 2006 before the Kansas […]
Last Thursday, anti-abortion advocates protested at Robert Frost Middle School in Rockville, Maryland. The protestors, who carried signs displaying the picture, phone number, and full name of a sixth grader’s father, who rents a condo to the Germantown Reproductive Health clinic, have been trying to shut down the Reproductive Health Services clinic since December, when […]
“Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in Colombia: Causes and Consequences,” the first report released in approximately twenty years analyzing abortion in Columbia, revealed that approximately “one in 26 Columbian women had an abortion in 2008” and that an estimated one third of pregnancies resulted in an abortion. The study, released by the Guttmacher Institute, indicated […]
On Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court voted seven to two to permit Measure 26, the Personhood Amendment, to be listed on the state ballot in November. The Court ruled that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi, which filed the case, did not meet the legal burden required to block the measure from appearing […]
The Presidents’ job plan would have a positive impact on women’s jobs, woman-owned small businesses, small to medium sized non-profits, and on payroll tax savings for some 78 million employed women, and an extension of unemployment insurance for unemployed workers, including some 2.6 million women. “Many of the proposals for job creation, job retention, job […]
Yesterday the three judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond Virginia unanimously ruled to throw out a lawsuit filed by the state of Virginia challenging the constitutionality of the mandated minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). This provision requires that a person purchase […]
Yesterday approximately 3,000 Hyatt employees began a week long strike in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Honolulu to protest Hyatt’s outsourcing practices and unsafe working conditions. According to UNITE HERE, a union comprised of over 250,000 hotel and hospitality workers across North America, since its contract with Hyatt Hotels Corporation expired approximately a year […]
On Thursday, the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU-NCLF) filed a lawsuit in the federal district court for the Eastern District of North Carolina against the state over the production of new anti-abortion license plates that read “Choose Life.” The ACLU argues that the production of these plates is “unconstitutional viewpoint […]
On Tuesday, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals supported a district court ruling blocking a law eliminating family insurance benefits for same sex partners of Arizona government workers. This ruling comes after a long court battle, which started in September 2009 when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) signed a law repealing same sex partner […]
In Kansas, Dr. Herbert Hodes, and his daughter, Dr. Traci Nauser, who sought an injunction in July in an effort to keep their medical practice open, indicated that they would consider dropping their lawsuit if Kansas state health officials withdrew some of the state’s arbitrary and hastily-imposed regulations for abortion providers. In July, US District […]
On Tuesday, Rep. Tammy Baldwin ( D-Wis) announced her bid for U.S. Senate which, if successful, would make her the first openly gay senator in U.S. history. Baldwin is a champion of the rights of the middle class, stating, “I’ve decided to run for the US Senate because I believe Wisconsin families need a senator […]
While visiting refugee camps in Kenya late last week, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin emphasized the dire situation of women as a result of the famine in the Horn of Africa. According to the UNFPA “12.4 million people have been affected by severe drought,” and 3.7 million people have been displaced […]
In California, volunteers for the Stop SB48 campaign have begun to collect signatures for a ballot referendum to repeal the Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, and Respectful (FAIR) Education law, which will require that school curricula and textbooks include information about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Americans. In order for the referendum to appear on the ballot, […]
On Friday, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals overturned US District Judge Karen Schreier’s ruling to block a provision in a South Dakota law requiring that doctors tell women seeking abortions that they have “an existing relationship with that unborn human being and that the relationship enjoys protection under the United States Constitution and […]
In Idaho, Jennie Linn McCormack filed the first-ever lawsuit in the country challenging the state’s “fetal pain” law, which bans abortions in the state after 20 weeks gestation. McComark, noting the lack of accessible abortion providers for women in southeast Idaho, contends that Idaho’s law unconstitutionally restricts women in the region from accessing abortion services. […]
On Tuesday, US District Court Judge Thomas Marten ordered the state to resume federal funding for Planned Parenthood, with funding to be allocated on a quarterly schedule, and not a monthly schedule, as requested by the state. The ruling comes after Planned Parenthood indicated that it would close down its clinic in Hays, Kansas if […]
On Tuesday, the California state Senate voted 21 to 12 to pass the Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers Act, which would ban the use of bisphenol A (BPA) from children’s feeding containers. The ban will apply to all baby bottles and sippy cups made or sold after July 1, 2013. Executive Director of Physicians for Social […]
