North Dakota’s state insect is the lady bug, but right now the state is just bugging ladies (let alone everyone who cares about women’s rights). On Friday, North Dakota’s legislature approved a measure that would define life as starting at conception, giving personhood to fertilized eggs in the state Constitution. It’s the first time a [...]
Arkansas has swiftly become a new battlefront of reproductive rights, with the most restrictive abortion ban in the nation. State lawmakers voted last week to override Governor Mike Beebe’s veto of a 12-week abortion ban, meaning it will go into effect this spring. This new law directly contradicts Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court [...]
Portland, OR, joined a small but growing club of progressive cities who are mandating paid sick leave for employees when its city council unanimously passed an Earned Sick Time policy last week. The new law will allow more than 120,000 workers to earn up to five sick days a year, giving employees one hour of [...]
In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day, Women and Girls Lead is launching #SheDocs, an online film festival that gives people everywhere the opportunity to watch gripping, women-centric documentaries from their computers. Ten acclaimed independent documentaries will be available online free during the month of March. One of the most prominent films [...]
The formidable rape kit backlog has been making news for several years. There are hundreds of thousands of untested rape kits in crime facilities around the country, just sitting in storage while the rapists those kits could have helped convict walk the streets. Many jurisdictions have no policies that require the testing of all collected [...]
As if we needed more, here’s yet another reason to love Ellen DeGeneres. Fighting bigotry with humor, Ellen decided to use her daily monologue to speak out against the Boy Scouts of America, who recently postponed a decision on whether to accept openly gay members. Scout leaders were supposed to vote last week on the [...]
Seventeen months after the Defense Department ended Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, it finally released information on what benefits can be extended to same-sex partners of military members. The new list of benefits leaves out some pretty important concerns—such as health care, housing and survivor benefits—because of the ongoing existence of the Defense of Marriage Act. [...]
In an overwhelming 78 to 22 bipartisan vote, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act, a piece of legislation that has protected millions from domestic abuse and reduced the country’s rate of domestic violence. It was basically ensured the bill would pass since it had 62 cosponsors plus additional support from a few Republicans. [...]
Malala Yousafzai, the fearless 15-year-old girl from the Swat region of Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban last year, has released her first video statement since her assassination attempt. This video was made public just days after surgeons at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital of Birmingham placed a titanium plate in her [...]
Super Bowl ads are no joke. Just as the NFL’s best teams face off against each other every year, advertisers jockey for who will have the most memorable commercial, spending around $4 million for less than a minute of airtime. And all for very good reason: An estimated 108 million people watched last night’s Super [...]
