At long last, the emergency contraception (EC) drug Plan B is poised to become available over the counter with no age restriction. EC has been available via prescription since 1998, and in 2003, the FDA began considering making it available over the counter. But the process was bogged down in internal debate. FDA medical official [...]
After languishing for nearly five months, a “fetal heartbeat” bill that passed the Ohio House in June has reared its ugly head and been referred to a Senate committee. Though Senate president Tom Niehaus says more closed-door meetings will come first, the Health, Human Services and Aging Committee will begin deliberations on the measure soon. [...]
At long last, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) have introduced the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) for reauthorization. The law, first enacted in 1994 and reauthorized in 2000 and 2005, expired on September 30. VAWA programs improve criminal justice and community-based responses to domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking; create legal [...]
Yesterday, some House Republicans attempted to sacrifice the reproductive-health needs of trafficking victims to political gamesmanship. (Yes, given the players involved, we think gamesmanship is the right phrase). At GOP prompting, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings on the administration’s rejection of a grant application from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) [...]
This week offers a feminist smorgasbord: You can Occupy, learn women’s health lobbying tactics, toast Courtney Martin, discuss men and feminism, or take a lesson or two from Lysistrata. Dakar, Senegal: Sponsored by a who’s who of international family-planning organizations, (including, well, WHO, as well as USAID, UNFPA and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), [...]
I spend a lot of time on this blog pointing out the totally outrageous attempts of the anti-choice movement to take away women’s constitutionally guaranteed right to make their own medical decisions in private. As part of that, I admit that I often deliberately try to rile y’all up, because sometimes you’ve gotta get mad [...]
According to an inside scoop from RHReality Check, President Obama is leaning toward bowing to pressure from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to exempt religiously affiliated organizations from mandatory birth control coverage. This would mean that organizations that aren’t actual churches–such as colleges, universities and hospitals–would get out of covering birth control in insurance [...]
Was it Thomas Jefferson who said “eternal vigilance is the price of freedom” or Mad Eye Moody? Oh that’s right, it was actually a woman–suffragist and anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells–though she rarely gets credit for it. I evoke her fightin’ spirit here and beg your patience as I point out a few bits of [...]
In August, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a ruling requiring all insurers to cover contraception without a co-pay starting next year. Good news for women, right? So it’s no surprise that those who have been pushing woman-unfriendly reproductive policy–namely the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops–are lobbying for exemptions. They want leeway not [...]
This week, feminist globe-hoppers can say their farewells to Wangari Maathai, storm the U.S. Senate to demand jobs and more! Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and London: This week The Green Belt Movement is hosting three memorials for their Nobel prize-winning founder Wangari Maathai, who passed away this fall: – on Tuesday, November 15 in Washington, [...]
