Women’s Rights

The 8-member U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case this Wednesday which could reinterpret the Court’s ruling in Planned Parenthood v. Casey and be the deciding factor in whether women across America have access to legal abortion.  Since 1992 Casey has held as the most important Supreme Court decision on abortion since Roe …

An appeals court in New Orleans ruled on Wednesday that a 2014 anti-abortion law will be upheld in the state of Louisiana. According to abortion rights groups, this order will lead to the closure of three out of four of Louisiana’s remaining abortion clinics. HB 388 was signed into law by …

Ohio Governor John Kasich signed House Bill 294 on Sunday, an anti-abortion measure designed to blocked Planned Parenthood from receiving funding.  While the bill has very little direct impact on abortion services, it does block state grants and some federal funds that were intended for women and children’ health care …

In a report published today by Time magazine, Matt Sandy reported on the plans of Brazilian lawmakers to increase the penalties for abortion, despite the pleas of international bodies such as the UN to legalize abortion during the Zika epidemic. Brazil, like many Latin American nations affected by Zika, does …

At a congressional hearing about the Zika virus and its spread from the developing world, House GOP members spoke out against efforts to provide contraception and abortion access to women who have become infected by the viral strain known to cause severe birth defects.  The $1.8 billion in emergency aid requested by …

File this one somewhere between “duh” and “would you really have expected otherwise?” A former staffer from Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign has alleged that the campaign pays women staffers far less than men working the same position and that sexism is rampant from top-down throughout the campaign organization. As first …

Now companies with 100 employees or more must disclose their pay data along with the gender, race and ethnicity of their employees, President Barack Obama ordered today.  According to the president, black and Latina women are suffering the most from unequal pay practices.  Disclosure of wages will make it easier …

The founder of Bikram yoga, 69-year-old millionaire Bikram Choudhury has been ordered by an Los Angeles court to pay $6.5 million to his former lawyer Minakshi Jafa-Bodden. Ms. Jafa-Bodden represented Choudhury from 2011 to 2013.  She claims she lost her job because because she spoke out about his sexual harassment and …

Two anti-abortion activists for the group Center for Medical Progress were indicted by a grand jury in Harris County, Texas for their activities in secretly recording a video which purported to show Planned Parenthood employees illegally selling fetal tissue for profit.  The same grand jury has stated that it has found no …

Florida Rep. Charles Van Zant, R-Keystone Heights has been trying every year since 2010 to introduce anti-abortion legislation; however, his proposals have never advanced to consideration by a committee.  Monday Rep. Carlos Trujillo, R-Miami, the chairman of the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee has agreed to consider the bill. By an 8-3 vote Monday afternoon, a …

The Republican Majority Whip for the Tennessee House Of Representatives has agreed to resign his title – but not his seat – after being exposed sexually harassing three different women. Via Raw Story: State Rep. Jeremy Durham officially stepped down hours after the GOP leadership released a statement saying he was …

President Obama didn’t know that women continue to be taxed on tampons in 40 U.S. states until asked about it by YouTube star Ingrid Nilson.  In her interview with the president, Obama reacted, “I have no idea why states would tax these as luxury items. I suspect it’s because men were making the …

Via Huffington Post: “Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco on Thursday against the anti-abortion activists that produced a series of heavily edited, secretly recorded videos of the family planning provider’s staffers talking about fetal tissue donations. The civil suit accuses the defendants — the anti-abortion group Center for Medical …