NEWSFLASH: A Legal Fight Over Arizona’s Abortion Ban

jan brewer_arizona

Arizona state legislators were smug last April when they passed a 20-week abortion ban that remains the earliest abortion restriction in the nation. But enacting this law won’t be a cakewalk for anti-choice Gov. Jan Brewer and co. The Center for Reproductive Rights and the ACLU of Arizona have joined forces in fighting the Arizona [...]

NEWSFLASH: Afghan Women’s Rights Leader Assassinated

Hanifa Safi

The director of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in the Laghman province of eastern Afghanistan, Hanifa Safi, was assassinated on Friday. A magnetic bomb, attached to her car, exploded as she left her home with her husband and daughter, both of whom were critically injured. Safi, a leading Afghan politician, was a longtime advocate of [...]

NEWSFLASH: Rape Prevention “Distracts From Public Health,” Says S.C. Governor

NikkiHaley_South Carolina

You can add South Carolina to the growing list of states denying women protection of their rights. Wednesday, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed nearly half a million dollars in the state budget that was allocated to sexual assault services and prevention programs. No money will thus be allocated to those programs. In an attempt to [...]

NEWSFLASH: American Women Olympians Outnumber Men

Olympics

For the first time, the United States will send more women athletes than men to the Olympic Games, which begin on July 27 in London. Of the 530 U.S. Olympians competing at the London 2012 Games, there will be 269 women and 261 men on Team USA, according to the official team roster released by the [...]

NEWSFLASH: Fetal Personhood Amendment Defeated in Ohio

Personhood Amendment Ohio

A measure to declare fertilized eggs “persons” with full constitutional rights met its makers in Ohio today after failing to receive enough signatures from Ohio voters. The measure, which advocated for amending the state’s constitution, garnered a mere 30,000 of the estimated 385,000 signatures necessary to be placed on the statewide ballot this November. The anti-abortion [...]

NEWSFLASH: North Carolina to Defund Planned Parenthood

North Carolina Defunds Planned Parenthood

First it was New Jersey, now it’s North Carolina’s turn to take away family planning funds. In a “midnight vote” late on Monday, the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode Gov. Bev Perdue’s veto on the annual budget, thus stripping an estimated $200,000 from the state’s two remaining Planned Parenthood affiliates, which oversee nine clinics. This vote [...]

NEWSFLASH: N.J. Gov. Christie Eliminates Family Planning…Again

chris christie_family planning

Just days after the New Jersey state legislature approved a bill that would restore the state’s family planning fund from oblivion, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took out his red pen and vetoed it last Friday. This is the third time in three years Christie has vetoed the family planning budget since he took office [...]

BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care Act

affordable care act

After months of anticipation, the Supreme Court ruled on President Obama’s Affordable Care Act this morning, upholding the entire 2,000-page bill—even the controversial individual mandate. The individual mandate—which has sparked much opposition in the last two years since the president’s health care overhaul—was ruled constitutional because the Court read it as a “tax.” According to [...]

NEWSFLASH: New Jersey Senate Reverses Family Planning Cuts

new jersey_women_health

[Update: Gov. Chris Christie has threatened the New Jersey state legislature with using his line-item veto. The governor has until the end of the week to either approve or reject the funding proposals.] It’s time for New Jerseyans to break out the fist pumps for something other than free vodka shots at the Shore. The [...]

NEWSFLASH: Congress Proposes Law to Right the Wrong Wal-Mart Decision

Wal-Mart Protest

A group of women banded together more than 10 years ago to file a landmark civil rights lawsuit against one of the largest corporations in the nation. In Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, former Wal-Mart employees exposed the company’s widespread discrimination against women in pay and promotions, accusing the conglomerate of perpetuating a sex-stereotyping culture. The women, [...]