Last week, the Michigan Senate passed a slew of measures intended to make it even more difficult for women in the state to access and pay for abortions. Bills 612, 613 and 614 [pdf] if enacted by the state’s House, will ban abortion coverage by any private or state-based health insurance plans unless the woman’s [...]
Najia Sediqi, the acting head of women’s affairs in Laghman Province in eastern Afghanistan, was on her way to work on Monday when she was shot to death by two motorcyclists. This is the second time in six months a woman holding this position has been assassinated. In July, Sediqi’s predecessor, Hanifa Safi, was killed [...]
On Tuesday, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously to extend abortion insurance coverage for rape or incest victims in the military. This amendment to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), first introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) last year, would mean that service women no longer have to pay out of pocket to terminate those [...]
If you visited any of Victoria’s Secret’s social media outlets last night, you might have noticed they were advertising something slightly different from the usual lacy thongs and push-up bras. Within ten hours, 50,000 people had visited PinkLovesConsent.com, a Victoria’s Secret site featuring a collection of consent-promoting underwear. “Why does Pink heart consent?,” reads the [...]
When Mckenna Pope, a New Jersey eighth-grader, found her younger brother “cooking” tortillas on his lamp’s light bulb, she knew exactly what to get him for Christmas: the Easy-Bake Ultimate Oven by Hasbro. However, when she and her parents looked into purchasing one for the 4-year-old boy, they were troubled by the fact that it [...]
While serving in Afghanistan, Marine First Lieutenant Zoe Bedell and her Female Entanglement Team of 46 women worked within an insurgent-heavy area to improve the quality of education and health care for Afghan women and children while also gathering intelligence. In Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. Jennifer Hunt (who works with the Army’s Sexual Assault Prevention [...]
It’s that time of year again: On Monday, TIME published its list of nominees for 2012′s Person of the Year. This annual designation recognizes a person or group that has significantly influenced the year’s events. The title is “bestowed by the editors on the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, [...]
The United Nations General Assembly’s human rights committee unanimously called for a global ban on female genital mutilation (FGM). Describing the practice as harmful and “a serious threat to the psychological, sexual and reproductive health of women and girls,” the committee is now asking the U.N.’s 193 member states to denounce the practice, enforce legislation [...]
Last week, Michigan lawmakers introduced legislation that, if passed in the current lame-duck session, would allow pregnant women to claim fetuses of at least 12 weeks as dependents for income tax purposes. Sponsors claim that House Bills 5684 and 5685, which could translate to a $160 dollar savings for expectant parents. “Money saved there could [...]
Apparently, there are a few things we can learn from our distant primate relatives. Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal conducted a fairness experiment in which he put two Capuchin monkeys side by side and had them perform the same tasks. If both monkeys are given the same reward, a piece of cucumber, then they happily [...]
