Catholic Bishops Lose Grants, Raise Stink

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) [...]

Helping Trafficking Victims Isn’t Biased

Earlier this week, Michael Gerson, an op-ed writer for The Washington Post, penned a particularly troubling piece, accusing the Obama administration—and the ACLU—of anti-Catholic bias, because “the conscience protections of Catholics are under assault.” The “conscience protections” he mentions are really a license for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, powerful lobbyists whose political agenda [...]

Mississippi Blues

Folks, we’ve got a situation in Mississippi. In September, the state’s Supreme Court decided to allow a so-called “personhood” amendment to appear on the ballot this November 8. In addition to electing a governor, a secretary of state, an attorney general and members of the state legislature, voters will be asked to decide whether to [...]

NEWSFLASH: ACLU Sues To Block Kansas Abortion Bill

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed suit this week in an attempt to block a Kansas law that bans private health insurance plans from covering abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 87 percent of employer-based insurance policies nationwide cover abortions. The Kansas bill forces private insurance companies to remove abortion from the list [...]

Economic Woes, Nefarious PACs and 100 Years of Lucy: Editors’ Picks, July 31-August 6

For anyone who depends on money to fund their existence, getting through this week may have been an emotional roller coaster. The Senate finally approved the so-called “Satan sandwich” debt plan just hours before the deadline on Tuesday. In spite of that agreement, however, the Dow fell 512.76 points on Thursday, marking the first time [...]

Kissing Is Forbidden

Just outside the town of Ponce, on Puerto Rico’s southern coast, is a prison for girls. Although the place is named “Center for Detention and Treatment” (Centro de Detención y Tratamiento Social), little by way of “treatment” goes on there. Instead, the Ponce facility looks, feels, and functions in many ways like an adult prison. [...]

To Serve and Protect–And Sexually Assault?

Recently, a New York City police officer was charged with raping a drunk and comatose woman while his partner stood watch. The two were cleared of rape charges, to feminist outrage, but the fact that the officer crossed sexual boundaries with a very intoxicated woman was undisputed (he admits to kissing her shoulder). Many of [...]

SlutWalks, IUDs and What Trans People Want: Editors’ Picks: 5/8-5/14

At the ITT List, Lindsay Beyerstein thinks that anti-porn feminist Gail Dines’ critiques of SlutWalk marches completely miss the point. The Peace Corps volunteer rape scandal continues to make headlines. At RH Reality Check, a Peace Corps volunteer says she became pregnant after a Peace Corps employee raped her, only to be told by Peace [...]

Live-Blogging Women’s History: March 16, 1970

March 16, 1970: The publishers of Newsweek now have more confirmation than they might want that their current cover story, “Women in Revolt,” is both accurate and timely. Forty-six women who work for Newsweek announced today that they have filed a complaint against the magazine with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging sex bias–the first [...]

Don’t Ms. These Feminist Events: January 18-23

This is a very special week for feminist events because it marks the 38th anniversary of the oh-so-important Roe v. Wade decision. Roe v. Wade gave women the right to make choices about their own bodies–a right that women have not always had and that we will continue fighting to defend. In college I went [...]

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