A poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation that only about 50 percent of uninsured, non-elderly Americans understand the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), including the tax credits for people with low and middle incomes. According to the poll, 31 percent of people believed that the law would help them, while 14 percent […]
Yesterday, the US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio decided with a 2-1 majority that the mandated minimum coverage provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), which requires that a person purchase minimum health coverage or face a modest monetary penalty beginning in 2014, is constitutional under the Commerce Clause. […]
Yesterday the Rhode Island Senate voted 21 to 16 to pass a bill that would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions and attain some of the same benefits enjoyed by married couples, such as the right to visit a partner in the hospital and make decisions about the partner’s medical care and the […]
Opponents of a controversial anti-union law in Ohio have collected more than five times the necessary signatures to put repeal question in front of voters on the November ballot. Union members and supporters paraded triumphantly through Columbus to the Secretary of State’s office behind a truck carrying some 1,500 boxes of petitions. The number set […]
At least five women were arrested in Jeddah, on the country’s western coast, for violating Saudi Arabia’s ban on female drivers, according to rights activist Eman al-Nafjan. The arrests come nearly two weeks after Saudi women began campaigning for the right to drive. “This is the first big pushback from authorities it seems,” Nafjan told […]
North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue (D) vetoed the Woman’s Right to Know bill, requiring women to undergo counseling and a 24-hour waiting period before having abortions. The first-term Democrat called the bill an attempted “intervention” by government in the relationship between women and their doctors. “I find it repugnant to women and men and families; […]
On Monday a measure was passed by the Texas House and Senate that would both defund abortion providers like Planned Parenthood and pressure the Obama administration to change Texas’s Medicaid program to a block grant. The measure allows the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to grant family planning funds based on a tiered […]
Yesterday, the Ohio Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved three extreme anti-abortion bills in what women’s reproductive rights advocates are calling “anti-women’s day” in Ohio. The Ohio House voted 54 to 43 along party lines to pass the heartbeat bill, which would ban abortions after the fetal heartbeat is detected, which may be as early as […]
US District Court Judge Tanya Walton Pratt granted a preliminary injunction to block a law eliminating state and Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN).The injunction allows PPIN clinics providing preventive health services to again receive Medicaid reimbursements. The Indiana solicitor general indicated that it will appeal the decision to the Seventh US Circuit […]
In a 5-4 vote yesterday, the US Supreme Court struck down as an unconstitutional violation of free speech a provision in an Arizona public campaign finance law that gives additional public funds to a candidate who adheres to personal spending limits of $500, agrees to participate in at least one debate, will return unspent money, […]
Friday night, the New York Senate passed the Marriage Equality Act by a vote of 33 to 29, with four Republicans joining all but one Democrat in supporting the measure. Governor Cuomo signed the bill into law that evening. Once the law goes into effect in 30 days, same-sex couples will have the right to […]
Last night the New Jersey Assembly voted 46 to 32 to pass a bill that would take away the collective bargaining rights of public union workers on health care and increase health care insurance costs for public workers by 35 percent. The bill would also eliminate cost of living adjustments for public workers’ pensions for […]
Yesterday, the New York Senate delayed voting on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Republican lawmakers are scheduled to meet to discuss whether a vote should be taken on the issue. The bill, called the Marriage Equality Act, would grant same-sex couples the right to marry, as well as other rights, benefits and protections, such […]
North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue (D) on Thursday vetoed a bill to require ID at the polls, saying it would put too much of a burden on voters. “We must always be vigilant in protecting the integrity of our elections,” said the first-term Democrat in a press release. “But requiring every voter to present a government-issued […]
The Kansas Department of Health and the Environment announced that it will notify the state’s three abortion clinics on July 1 concerning whether the clinics will receive the necessary licenses to continue operating. Peter Brownlie, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, expressed his concern that by imposing the new regulations, which […]
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has issued a new set of guidelines stating that intrauterine devices (IUDs) and contraceptive implants should be offered as an option for birth control for all healthy adult women and teenagers in the July issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. ACOG did not endorse these methods of contraception […]
This afternoon Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) re-introduced the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA currently has 160 co-sponsors in the House, including Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI), Chair of the Congressional Women’s Caucus. Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal spoke at a press conference today announcing the bill’s re-introduction, stating, “Women and men […]
Yesterday the Louisiana House of Representatives voted 85 to 0 on a bill that would require that clinics providing abortion services post signs indicating that a woman cannot be forced to obtain an abortion and that her partner is legally obligated to pay child support. The signs must also state that services are available to […]
Last week, the Maryland Board of Public Works has agreed to lease public land in Montgomery County to Holy Cross Hospital, a Roman Catholic Hospital. The hospital will likely not offer a full range of reproductive health services, including access to birth control or abortion services. Jodi Finkelstein, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland, stated, […]
In a critical five to four vote, with Justice Antonin Scalia writing for the five justice majority, the Supreme Court made it much harder for the victims of discrimination to take class action cases against large employers. The US Supreme Court majority ruled that the largest sex-discrimination class-action suit in history, filed on behalf of […]
