The Bridgeport Diocese in Connecticut will settle allegations of priest sexual abuse dating as far back as the 1960s for $21 million. Announced last week, the deal is the second settlement issued by Bridgeport in the last two years and the third largest payout by a US diocese since 2002. Bishop William Lori publicly apologized […]
The new prescription contraceptive Seasonale slated for release later this month has touched off a series of debates over women’s options in birth control and menstrual suppression. Manufactured by Barr Laboratories, Seasonale differs from conventional pills in that contains 84 pills instead of 21, with a cycle of seven placebo pills taken every three months, […]
New York joined California, Washington and New Mexico yesterday, becoming the fourth state to mandate that hospitals offer rape victims emergency contraception (EC). “This is a tremendous victory for the women of New York state,” bill sponsor Assemblywoman Susan John (D-Rochester) told the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. Facing pressure from the state Catholic Conference earlier […]
On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a birth control pill that reduces the number of menstrual cycles a woman has from 13 to four a year. The new pill Seasonale, manufactured by Barr Laboratories, comes in packets of 84 pills instead of 21, with a cycle of seven placebo pills every three […]
In a now familiar move, the US State Department yesterday said it would halt government funding for an HIV/AIDS program serving African and Asian refugees. Despite admitting there was no evidence linking the family planning and abortion services group Marie Stopes International (MSI) with forced abortions and sterilizations in China, State Department officials insisted the […]
In an attempt at reconciliation, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Boston on Saturday offered $55 million to settle more than 500 lawsuits alleging priest sex abuse. Many hailed the proposal as a significant first step, attributing the church’s recent cooperative tone to the installment of Archbishop Sean Patrick O’Malley last month. Jeffrey Newman, an attorney […]
Late last month Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) signed a law clarifying rape as any situation where someone continues to have intercourse after the partner asks to stop. Introduced by state Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Pontiac), the law-prompted by a three-year California court case charging a 17-year-old boy with rape for continuing sex after the 17-year-old […]
Earlier this week, Bishop Sean Patrick O’Malley was installed as the new archbishop of Boston, filling the position vacated by Cardinal Bernard Law last December. O’Malley, 59, one of two high-ranking Franciscan Capuchin friars serving in the US, has a strong history of service for the poor and needy. He is credited with implementing reforms […]
In surprise disagreement with the White House, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted 400-21 to block one aspect of the Federal Communication’s Commission (FCC) recent vote to allow large corporations to have greater control over the media. Last month, the FCC voted to change the media ownership cap to allow a single company to own […]
Anti-abortion protesters threw red paint and eggs at the Women on Waves (WOW) boat and its supporters yesterday. The small group of male protesters, members of The League of Polish Families political party, called the ship’s crew and volunteers “murderers” while waving Polish flags as the ship pulled into the port at Wladyslawowo, reports the […]
FMF Provides Security Training to Mobile Abortion Clinic WASHINGTON, DC– Women on Waves arrives today in Poland, where access to abortion is extremely restricted, to provide abortion and reproductive health services to women on a specially equipped ship. The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is currently onsite providing security training for the Dutch ship, led by […]
Women’s rights advocates are accusing Peruvian Prime Minister Luis Solari and Health Minister Fernando Carbone of attacking women’s reproductive rights. They claim that the Peruvian government is promoting a strict Roman Catholic philosophy, idealizing and pushing motherhood, and restricting contraceptives and birth-control information for the poor, according to the Associated Press. These policies severely restrict […]
After five days of intense negotiation, the Archdiocese of Louisville yesterday announced a $25 million settlement to 243 victims of sexual abuse by 34 priests and other church employees. The news comes less than two weeks after Rev. Louis E. Miller-named in 94 of almost 250 lawsuits against the archdiocese-was sentenced to 20 years in […]
The United Methodists of Eastern North Carolina voted 391-323 last week to strike from the denomination’s Social Principles part of a sentence affirming abortion rights. Specifically, the resolution calls for the deletion of the clause “…we support the legal option of abortion under proper medical procedures.” The resolution will go to the General Conference of […]
Threatened with criminal indictment for concealing pedophilic priests, Bishop Thomas O’Brien of the Diocese of Phoenix signed an agreement early last month, securing his own immunity from prosecution. Under terms of the agreement with Maricopa County Attorney’s office, O’Brien admitted he allowed priests accused of abuse to continue working with children and transferred them without […]
After pleading guilty last March to 50 criminal charges of child sex abuse, a retired priest who had served the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville for over four decades received the maximum prison sentence on Tuesday. Rev. Louis E. Miller, 72, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for abusing 21 children between the ages […]
A multi-million settlement was reached yesterday, curtailing what could have been an arduous legal battle for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester. The $6.4 million settlement – to be distributed starting in December among 61 plaintiffs based on the type and severity of priest sex abuse— brings the diocese’s total cost to $15.5 million for […]
US minority women are less informed about emergency contraception (EC), also known as the “morning-after” pill, according to a new study by ACOG. In a survey of 330 black and Latina women 18 years and older, only eight percent had “some knowledge” of EC, 22 percent had “very little knowledge,” and 70 percent had “no […]
Reacting to comments that include condemnations of liberalism and feminism, Democrats and gay-rights groups have stepped up demands that Republican Senate conference chair Rick Santorum (R-PA) be removed from his leadership post for anti-gay remarks made in an interview with the Associated Press. “Senator Santorum’s comments were unfortunate, and I disagree with him wholeheartedly,” said […]
On college campuses across the nation, the Genocide Awareness Project is pushing its anti-choice propaganda, comparing women who choose to have abortions to Nazis and White Supremacists. Sponsored by the Center for Bio-ethical Reform, the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) assembles graphic anti-choice displays on school property, including 20-foot posters purportedly showing aborted fetuses alongside victims […]
