The new Aurora, Illinois Planned Parenthood clinic has been forced to delay its anticipated September 18 opening. Planned Parenthood/Chicago Area is currently fighting the City of Aurora for withholding its business operating permit. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Planned Parenthood firmly states in a press release that it is “seeking to operate a medical […]
The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego reached a nearly $200 million settlement on Friday with 144 victims of alleged abuse by church clergy members. The $198.1 million settlement, if approved by a judge, marks the second-largest payment by a Roman Catholic diocese since widespread claims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy became public in […]
State-mandated changes at three Albany, NY-area hospitals could limit women’s access to reproductive care. Schenectady County’s Ellis Hospital may not provide abortion services after it takes over Bellevue Women’s Hospital, a non-profit specialty hospital in Niskayuna, and merges with St. Clare’s, a Catholic hospital that does not provide abortions or distribute contraceptives, the Times Union, […]
A US-sponsored birth control program that provides free birth control pills, condoms, and injectibles to the Philippines will end in 2008, causing concern among family planning advocates. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is slowly phasing out the donation program, which has provided the bulk of free contraceptives in the Philippines over the last […]
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed late Saturday to pay a record $660 million settlement to 508 victims sexually abused by the clergy. The resolution comes after four years of legal battles and just two days before the trial in the case was scheduled to begin. The payout is the largest of any Roman Catholic […]
Morning-after pills will be included in Brazil’s newly expanded birth control program, a health official announced Monday. Last month, President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva’s announced that the government will also provide low-priced birth control pills at drug stores, in order to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions. Abortion is only legal […]
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced yesterday his government’s plan to subsidize the price of birth control pills. A months supply of pills will cost the equivalent of 20 American cents at private drug stores. Women should be able to purchase the pills at 10,000 pharmacies by the end of the year. Da […]
Connecticut Governor M Jodi Rell (R) signed a bill yesterday ensuring that all licensed health care facilities make emergency contraception available to victims of sexual assault. The law, which will take effect on October 1, 2007, requires that victims of sexual assault receive medically accurate and objective information about emergency contraception (EC) and are provided […]
In a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), President Bush made clear his intent to veto any legislation that would improve access to abortion or support stem cell research. “I am concerned that this year Congress may consider legislation that could substantially change federal policies […]
A 17-year-old Irish girl petitioned Ireland’s High Court yesterday for the right to travel to England to obtain an abortion, which remains illegal in Ireland even in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal anomalies. The girl, known in the media as “Miss D,” has been in the custody of Ireland’s Health Services Executive (HSE) […]
The Mexico City Legislative Assembly voted yesterday evening to legalize first-trimester abortions in a 46-19 vote, with one abstention. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, a member of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, has already promised to sign the bill into law, which will likely spark court battles in the predominately Roman Catholic country. The […]
World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub deleted all references to family planning last week from a loan program for Madagascar, an island nation off the southeastern coast of Africa. In the loan program’s original draft, the World Bank, which is responsible for providing loans and grants for development aid in order to reduce poverty, […]
Amnesty International’s UK branch (AIUK) voted last weekend at their annual conference in favor of supporting the right to safe and legal abortion. Until now, AIUK, like other branches of the international organization, has maintained a neutral stance on abortion issues. In response to current repressive abortion laws, however, AIUK has changed its position in […]
A bill that would legalize abortion laws in Mexico City is moving through the capital’s city assembly and is expected to pass within months. Currently, Mexico City allows abortion only when a woman’s life is threatened, while the rest of the heavily Roman Catholic country only permits abortion in the case of rape. This new […]
Father Robert Drinan, a Jesuit priest and lawyer who served in the US Congress for ten years died on Sunday at the age of 86. Father Drinan defied directives from Father Pedro Arrupe, then head of the Jesuit order, and ran for Congress in 1970 on an anti-war platform. He succeeded, representing Massachusetts’ third district […]
Supporters and opponents of reproductive freedom participated in events across the country yesterday, marking the 34th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v Wade that legalized abortion for women in the US. Across the country – from Washington, DC to Wichita, KS and San Francisco, CA – events marked the political climate around […]
Though Massachusetts state law mandates that hospitals offer emergency contraception (EC) to rape survivors, a recent survey reveals that it may not be readily accessible in all state emergency rooms. Fourteen percent of Massachusetts hospitals required women to consult a doctor or take a rape exam before receiving EC. ‘These policies are problematic because they […]
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland and about 150 people allegedly molested by Portland priests have reached a settlement agreement for an undisclosed amount, US District Judge Michael Hogan announced yesterday. Because the Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2004, the settlement must still go before a bankruptcy court judge. Insurance companies, however, have already agreed […]
The Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing Rhode Island College (RIC) for violation of the First Amendment after the school removed signs that protested the refusal of contraceptives by pharmacists. RIC’s Women’s Studies Organization posted signs with the slogan “Keep Your Rosaries Off Our Ovaries” near campus entrances last […]
Many women”s rights advocates are arguing that the recently passed abortion ban in Nicaragua caused the death of a young woman experiencing complications with her pregnancy earlier this week. Jazmina Bojorge, who was about five months pregnant, arrived at a hospital complaining of a fever and abdominal pains and died 36 hours later, Kaiser Daily […]
