Craft store and evangelical-based Hobby Lobby filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday against the Obama Administration over the mandate requiring employers to provide coverage for the morning-after pill and other medications. Under the new mandate, companies who do not provide coverage that includes medication such as the morning after pill can face fines of up […]
Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL) told contraception advocate and Georgetown Law student Sandra Fluke to “go get a job” at a campaign event on Saturday. Congressman Walsh addressed a crowd of supporters in Addison, Illinois, on Saturday about Sandra Fluke’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. He said “Think about this, a 30, 31, 32 year […]
Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown Law School student Republicans refused to allow to testify at a House Committee hearing on the religious exemption on contraception coverage and women’s health, addressed the Democratic National Convention last night in Charlotte, North Carolina. Fluke spoke about how the outcome of November Election could impact women’s rights. Earlier this year, […]
Senior Cardinal Timothy Dolan will give the benediction at the Democratic National Convention a week after leading prayer at the Republican National Convention. Cardinal Dolan is the senior Catholic Cardinal in the United States and is also President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. Earlier this year, documents surfaced showing that Dolan, as then […]
Mitt Romney will announce that the senior US Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan will give a benediction at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida. Cardinal Dolan was requested to speak personally by convention organizers, according to a press statement released by the Archdiocese of New York. The press release states that the Cardinal is will […]
On Saturday Mitt Romney announced Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) as his vice-presidential running mate. Ryan is widely known as the architect of a budget passed by the House in Spring 2012 that dismantles Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. The Daily Beast reports that the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said Ryan’s budget “calls for […]
By Cindy Pearson, co-founder, National Women’s Health Network HERvotes is joining our voices together in a blog carnival to celebrate and defend women’s preventive services, including contraception. Starting August 1, all new insurance plans have to cover seven preventive services with no extra fees. That means women won’t have to put off their well-woman exam […]
On Friday, a U.S. District Court judge issued a temporary injunction, which allows Hercules Industries Inc. to avoid penalties for not providing contraceptives in its company’s health care plan. This controversial case is the first to successfully petition for a temporary exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s birth control requirement. Judge John Kane ruled that […]
Monsignor William Lynn, the high-ranking Philadelphia Catholic Church official convicted of covering up priests’ sexual abuses in a landmark court case, was sentenced to three to six years in prison yesterday. The Washington Post reports that Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said Lynn “enabled monsters in clerical garb … to destroy the souls of […]
Today, Air Force Sergeant Luis Walker’s court-martial in the Lackland Air Force Base sexual abuse scandal begins in Texas. Walker faces 28 charges including multiple counts of rape, aggravated sexual contact and aggravated sexual assault. If convicted of all counts, he could get life in prison and a dishonorable discharge. A seven-member jury of military-personnel […]
A woman is suing a priest who allegedly sexually abused her during exorcisms he performed on her over a two year period. The woman, identified as Jane Doe, filed a suit against the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, its Bishop Paul S. Loverde, and Human Life International, an anti-abortion ministry that the alleged abuser, Rev. […]
A new poll released this week by Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) shows that American voters overwhelmingly support access to affordable contraception. According to the poll (PDF), the Obama Administration’s rule under the Affordable Care Act that requires all employers, including religiously-affiliated employers, to include contraception coverage […]
A judge has ordered the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City- St. Joseph into arbitration to determine if the diocese violated a 2008 settlement with victims who were sexually abused by priests. In the 2008 settlement, 47 plaintiffs settled their claims with the diocese for $10 million and an agreement that the diocese would make 19 […]
A group of US Catholic nuns will embark on a multi-state bus tour starting next Monday, following a week in which the Catholic Church hierarchy received public attention for reprimanding nuns for focusing on issues of poverty, was forced to defend its fight against birth control, and has been embattled with state legislatures over sex […]
We did it! With your help, feminists made a big difference in North Dakota and pro-choice forces won BIG. Thank you for your support! And thank you North Dakota voters! North Dakotans voted overwhelmingly – 64% to 36% – against Measure 3 the so-called “religious liberties” state Constitutional amendment that could have been a huge […]
A nun censured by the Vatican last week for writing a book on sexuality has gained national attention and her book has shot up the bestseller list, six years after it was first released. Sister Margaret A. Farley’s book, “Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” focuses on sexuality and veers from the Church’s […]
The Vatican censured a US nun, Sister Margaret Farley, on Monday because she wrote a book on sexuality. The book, “Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” focused on sexuality and veered from the Church’s teachings on masturbation, homosexuality, remarriage after divorce, and gay marriage. According to CBS News, Farley said that she had […]
The Vatican has appointed a bishop to reform a group of American Nuns that it says is promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” The Vatican investigated the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a group that represents most of the US Catholic nuns. The investigation concluded that the US nuns were not […]
Xavier University announced yesterday that it will no longer provide contraceptive coverage for its employees. Xavier, a Jesuit university in Cincinnati, Ohio, said that its employee insurance plans will no longer cover birth control as of July 1. In his letter to the faculty announcing the change, Xavier president Michael J. Graham wrote that he […]
In Philadelphia, opening statements are scheduled to be delivered today in the case of Monsignor William Lynn, who has been charged with two counts of “endangering the welfare of a child.” This is the first time a high-ranking official in the Roman Catholic Church is facing sexual abuse charges in the US for the failure […]
