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11/20/2009	Rape Kit Backlog Bill Introduced in House of Representatives Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Dean Heller (R-NV) introduced a bill today in the House to address the national crisis of untested rape kit backlogs....
11/10/2009	Women Join Elite Iraqi Police Officer Corps For the first time, 50 women graduated from Iraq's police officer training academy yesterday, alongside 1,050 male peers....
11/9/2009	Senate Introduces Law to Fight Rape Kit Backlog US Senator Al Franken (D-MN) introduced a bill late last week that will address the national backlog of untested rape kits....
10/30/2009	Militants in Somalia Targeting Women Without Veils or Socks Al-Shabaab militants in Somalia are allegedly rounding up and beating women who are not wearing veils or socks....
10/27/2009	House Passes Act that Includes Coast Guard and Cruise Sexual Assault Provisions The House passed a Coast Guard Reauthorization Act Friday that requires annual reporting of the number of sexual assaults on and by members of the Coast Guard and establishes requirements for owners of cruise ships....
10/22/2009	Protesters Clash Over Proposed Peru Abortion Law Change As a Peruvian congressional committee met Tuesday to review a bill allowing limited exceptions to the country's ban on abortion, hundreds of protestors both for and against the measure demonstrated outside....
10/5/2009	Images of Rape Spark Outrage in Guinea Political demonstrations in Guinea have led to the circulation of cell phone snapshots depicting rape against Guinean women....
10/2/2009	Statement of Eleanor Smeal President, Feminist Majority Foundation On the Arrest of Roman Polanski The Feminist Majority Foundation joins our sister feminist organizations in working to ensure rape is prosecuted as the heinous crime that it is, especially against girls....
10/1/2009	UN Security Council Condemns Sexual Violence in War Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the United Nations Security Council yesterday in adopting a resolution condemning sexual violence in war zones....
9/30/2009	Biden Marks Anniversary of Violence Against Women Act Vice President Joe Biden hosted a gathering yesterday for women's rights leaders yesterday to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act....
9/30/2009	Sudanese Refugees Face Rape, Violence Sudanese women refugees living in eastern Chad face a constant threat of rape and other violence against women....
9/25/2009	Ballot Language in Personhood Initiative Approved The Florida Secretary of State's office approved ballot language this week for a so-called personhood initiative proposed by Personhood Florida and the American Life League....
9/18/2009	Military Contractor Wins Right to Sue for Rape The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that former military contractor Jamie Leigh Jones' 2005 federal lawsuit filed against the Halliburton Corporation and its affiliated subsidiaries can be tried in court rather than undergoing binding arbitration....
9/14/2009	Petition Circulating for Florida "Personhood" Initiative A campaign was launched Friday in Florida to put a constitutional amendment on the state's 2010 ballot that would legally define fertilized embryos as people....
9/2/2009	Generic of Plan B Approved for Over-the-Counter Distribution The US Food and Drug Administration has approved emergency contraceptive Next Choice, a generic version of Plan B, for over-the-counter use....
9/1/2009	Virginia Gubernatorial Candidate has Anti-Women's Rights Record The recently published graduate thesis of Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell, who is also the Republican candidate for Virginia Governor, demonstrates opposition to women's rights....
8/20/2009	Bahamas Proposal to Ban Marital Rape Sparks Controversy A bill in the Bahamian legislature that would criminalize marital rape has sparked public debate....
8/18/2009	Marriott Retracts Victim-Blaming Defense Strategy Lawyers representing the Stamford Marriott Hotel & Spa withdrew special defenses Monday in a lawsuit involving a woman who was raped at gunpoint in the hotel's parking garage in front of her children....
8/11/2009	Reports of Rape in Iran Jails Surface Iranian opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi announced Sunday that he has received reports of jailers raping prisoners during the government crackdown on protesters after June's disputed presidential election....
8/10/2009	Hillary Clinton in Congo to Denounce Rape as Weapon of War Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to denounce atrocities against women in the war-ravaged country....
8/6/2009	APA Says Gay-to-Straight Therapy Does Not Work The American Psychological Association (APA) announced yesterday that psychologists should not advise gay clients that therapy can help them become straight....
8/6/2009	Rape of Men Used as Weapon of War in Congo Cases of rape against men are skyrocketing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where rape against women has been increasingly frequently as a weapon of war in recent years....
8/4/2009	Abortion Hotline Launched in Argentina A hotline was launched in Buenos Aires, Argentina last week to give women information they need to terminate pregnancies using the drug Misoprostol....
7/22/2009	New Delhi Supreme Court Rules on Rape Victim's Pregnancy New Delhi's Supreme Court overturned a lower court's decision yesterday, ruling against terminating the pregnancy of a nineteen-year-old mentally handicapped rape victim....
7/17/2009	Court Filing Allows Asylum for Battered Women A legal brief filed by the Obama administration reverses a Bush administration policy that prohibited battered women from seeking asylum in the US....
7/15/2009	Former President Carter Leaves Baptist Church Former President Jimmy Carter issued a statement Sunday announcing he is severing all ties with the Southern Baptist Church due to their treatment of women....
7/14/2009	FDA Approves Single-Dose Plan B Emergency Contraceptive The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a single-pill version of the Plan B emergency contraceptive, which is currently available as a two-pill dose....
7/10/2009	Afghanistan Amends Shia Law Afghanistan's Justice Ministry yesterday released a revision of the controversial Shia law that legalized rape within marriage, among other provisions....
7/9/2009	UN Envoy Calls on Afghanistan to Fight Violence Against Women Kai Eide, the United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan, urged Afghan leaders to fight violence against women at a meeting in Kabul where he announced a new UN report on the subject....
6/24/2009	Rape Continues as a Weapon of War in the Congo During a failed prison break, 20 women were brutally raped in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) late Sunday....
6/19/2009	Petition Filed Against Peru with UN CEDAW Committee A 16-year-old Peruvian rape survivor filed a petition with the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) against Peru yesterday....
6/19/2009	One in Four South African Men Admit to Rape According to a survey by the Medical Research foundation (MRC), one in four men in South Africa have admitted to committing rape....
6/19/2009	Chinese Woman Acting in Self-Defense Spared Criminal Responsibility A court in the Hubei Province of China ruled this week against penalizing 21-year-old Deng Yujiao, a waitress who fatally stabbed a Communist Party official who was attempting to rape her....
6/18/2009	WWII Women Pilots Granted Congressional Gold Medal Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) will collectively receive the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor....
6/8/2009	Incidence of Rape in Democratic Republic of Congo Soaring The number of rapes reported in Sud-Kivu, an eastern province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the last three months was more than half the total number of incidents reported there last year....
5/29/2009	Abortion Hotline Launched in Chile A hotline that will give Chilean women information they need to self-terminate a pregnancy was launched yesterday by a network of feminist organizations....
5/29/2009	Anti-Choice Nebraska Bill Nears Final Vote A final vote is expected today on a Nebraska bill that would require doctors to provide certain information to women who are seeking an abortion, including requiring the viewing of ultrasound images....
5/21/2009	Nepal's Supreme Court Orders Expanded Abortion Access The Supreme Court of Nepal ruled yesterday that the Nepalese government must enact legislation that guarantees women's access to safe abortion services....
5/20/2009	Los Angeles City Council Approves Funds to Process Rape Kits The Los Angeles City Council voted Monday to approve funds to test the city's enormous backlog of untested rape kits....
5/19/2009	Anti-Choice Tennessee Bill Passes in House A proposed constitutional amendment to the Tennessee state constitution that would void a 2000 state Supreme Court decision on abortion restrictions was approved by the state House in a 76 to 22 vote yesterday....
5/11/2009	Spain to Make Emergency Contraception Available Over-the-Counter Spain announced plans to offer emergency contraception over-the-counter today with no age restrictions....
5/1/2009	Missouri State House Approves Plan B Restrictions The Missouri state House approved an amendment to a licensing bill this week that could restrict access to Emergency Contraception (EC), also known as Plan B, in the state....
4/28/2009	Karzai Vows Amendments to Afghan Shia Law Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced in a press conference yesterday that a controversial Shia Family law whose implementation would severely restrict women's rights by legalizing rape within marriage, will be amended and that the human rights of women and girls will be respected by the law....
4/27/2009	Dominican Republic Legislature Approves Bill Outlawing Abortion A bill that would ban all abortion in the Dominican Republic was approved by the country's Revisory Assembly last week....
4/23/2009	FDA Expands Access to Plan B The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that it will not appeal a court order directing the FDA to make emergency contraception available over-the-counter to women as young as 17....
4/17/2009	Afghan Government will Revise Controversial Law, Says Karzai Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced yesterday that his government will revise a controversial law that would severely restrict women's rights by legalizing rape within marriage, among other provisions....
4/10/2009	Anti-Choice Tennessee Bill Remanded to State Finance Committee A proposed constitutional amendment to the Tennessee state constitution was sent to the state House Budget Subcommittee yesterday instead of being scheduled for a floor vote in the House....
4/8/2009	Afghanistan will Review New Shia Law that Restricts Women's Rights Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced this weekend that the Afghan government, specifically the minister of justice, will review a new Shia family law he signed sometime last month that would severely restrict women's rights in Afghanistan....
4/2/2009	Study Indicates Teens Understand Labeling for Emergency Contraception A new study indicates that teenager's comprehension of emergency contraception (EC) labeling is comparable to that of adults....
4/1/2009	Afghan Women's Rights may be Severely Restricted by New Law A new Shia family law signed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai sometime last month, but not yet published, would severely restrict women's rights in Afghanistan....
4/1/2009	Report Released on Los Angeles Rape Kit Backlog A Human Rights Watch report released yesterday found that there are at least 12,669 untested rape kits in Los Angeles County, the largest known backlog of its kind in the US....
3/27/2009	Dr. Tiller Vindicated! A Wichita jury has just ruled that Dr....
3/24/2009	Court Rules that FDA Reconsider Restrictions on Sale of Plan B Edward Korman, a New York District Court Judge ruled yesterday that the FDA must reconsider its 2006 ruling that allowed emergency contraception (EC), also known as Plan B, to be sold without a prescription to women 18 and older....
3/23/2009	Vatican Bioethics Official Disagrees with Vatican on Excommunication of Brazilian Doctors Archibishop Rino Fisichella, a Vatician bioethics official, wrote last week against the Vatican's support of excommunicating the Brazilian doctors who were involved with securing an abortion for a 9-year-old girl who became pregnant with twins after being raped by her stepfather....
3/19/2009	Department of Defense Report Indicates Sexual Assault in the Military is Sharply Rising The Department of Defense released a report this week that shows an 8 percent increase of sexual assault involving service members from fiscal year 2007....
3/19/2009	Anti-Choice Bill Reintroduced in Florida Legislature State-level legislation was reintroduced in the Florida legislature Wednesday that would require women who are seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound and the option to view the images prior to the procedure....
3/10/2009	Vatican Supports Brazilian Catholic Church for Excommunicating those who Aided Raped Child A senior Vatican cleric defended the Catholic Church of Brazil's plans to excommunicate those who aided a child pregnant as a result of rape....
3/6/2009	Catholic Church Excommunicates Doctors for Aiding Raped Child The Catholic Church in Brazil plans to excommunicate all of the doctors involved in securing an abortion for a 9-year-old girl who became pregnant with twins after being raped by her stepfather....
2/23/2009	Spain Moves Towards Abortion Law Reform A Spanish parliamentary committee approved a report on reform of Spain's restrictive abortion laws last week that recommends the legalization of first trimester abortions....
2/5/2009	Arizona State University Settlement Reforms Harassment and Assault Policies A settlement of $850,000 from a 2004 rape case has resulted in reform of sexual harassment and misconduct response policies at Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University....
1/14/2009	Prevention First Act Introduced The Prevention First Act was introduced yesterday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Rules Committee Chair Louise M....
1/13/2009	Rape as a Weapon of War Increases in Congo Rebels raped more than 80 women in two days in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo....
1/12/2009	Afghan Rape Victim Forced to Undergo Violent Abortion A 14-year-old rape victim was admitted to an Afghan hospital in critical condition recently when she contracted an infection after a forced abortion....
1/7/2009	Utah State Legislators Will Wait to Propose Abortion Ban Conservative Utah state legislators will wait to propose legislation that would ban abortion in the state because of the anticipated cost involved in legally defending an abortion ban....
1/5/2009	Department of Justice Reports Increase of Rape, Sexual Assault, and Domestic Violence in US According to a new Department of Justice (DOJ) report, the rates of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence in the United States have soared over the past two years....
12/17/2008	Several Massachusetts Hospitals Violating Emergency Contraception Laws A statewide survey released yesterday by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts found that staff at several hospitals may be in violation of a 2005 state law that requires emergency rooms to offer emergency contraception (EC) to rape survivors....
12/17/2008	Congolese Women Protest Rape in Kinshasa Thousands of Congolese women marched in Kinshasa yesterday to denounce sexual violence against women and children as a tactic of war....
12/10/2008	Domestic Violence Gains Increased Attention in Angola Angola's Ministry of Family and Women Promotion (Minfamu) met this week to collaborate on a draft law intended to combat violence against women....
12/9/2008	Ugandan Legislator Urges Legalization of Abortion Rebecca Kadaga, the Deputy Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament, has recently called for the legalization of abortion in Uganda....
12/8/2008	Abortion Rift Leads Uruguayan President to Resign from Socialist Party Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez resigned from the Socialist party last week after disagreement with the party over abortion legislation that he vetoed in November....
12/5/2008	Feminist Majority PAC and NOW PAC Endorse Carolyn Maloney for NY Senate Seat The Feminist Majority Political Action Committee and the National Organization for Women (NOW) Political Action Committee announced their endorsement of New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney for appointment to the U.S....
11/25/2008	International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women Today marks the United Nations' (UN) International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women....
11/24/2008	Hearings Show Tiller May Have Been Trapped Pre-trial hearings took place last week in the case against abortion provider Dr....
11/14/2008	Uruguayan President Vetoes Abortion Rights Legislation Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez vetoed legislation Thursday that would have legalized abortion in the first trimester....
11/7/2008	Thirteen-Year Old Rape Victim Stoned to Death The United Nations reported Tuesday that a thirteen-year old Somali girl was stoned to death after her family tried to report her rape....
10/29/2008	Plan to Clear Rape-Kit Backlog Announced in L.A. A week after a city controller's audit showed a backlog of 7,038 "rape kits" awaiting testing, the mayor and police chief of Los Angeles announced plans to increase staffing and funding to analyze the stored evidence. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, under the plan the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) would provide $700,000 to hire 10 more DNA analysts and six support staff—a third more than the current staff level—and the city would add $250,000 to pay private laboratories to help the LAPD catch up....
10/29/2008	Sexual Trauma Affects Many Women Veterans A new study presented yesterday to the American Public Health Association has found that one in seven women military veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts seeking Veterans' Administration (VA) medical care report having experienced sexual trauma during their service....
10/28/2008	Race is Neck-in-Neck to Defeat Abortion Ban in South Dakota In polling released this weekend by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, a measure to ban abortion in South Dakota is currently running dead even....
10/22/2008	Huge Backlog of Rape-Kit Analyses Hinders Justice The draft of an audit report from the Los Angeles city controller's office has revealed disturbing statistics about the handling of sexual assault investigations by the city's police department. As of September 4, 2008, the city had a backlog of 7,038 "rape kits" waiting in freezers for analysis, according to the audit....
10/17/2008	South Dakota Abortion Ban Memo Leaked An internal memo from Sanford Health System lawyers indicating that the proposed abortion ban in South Dakota could have serious legal implications for hospitals was leaked on Wednesday....
10/16/2008	Women on Waves Arrives in Spain The Women on Waves ship will arrive in the harbor of Valencia in southern Spain today where it will remain through October 21....
10/9/2008	Planned Parenthood Sued for Allegedly Ignoring Statutory Rape Parents of a young woman who was 14 years old when she received an abortion in 2004 are suing Planned Parenthood for allegedly ignoring evidence of statutory rape....
10/3/2008	Utah Lawmakers Plan Anti-Choice Legislation Several conservative Utah state lawmakers announced plans this week to sponsor anti-choice legislation in the 2009 legislative session....
9/15/2008	South Dakota Anti-Choice Measure Receives Support from Local Church Leaders Several South Dakota church leaders declared their support last week for a November ballot initiative that would ban almost all abortions in South Dakota....
9/12/2008	Dr. Kaye Whitley Testifies at Congressional Hearing on Sexual Assault in the Military The Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs on Wednesday held a hearing on sexual assault in the military....
9/9/2008	Spain to Consider Liberalizing Abortion Laws The Spanish government has appointed an expert panel to explore possible changes to Spanish abortion law....
9/5/2008	Republican Party Platform Reviewed The official Republican Party Platform adopted this week has the potential to threaten women's rights domestically and abroad....
9/2/2008	Rapists Freed in Afghanistan to be Investigated There will be a full investigation into the case of two convicted rapists who were given a pardon by Afghan President Hamid Karzai in May....
8/29/2008	Mexico City Abortion Access Upheld The Mexican Supreme Court has ruled 8-3 that a Mexico City law that allows abortion in the first trimester is constitutional....
8/14/2008	Chicago Clergy Sexual Abuse Settlement Reached The Archdiocese of Chicago announced a $12.6 million settlement for 16 survivors of sexual assault by priests....
8/13/2008	Campaign Launched against South Dakota Ban A coalition of groups including Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and NARAL held a press conference in Washington DC Tuesday....
8/8/2008	Rape, Sex Abuse of Afghan Girls Continues Afghan girls continue to be sexually exploited, reported the Afghan Interior Ministry Thursday....
8/1/2008	Congress Hears Testimony on Sexual Assault in the Military The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs held a hearing on sexual assault in the military....
7/31/2008	Proposed Health and Human Services Rule Would Override MN EC Law A proposed rule change to Health and Human Services (HHS) regulations would endanger a Minnesota law that requires doctors to offer rape victims emergency contraception....
7/24/2008	House Passes Grant for Processing Untested Rape Kits The House of Representatives passed the Debbie Smith Reauthorization Act of 2008 last week, which will help process a backlog of rape kits across the country....
7/23/2008	US Female Soldiers Speak Out Against Sexual Assault With over 190,000 women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, female soldiers have brought sexual assault in the military to the attention of military authorities and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)....
7/21/2008	South Dakota Abortion Law Takes Effect South Dakota abortion providers are now required to recite a script telling patients that the procedure will "terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique living human being." They must then warn the woman of a supposed increased risk of suicide....
7/11/2008	Anti-Abortion Measures on November Ballots in CA, CO, and SD Anti-abortion measures will be on the state-wide November ballots in California, Colorado, and South Dakota....
6/17/2008	So-Called "Pro-Life" Pharmacies Refuse to Stock Birth Control A small but growing number of so-called "pro-life" pharmacies are refusing to stock birth control products, condoms, and emergency contraception....
5/28/2008	Report Finds Evidence of Child Abuse by Aid Workers A report released Tuesday by Save the Children UK states that children living in conflict-effected zones are being sexually abused by international humanitarian aid workers and UN peacekeepers....
5/19/2008	Harvey Karman Dies at 84 Harvey Karman, whose invention led to safer, less painful abortions, died this month of a stroke in Santa Barbara, California....
5/15/2008	States Required to Pay for Anonymous Rape Kits Under the renewed Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), states will be required to pay for anonymous rape kits starting next year....
5/13/2008	KBR Rape Case to Go to Court A judge ruled on Friday that an alleged Halliburton/KBR rape case can go to court, rather than closed arbitration....
5/6/2008	Students Protest University Honoring Notorious Anti-Feminist Students at Washington University in St Louis are organizing in protest of the University's plans to honor notorious anti-feminist Phyllis Schlafly with an honorary doctorate degree at the school's commencement ceremony May 16....
4/28/2008	South Dakota Abortion Ban Petition Certified South Dakota Secretary of State Chris Nelson certified last week that a petition for an abortion ban ballot initiative has enough signatures to be placed on the statewide November ballot....
4/18/2008	National Week of Action for Reproductive Justice The Third Wave Foundation launched the first annual National Week of Action for Reproductive Justice on Wednesday....
4/17/2008	Violence against Women More than Doubled in Pakistan Last Year A report released by Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Monday reveals that violence against women has gone up to 4,276 recorded cases....
4/15/2008	Anti-Sexual Assault Organization Launches Online Counseling Hotline Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the US, launched an online counseling service yesterday....
4/15/2008	Yemeni Girl Demands Divorce Eight-year-old Nojoud Muhammed Nasser filed a lawsuit in Yemen against her father who forced her to marry a 30-year-old man....
4/14/2008	Oklahoma Senate Approved Omnibus Anti-Abortion Bill The Oklahoma state Senate voted last week to approve an anti-abortion omnibus bill....
4/9/2008	Rape Still Widespread in Darfur Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Monday that sexual violence in Darfur continues to be a constant threat for women and girls....
4/8/2008	Military Contractor in Iraq Faces More Rape Allegations Another woman has come forward with allegations of rape by both a fellow KBR employee and a US soldier while working for KBR in Iraq....
4/3/2008	Senate Committee Hearing on Rape as a Weapon of War On Tuesday, United States Senator Dick Durbin chaired the first-ever Congressional hearing on the use of rape as a weapon of war....
4/3/2008	Anti-Abortion Group Files Petition Signatures for Ballot Initiative An anti-abortion group filed enough signatures on Monday to include the anti-abortion ban on the November 2008 South Dakota state ballot....
3/12/2008	Ghanaian Women Spread Message of Safe Abortions Traditional women leaders in Ghana are teaching other Ghanian women about their rights to abortion....
3/3/2008	Wisconsin State Senate Approves EC Access for Rape Victims The Wisconsin state Senate voted 25-6 to pass the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill last week....
2/27/2008	Anti-Choice Amendment Restricts Abortion Funding for Indian Health Services US Senate passed Senator David Vitter's (R-Louisiana) anti-choice amendment that would prevent funding for abortion for the Indian Health Services (IHS) yesterday....
2/20/2008	Woman Arrested by Saudi Religious Police for Drinking Coffee with a Man An American business woman was arrested on February 4 for being in the family section of a Starbucks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a male colleague....
2/13/2008	Alleged KBR Rape Victim Testifies at Another House Hearing Jamie Leigh Jones, a former KBR employee, testified again on Tuesday at a Congressional hearing that she was drugged and gang-raped by a group of her co-workers in the Green Zone KBR camp in Iraq in 2005....
2/12/2008	Women Testify Against Air Force Colonel on Charges of Sexual Assault Three women testified on Monday at a military hearing against US Air Force Colonel Samuel Lofton III....
2/8/2008	Iran Shuts Down Feminist Magazine The Iranian government forced Iran’s influential women’s magazine Zanan ("Women" in Farsi) to close down last week....
2/7/2008	November Ballot Initiative Round Up Ten states may have anti-abortion initiatives and five may have anti-affirmative action initiatives on the November state ballots....
1/28/2008	Sexual Violence in Kenya Continues to Escalate Sexual violence continues to rise amidst post-election clashes in Kenya....
1/18/2008	Sexual Violence in Kenya Increasing Amidst Post-Election Chaos Health workers in Kenya are reporting an increase in sexual violence amidst the chaos following the country’s presidential elections....
1/15/2008	Pentagon Refuses to Investigate KBR Gang-Rape Allegations Department of Defense Inspector General Claude Kicklighter has refused to investigate the allegations of gang-rape made by former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones....
1/14/2008	Abortion Foes Focus on States As the 2008 elections approach, anti-abortion activists have turned their attention to states....
1/11/2008	Controversy Over Abortion Rights for Rape Victims in Egypt A draft bill introduced in the Egyptian Parliament that would allow rape victims to have abortions has met with controversy....
1/9/2008	Spanish Abortion Clinics on Strike Private clinics, which perform most of the abortions in Spain, began a five day strike on Tuesday in response to alleged harassment and persecution by government investigators and anti-abortion extremists....
12/20/2007	Hearing on Alleged Halliburton/KBR Gang Rape Cover Up Alleged rape victim Jamie Leigh Jones testified before the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terror, and Homeland Security on Wednesday....
12/19/2007	Planned Parenthood Files Lawsuit Against Anti-Abortion Initiative A St Louis woman, represented by Planned Parenthood of the St....
12/17/2007	Saudi Rape Victim Pardoned Saudi King Abdullah has pardoned the rape victim who was previously sentenced to 200 lashes and a six month prison term for being alone in a car with an unrelated man when she was abducted and raped by seven men....
12/14/2007	Prosecutor in Aborigine Rape Case Suspended The lead prosecutor in a child rape case has been suspended pending an investigation into his decision to not seek jail sentences for nine young men who confessed to gang-raping a ten year old Aboriginal girl....
12/12/2007	Halliburton/KBR Cover Up Alleged Gang Rape A Texas woman filed a federal lawsuit in May against Halliburton and its former subsidiary KBR, stating that she was drugged and gang-raped by a group of her co-workers in the KBR camp in the Green Zone in Iraq in 2005....
12/6/2007	Sexual Assault Suit at Colorado University Settles The University of Colorado announced on Monday that it will settle a Title IX lawsuit that accused the university of deliberate indifference to sexual harassment and assault by football players and recruits....
12/6/2007	Brazilian Congress Investigates Prison Rape Case The Brazilian Congress has assigned a committee to probe into allegations that a fifteen year old girl was raped repeatedly after being placed in the same cell as twenty male offenders in the state of Para....
12/3/2007	Group Seeks Anti-Choice Ballot Initiative in Missouri The Elliot Group, an anti-abortion group based out of Springfield, Illinois, is seeking to add a ballot initiative to the Missouri 2008 election that could greatly reduce access to abortion in the state....
11/28/2007	Saudi Court to Review Case of Rape Victim The Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister announced on Tuesday that the case of a rape victim who was sentenced to 200 lashes and prison time will be reviewed by the Saudi judiciary....
11/26/2007	Saudi Justice Ministry Upholds Rape Victim’s Sentence of 200 Lashings The Saudi Arabia Justice Ministry on Saturday defended the sentencing of a rape victim to prison time and 200 lashings, despite international outrage....
11/19/2007	Rape Victim Sentenced to 200 Lashings A rape victim in Saudi Arabia was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail last week because she was in an unrelated man’s car at the time of the attack....
10/3/2007	Nicaraguan Abortion Ban Jeopardizes Women’s Health, Lives A study released yesterday by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that Nicaraguan women’s health and lives have been put at risk by the country’s blanket ban on abortions, imposed one year ago....
10/1/2007	CT Catholic Hospitals to Dispense EC to All Rape Victims Connecticut Roman Catholic bishops softened their opposition Thursday to a new state law requiring hospitals to dispense emergency contraception (EC) to all rape victims....
9/11/2007	University of Colorado Rape Lawsuit Reinstated A lawsuit alleging that University of Colorado (CU) football players and recruits gang-raped two women in 2001 was reinstated by a federal appeals court Thursday....
9/10/2007	Plan B Bill Moves in Wisconsin After a long delay, the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims Bill is now being considered by the Wisconsin State Assembly....
8/27/2007	Maloney Proposes Global Women's Rights Office In honor of Women's Equality Day (August 26), Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) has announced that when the House reconvenes this fall, she will introduce a bill to equip the US government to advocate for global women's rights....
8/23/2007	Catholic Church Denounces Amnesty's Support of Limited Abortion Rights Catholic leaders have denounced Amnesty International following the organization's adoption of a new policy in support of limited abortion rights....
8/13/2007	Rapist Released After Serving Only Six Months of Ten-Year Sentence William Beebe, a man convicted of rape after he sent a letter of apology to his victim 21 years after raping her, is scheduled for parole just six months into his 10-year jail sentence....
8/10/2007	Air Force Woman Could Be Convicted in Her Own Rape A woman airman in the US Air Force who was allegedly raped by three of her male counterparts is being charged with indecent acts, according to an AP report....
7/26/2007	Prosecutors Seek Appeal in Rape Case Dropped for Language Barrier After a Montgomery County judge in Maryland dropped nine counts of rape, sex abuse, and child abuse against a man because the court was unable to find a translator, prosecutors have announced that they will seek an appeal....
7/20/2007	EMU President Fired After Rape and Murder Cover-Up Eastern Michigan University President John Fallon, along with two other university officials, was fired after being accused of attempting to cover up the rape and murder of a student in an on-campus dormitory room....
7/20/2007	Louisiana: Governor Signs 3 Anti-Abortion Measures Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) signed three bills last week that restrict women's access to abortion....
7/19/2007	Minnesota Pioneers First-Ever Report on the High Cost of Sexual Assault In an effort to initiate a statewide plan for sexual assault prevention, the Minnesota Department of Health released a first-of-its-kind report illustrating the economic implications of sexual assault, placing the final figure at approximately $8 billion dollars in 2005....
7/13/2007	Nebraska Judge Declares Mistrial in Rape Case after Language Ban District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront declared a mistrial yesterday in a Nebraska rape case in which the alleged victim would have been unable to say certain words, including "rape" and "assault"....
7/11/2007	New Armed Services Sub-Committee Chair Challenges Sexual Harassment in the Military Representative Susan Davis (D-CA), a member of the male-dominated House Armed Services Committee, announced that she plans to attack head-on the issue of sexual harassment in the military....
7/9/2007	Report Denounces University's Handling of Student's Rape and Murder The US Department of Education has released an 18-page report confirming that Eastern Michigan University (EMU) mishandled student Laura Dickinson's rape and murder case in December 2006....
7/3/2007	10 African Leaders Call for Safe, Legal Abortion Political leaders of 10 African countries this week called for the legalization of safe abortion procedures in an effort to curb maternal mortality among African women....
7/3/2007	Brazil Will Provide Morning-After Pill to Poor Morning-after pills will be included in Brazil's newly expanded birth control program, a health official announced Monday....
7/2/2007	Israeli President Escapes Jail Time for Rape Charges Women's rights activists in Israel are expressing outrage at a plea bargain that will exempt President Moshe Katsav from going to prison for sexual harassment and rape....
6/29/2007	19 New Charges Filed Against Dr. George Tiller Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison (D) filed 19 charges yesterday against one of the few providers of later term abortions in the US....
6/26/2007	Kansas Moves to Ban Late-Term Abortions Kansas State Representative Arlen Siegfried (R), the chairman of the Kansas House Federal and State Affairs Committee, announced that he will fight for a bill banning all abortions after the 21st week of pregnancy....
6/25/2007	New Anti-Rape Law in Thailand The National Legislative Assembly of Thailand approved a new law last week that criminalizes marital rape....
6/8/2007	Support for Family Planning Services Strong with American Public and Congress On the 42nd anniversary of Griswold v Connecticut, the Supreme Court case that established the right to birth control, new poll results showed yesterday that an overwhelming majority of Americans support access to birth control and other family planning services....
5/31/2007	Mexican Supreme Court Will Consider New Abortion Law The Mexican Supreme Court announced on Tuesday that it will hear a case filed by the National Human Right's Commission (NHRC) and the Attorney General's Office to determine whether Mexico City's law allowing abortion in the first three months of pregnancy is constitutional....
5/24/2007	Final Actions Taken on Abortion Bills in KS, OK, and GA Bills regulating abortion reached their end stages in three states this past week....
5/17/2007	CT Governor Signs EC Bill for Sexual Assault Victims Connecticut Governor M Jodi Rell (R) signed a bill yesterday ensuring that all licensed health care facilities make emergency contraception available to victims of sexual assault....
5/16/2007	XM Radio Gives One Month Suspension to Jocks for Rape Joke XM Satellite Radio announced yesterday that Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia, the hosts of "The Opie and Anthony Show," will be suspended for 30 days after making vulgar and graphic rape jokes during their morning show last week....
5/8/2007	Two Women Appeal Rape Case Against the University of Colorado Two women who allege they were sexually assaulted by University of Colorado (CU) football players in 2001 are asking the federal Court of Appeals to revive their lawsuit against the school for fostering a climate conducive to sexual assault by men athletes....
5/4/2007	Ireland's High Court to Hear Case Over Teen's Right to Abortion A 17-year-old Irish girl petitioned Ireland's High Court yesterday for the right to travel to England to obtain an abortion, which remains illegal in Ireland even in cases of rape, incest, and severe fetal anomalies....
4/30/2007	Amnesty: US Fails to Protect Indigenous Women from Sexual Assault A new Amnesty International report finds that one in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime, twice the national average for non-Native women....
4/26/2007	North Dakota Passes Trigger Abortion Ban The North Dakota legislature has passed a bill that would ban abortions in the event that the US Supreme Court rules that such laws are constitutional....
4/25/2007	Mexico City Legislature Legalizes Early Abortions The Mexico City Legislative Assembly voted yesterday evening to legalize first-trimester abortions in a 46-19 vote, with one abstention....
4/11/2007	Portugal Government Legalizes Abortion Anibal Cavasco Silva, president of Portugal, ratified a new law Tuesday legalizing abortion up until the 10th week of pregnancy....
3/23/2007	Mississippi Governor Signs Abortion Trigger Law Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour (R) signed a bill into law yesterday that will outlaw and criminalize all abortions in the event that the US Supreme Court overturns its 1973 decision in Roe v Wade....
3/22/2007	South Australian Court Makes Controversial Rape Ruling The Court of Criminal Appeal in South Australia cleared the record of a man who had been found guilty by a jury of raping a woman....
3/21/2007	Polish Woman Wins Case After Denied Abortion A Polish woman who was denied an abortion, even though her health was jeopardized by the pregnancy, won her case before the European Court of Human Rights....
3/21/2007	Bush Nominates Anti-Choice WY Lawyer to be District Judge Wyoming Republican Senators Mike Enzi and Craig Thomas announced on Monday that President Bush has nominated Wyoming lawyer Richard Honaker to serve as a US District judge....
3/16/2007	EC Now Required in Colorado Emergency Rooms Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed a bill Thursday that will require hospital emergency rooms to provide information about emergency contraception (EC) to victims of sexual assault....
3/14/2007	Mexico City Moves to Liberalize Abortion Laws A bill that would legalize abortion laws in Mexico City is moving through the capital's city assembly and is expected to pass within months....
3/12/2007	Study Finds 3 Out of 4 Liberian Women Experience Rape Three out of every four Liberian women have been raped, a recent survey by the London-based medical aid agency Merlin found....
3/12/2007	Portuguese Parliament Approves Abortion Reform Portugal's parliament voted overwhelmingly to liberalize the country's abortion laws on Thursday....
3/8/2007	Young Girls Speak, are Focus of 51st Meeting on Status of Women Over 6,000 women and men from around the world gathered in New York for the 51st annual meeting of the UN Commission on the Status of Women....
2/26/2007	Two Women Allegedly Gang-Raped by Iraqi Security Forces Two alleged gang rapes of Iraqi women by national security forces caused an uproar in Iraq last week....
2/23/2007	SD Senate Nixes New Abortion Ban South Dakota senators in the State Affairs Committee voted 8 to 1 on Wednesday to kill, a proposed ban on abortion similar to the one rejected by voters last year....
2/15/2007	Case Closed: KS Supreme Court Dismisses Charges against Dr. Tiller The Kansas Supreme Court has granted Attorney General Paul Morrison's (D) request that charges against George Tiller, one of the country's few providers of late-term abortion, be dropped....
2/15/2007	SD House Passes Revised Abortion Ban South Dakota's House of Representatives passed the so-called "Women's Health and Human Life Protection Act" by a vote of 45-25 yesterday....
2/12/2007	Portugal Abortion Referendum Fails, Government Moves to Legalize After a referendum on Portugal's strict abortion laws failed due to low voter turn-out, the country's Socialist government has announced that it will work to legalize abortion in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy....
2/8/2007	Rep. Slaughter Reintroduces Prevention First in House Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) reintroduced the Prevention First Act in the House on Monday....
2/5/2007	Legislatures in SD, UT, WY Consider Abortion-Related Bills State legislatures in South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming are considering recently introduced measures that would affect state abortion policies....
2/2/2007	Abortion Ban Moves Through Mississippi Senate An abortion ban has been introduced in the Mississippi State Senate....
1/31/2007	Rape Victim Jailed, Denied EC After Reporting Crime A Florida college student was arrested over the weekend after reporting her rape to the police....
1/31/2007	SD Legislature Reintroduces Revised Abortion Ban An abortion ban, similar to the previous ban that was soundly rejected by voters in November 2006, will be introduced into the South Dakota House of Representatives today....
1/30/2007	SD Anti-Abortion Legislators Redraft Abortion Ban South Dakota legislators announced Monday that they will reintroduce a new version of their previous abortion ban that was rejected by voters in the November elections....
1/24/2007	Israeli President Takes Leave of Absence Following Rape, Harassment Charges Israeli President Moshe Katsav announced to parliament this morning that he will take a leave of absence following the attorney general's decision to charge Katsav with rape, harassment, sexual relations involving the abuse of power, obstruction of justice, and illegally accepting gifts....
1/23/2007	Israeli President Faces Rape Charges Israeli Attorney General Meni Mazuz announced this morning that he intends to charge Israeli President Moshe Katsav for rape, sexual harassment, and the abuse of power....
1/11/2007	Turkish Government Taking Unprecedented Steps Against "Honor" Killings of Women Facing pressure from women's groups and the European Union, the Turkish government has begun a major media campaign condemning all violence towards women, especially so-called "honor" killings....
1/5/2007	Togo Increases Accessibility to Abortion A law newly passed in Togo expands abortion rights, legalizing abortion in cases of rape or incest and when the fetus is at risk of a serious medical condition....
1/2/2007	More Developments in Kline's Attack on Abortion Provider Dr. George Tiller Over the past two weeks in his last remaining days in office, ousted Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (R) has continued to pursue his case against George Tiller, one of the only providers of late-term abortions in the US....
12/21/2006	Displaced Women in Darfur Suffer Severe Depression A new study of internally displaced women in Sudan's South Darfur illuminates the bleak status of women's mental health in the volatile region....
12/15/2006	Massachusetts Hospitals Hinder EC Access for Rape Survivors Though Massachusetts state law mandates that hospitals offer emergency contraception (EC) to rape survivors, a recent survey reveals that it may not be readily accessible in all state emergency rooms....
11/30/2006	Nicaraguan Woman's Death Called First Casualty of Total Abortion Ban Many women’s rights advocates are arguing that the recently passed abortion ban in Nicaragua caused the death of a young woman experiencing complications with her pregnancy earlier this week....
11/16/2006	Pakistan's Lower House Amends Rape Laws Punitive to Victims Pakistan's lower house of parliament approved changes to the country's punitive rape laws yesterday....
11/14/2006	Ireland Teens Respond to Age of Consent Ruling Ireland's Supreme Court ruled in May that statutory rape consists of any man or boy having intercourse with a girl under the age of 15....
11/9/2006	EC Available OTC Soon; CRR to Subpoena EC White House Documents The Reproductive Health Technologies Project announced on Monday that emergency contraception (EC) will be available behind pharmacy counters without a prescription for women 18 years and older as early as this week....
11/6/2006	SD Abortion Ban Lobby Received $750,000 in Questionable Funds On the eve of Tuesday’s election, news has broken that Vote Yes for Life, the group trying to pass a sweeping abortion ban in South Dakota, may have received an illegal donation of $750,000 -- the largest single amount received by either side of the South Dakota abortion ban debate....
11/6/2006	Kansas Abortion Provider Requests Investigation of TV Remarks Abortion provider George Tiller plans to ask the Kansas Supreme Court today to investigate if Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline and FOX TV Host Bill O’Reilly violated patients’ privacy during an interview on Fox’s "The O’Reilly Factor." O’Reilly reported that a "source inside" one of the two abortion clinics under investigation by Kline said that Tiller provided late-term abortions to depressed women....
11/6/2006	Saudi Gang Rape Victim Punished A Saudi victim of gang rape was sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a male friend who was not her husband prior to her rape....
11/1/2006	MD Court Rules Consent Only Needed Prior to Sexual Act in Alleged Rape Cases A three-judge panel of the Maryland Special Court of Appeals reinforced the provision of Maryland's rape law that says a woman who gives consent prior to intercourse cannot withdraw her legal consent during the act....
11/1/2006	Poland: Parliament and President Disagree on Abortion Ban Poland's parliament introduced a constitutional amendment last week that would ban all abortions in the country, but both the President and Prime Minister have expressed their disapproval of the ban....
10/27/2006	Nicaragua Outlaws All Abortion The Nicaraguan legislature voted yesterday to outlaw all abortions, making it the third country in the Western Hemisphere to outlaw abortion without exception....
10/27/2006	Spelman Women Celebrate Center’s 25th Anniversary The Women's Research & Resources Center at Spelman College, the first of its kind at a historically black college, celebrates its 25th anniversary this year....
10/23/2006	Rectifying Sexual Violence Still a Major Concern in Liberia Despite a major anti-rape law implemented in Liberia early this year, a United Nations report found that progress has been slow in abolishing sexual and gender-based violence due to flaws in the judicial system....
10/19/2006	Portuguese Parliament to Vote on Abortion Referendum The Portuguese Parliament is set to vote on whether to hold a referendum that would let voters decide whether to legalize abortion....
10/16/2006	UK Proposes Changes in Rape Laws The United Kingdom is considering new legislation that would make it easier to convict rapists, even if the victim was intoxicated at the time of the rape....
10/16/2006	Zimbabwe Parliamentarian Claims Women's Inferiority Timothy Mubhawu, a member of parliament (MP) in Zimbabwe, is insisting that the national assembly reject a bill that would criminalize domestic violence....
10/13/2006	Nicaragua Considers Banning All Abortion A proposed law in Nicaragua banning all abortions, even when a woman or girl's life is at risk, is currently under review by the country's judicial commission and may be voted on soon....
10/12/2006	South Dakota Abortion Ban Advocates Use "Feminist" Language Anti-abortion advocates in South Dakota have turned to women-centered messages to promote the extensive abortion ban on November's ballot....
10/11/2006	Thirty Years is Enough for Hyde Amendment October marks the 30th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, the law that prohibits using federal funds for abortions....
10/4/2006	Clinton Introduces Bill to Protect Sexual Assault Victims Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) introduced the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies (CARE) Act in the Senate last week....
9/28/2006	Report Reveals Bride-Kidnapping, Domestic Abuse in Kyrgyzstan Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report yesterday that exposed the bride-kidnapping and violent domestic abuse that occurs among women in Kyrgyzstan....
9/18/2006	Proposed Bills Threaten Rights of Sexual Assault, Rape Victims The US Senate Armed Services Committee may vote as early as tomorrow on two pieces of legislation that could greatly reduce the rights of victims of sexual assault and rape....
9/12/2006	Pakistan: Reforms of Cruel Rape Law Fail In a blow for women's rights in Pakistan, the government's proposals for reforming the country's cruel rape laws were dropped today....
9/7/2006	UNFPA Releases 2006 State of the World Report The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its 2006 State of the World Population report yesterday in a morning briefing in Washington, DC, emphasizing the importance of women's issues and international migration....
8/28/2006	Significant Increase in Misconduct by Military Recruiters In a recent investigative study, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported a significant increase of inappropriate conduct by military recruiters....
8/28/2006	Australian Legislators Fight Deceptive Pregnancy Counseling Centers Legislators in Australia are working to pass a bill that would require pregnancy counseling centers to make their positions on abortion clear in order to not mislead women seeking abortions....
8/24/2006	BREAKING NEWS: FDA Approves Over-the-Counter Status for EC The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its approval of over-the-counter status for Plan B emergency contraception for women 18 years and older at a press conference today....
8/24/2006	Three Male Suspects Identified in Connection to Juarez Murders A man arrested Monday in Denver on illegal immigration charges has been named by US and Mexican authorities as one of three suspects in dozens of rapes and murders in Juarez, Mexico....
8/15/2006	South Africa: Women Celebrate Historic Women's March In celebration of Women's Day, thousands of South African women re-enacted an historic march through South Africa's capital, Pretoria, on Wednesday....
8/3/2006	Pakistan to Consider Amending Rape Laws The Pakistani parliament will consider and likely approve a bill that would ease overly strict restrictions applied under Islamic law that make it nearly impossible to prove a woman has been raped....
7/24/2006	Kenya Toughens Law on Sexual Predators A new law in Kenya has created stricter punishments for rapists and sexual predators, but has failed to criminalize marital rape and female genital mutilation....
7/17/2006	Fresno Football Players Arraigned in Rape of 11-Year-Old Girl Two Reedley College football players were arrested and several other college football players are said to have been involved in the alleged rape of an 11-year-old girl at a Fresno, California apartment....
7/11/2006	Pakistan to Free More than 1,000 Women Pakistan's President signed an amendment to a controversial Islamic law on Friday that will allow 1,300 women facing charges of adultery and other minor crimes to be released from prison on bail....
7/10/2006	California Forms Network to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies More than 50 Californian advocacy groups, including the Pharmacy Access partnership and the Feminist Majority Foundation, have joined together to form the California Emergency Contraception Network....
7/6/2006	Amnesty May Be Granted to Ugandan Responsible for Kidnapping, Sex Slavery Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni announced Tuesday that if peace talks are successful, he will grant amnesty to Joseph Kony, head of a Ugandan terrorist organization, despite the atrocities Kony has committed over the past 19 years....
7/5/2006	American Ex-Solider Accused of Rape, Murder in Iraq A former US soldier was accused on Monday of raping and murdering a young Iraqi woman and killing her three family members in their home....
7/3/2006	Oglala Sioux Tribe President Impeached Over Women's Health Clinic Oglala Sioux Tribe president Cecelia Fire Thunder was impeached on Thursday for her proposal to build a women's health clinic on tribal land in South Dakota....
6/29/2006	Coast Guard Cadet Sentenced for Extortion, Sodomy, and Indecent Assault Coast Guard cadet Webster Smith, 23, was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison for extortion, sodomy, indecent assault, and other charges....
6/26/2006	A Year Later, Bush Announces His Support of Contraception Nearly a year after the President was asked his stance on birth control, the Department of Health and Human Services answered on behalf of President Bush in a letter to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and other members of Congress....
6/20/2006	SD Abortion Ban Stayed; Referendum to Repeal Ban Qualifies Activists in South Dakota have succeeded in gathering enough signatures to hold a referendum in November on the state's extreme abortion ban, South Dakota's secretary of state announced yesterday....
6/19/2006	Louisiana Governor Signs Abortion Ban into Law Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco (D) signed an extreme ban on abortion into law this weekend....
6/15/2006	Results of Scottish Review of Rape Law Announced In response to concerns that prosecutions for rape often fail to lead to successful convictions, Scottish Solicitor-General Elish Angiolini has released the results of a review that began in 2004....
6/8/2006	Oglala Sioux Tribe Bans Abortion on Reservation, Suspends Tribal President The Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota voted to ban abortion on the Pine Ridge Reservation and suspend tribal president Cecelia Fire Thunder for 20 days after she announced her intention to build a women’s health clinic on the reservation....
6/2/2006	Louisiana House Approves Abortion Ban With an 85-17 vote, the Louisiana House passed a ban on most abortions, with exceptions to save the life of the pregnant woman or prevent serious physical harm....
5/24/2006	Louisiana House Committee Passes Abortion Ban Louisiana's State House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice approved a near-total ban on abortion last Wednesday and the bill, already approved by the Senate, is moving to the House floor for debate....
5/11/2006	Colombia to Permit Abortions in Certain Cases Reversing its complete ban on abortion under any circumstances, Colombia will now grant access to abortion when a pregnancy results from incest or rape or when the woman's life is endangered....
5/9/2006	OB-GYNs Urge Women to Get Advance Plan B Prescriptions Women should get a prescription for emergency contraception (EC) now, in case they need it later, advises the new "Ask Me" campaign by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists....
5/1/2006	Thousands Rally Across the US to Stop Genocide Thousands gathered in 12 different locations yesterday to support Sudan's Darfur region and rally against the genocide-in-progress....
4/28/2006	Louisiana Senate Approves Strict Abortion Ban The Louisiana State Senate approved a near-total ban on abortion on Wednesday, allowing abortion only to save a woman's life....
4/28/2006	Women Protest Male MP's Trivialization of Rape in Kenya When women in Kenya say 'no' to sex they really mean 'yes' - according to Paddy Ahenda, a male Kenyan member of parliament (MP), whose statements this week during a parliamentary debate prompted 12 of the 18 women MPs in the room to walk out in spontaneous protest....
4/20/2006	Louisiana Senate Considers Abortion Ban Following in the steps of South Dakota, the Louisiana State Senate is considering a near-total ban on abortions in the state, which would allow abortions only to save the life of a pregnant woman....
4/18/2006	Two Indictments in Duke Rape Case Early today, two sophomore members of the Duke University lacrosse team were arrested on charges of rape, sexual assault and kidnapping....
4/17/2006	Colorado Governor Vetoes Emergency Contraception Bill Bill Owens, the Republican Governor of Colorado, has vetoed State House Bill 1212, which would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception (EC) without a doctor's prescription....
4/13/2006	Alleged Victim of Rape at Duke Identifies Attacker The victim of an alleged sexual assault by three white Duke lacrosse players has identified at least one of her attackers, according to District Attorney Mike Nifong....
4/11/2006	UK: Rape Cases Resulting in Fewer Convictions, More Cautions Government figures in the United Kingdom show that the number of offenders cautioned for rape is increasing, as is the number of rape reports, but that convictions are becoming rarer....
3/31/2006	Gang Rape Alleged at Duke University Duke University has suspended games of the men's lacrosse team, which was ranked number two in the nation, while allegations of gang rape involving members of the team are investigated....
3/27/2006	Referendum Campaign Launched Against South Dakota Abortion Ban A new coalition called South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families announced on Friday that it was launching a referendum campaign to repeal the South Dakota abortion ban....
3/24/2006	France Raises Age of Marriage for Women to 18 French women will now need to be 18 years or older to consent to marry, three years older than previously required by law....
3/16/2006	Mississippi Senate Seeks to Negotiate Abortion Ban The abortion ban passed recently by the Mississippi House of Representatives is now before the Senate, which voted yesterday to begin negotiating changes to the bill so that it would not invalidate existing abortion provisions....
3/15/2006	Mexico Compensates Rape Victim for Denying Her Right to an Abortion Nearly seven years after Paulina Ramirez became pregnant from a rape attack in her home by a heroin addict, the Mexican government has agreed to pay her reparations for forcing her to carry the pregnancy to term....
3/13/2006	Protests for Women's Rights Mark International Women's Day Across Asia A series of protests and rallies for women's rights occurred in several Asian countries in the days leading up to International Women's Day, March 8....
3/8/2006	Mexico: Rape Victims Denied Access to Abortion Rape victims in Mexico face hostile officials who actively prevent women from accessing legal abortion services, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW)....
3/3/2006	Human Rights Group Blasts Unwarranted Detention of Libyan Women and Girls Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released a report condemning Libya's practice of confining women and girls in prison-like facilities for suspected moral transgressions....
3/2/2006	Mississippi House Considers Virtual Abortion Ban Mississippi's House is currently considering a ban on all abortions in the state except those necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman or girl....
2/24/2006	Italian Supreme Court: Sex Abuse of Non-Virgins a Less Severe Crime In a decision condemned by women's groups, Italian MPs, and UNICEF, Italy's Supreme Court ruled last week that sexual abuse is less serious if the victim is not a virgin....
2/17/2006	Australian Parliament Moves to Make RU-486 Available An effective ban on RU-486 in Australia ended this week when the Australian House of Representatives passed a bill to remove Health Minister Tony Abbot's veto over the drug....
2/13/2006	Polish Woman Denied Abortion Takes Case to European Court A Polish woman who suffered severe health consequences after being denied an abortion is taking her case before the European Court of Human Rights....
2/10/2006	Australia Moves Closer to Allowing Mifepristone Access The Australian Senate passed a measure this week that will increase women’s access to mifepristone....
2/6/2006	Catholic Hospitals Dodge Emergency Contraception Laws Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) released last week the results of a survey that found Catholic hospitals were not fully complying with laws requiring emergency contraception be provided to rape victims....
1/27/2006	Kansas Will Comply With Medicaid Regulations, Fund Abortions A federal district judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline (R) that sought to prevent Kansas from funding abortions for the state's Medicaid recipients....
1/18/2006	Africa's First Elected Woman Leader Sworn In as President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as the president of Liberia on Monday, making her the first democratically elected female head of state in Africa....
12/13/2005	Women's Rights Treaty Enacted by Fifteen African Nations Fifteen African countries have ratified the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, affirming that reproductive rights are human rights....
12/12/2005	Massachusetts Makes Emergency Contraception Available at All Hospitals In a victory for women's health, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) reversed his position under pressure and will support a state law that makes emergency contraception available at all hospitals, regardless of religious affiliation....
12/6/2005	Young Women Have Highest Risk of HIV/AIDS A new report from the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa reports that 16.9 percent of young women in 2005 were infected with HIV/AIDS, a jump from a rate of 12 percent in 2002....
11/1/2005	House Considers Bill to Help Military Rape Survivors Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) recently reintroduced legislation allocating three years of funds to improve the military's response to rape cases....
10/28/2005	Students Protest Pharmacist's Refusal to Give Rape Survivor EC More than 70 students, community members, and local politicians held a demonstration outside of Fry's Food and Drug Store in Tucson, Arizona, yesterday to protest its refusal to fill a rape survivor's prescription for emergency contraception (EC)....
10/20/2005	UN Peacekeepers Still Abusing Women, Says Report Despite recent international attention to the problem, United Nations peacekeepers are still sexually exploiting and abusing women in the countries in which they serve, according to a report released yesterday by Refugees International....
10/6/2005	British Government Considers Banning Forced Marriages The British government is considering a proposal to ban forced marriages, making clerics, imams, and parents liable for prosecution....
10/4/2005	UN Peacekeepers Suspended from Police Force after Sex Abuse Allegations Eleven Nigerian police officers who were part of a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been suspended from the Nigerian police force in the course of investigations into the sexual abuse of Congolese women and girls....
9/30/2005	Violence Against Women Act Reauthorized; Cuts Made to Minority Programs The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed legislation reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act programs through fiscal year 2009....
9/30/2005	Portugal Agrees to Hold Abortion Referendum Portugal's parliament on Wednesday voted to hold a referendum to decriminalize abortion during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy....
7/22/2005	Massachusetts May Soon Have Pharmacy Access to Emergency Contraception This week, the Massachusetts House and Senate both overwhelmingly approved legislation to make emergency contraception available from pharmacists without prescriptions and to require hospitals to offer it to rape victims....
7/14/2005	All-Female African Village Still Thriving After 10 Years The all-female village of Umoja, Kenya is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year as a prosperous community after ten years of struggle and opposition....
7/12/2005	Five Gang-Rape Suspects Arrested in Pakistan In Chiniot, Pakistan, five men have been arrested for the gang-rape of Fauzia Altaf....
6/28/2005	Victory for Pakistan Gang-Rape Victim The Pakistan Supreme Court reopened the case of gang-rape victim Mukhtar Mai (also known as Mukhtaran Bibi) yesterday following pressure from human rights groups and governments worldwide....
6/21/2005	Study Finds Violence Against Women Pervasive in Ugandan Refugee Camp A study by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reveals high levels of sexual and physical violence committed against women and girls in the Pabbo camp for internally displaced persons (IDP), Uganda's largest war refugee camp....
6/16/2005	Senators Reintroduce Bill to Provide EC to Rape Survivors Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Jon Corzine (D-NJ) held a press conference yesterday to announce their introduction of the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies (CARE) Act....
6/16/2005	Raped Woman Allowed to Leave Pakistan After significant international pressure, the Pakistani government has removed travel restrictions it had placed on the survivor of an infamous gang rape....
6/14/2005	Violence Against Women Act 2005 Introduced for Reauthorization The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), first passed by Congress in 1994, was introduced in the Senate for reauthorization this past week....
6/2/2005	Indiana Subpoenas Medical Records of Girls Under the Age of 14 Indiana Superior Court Judge Kenneth Johnson has ruled that Planned Parenthood of Indiana must turn over confidential medical records of more than 80 patients....
5/17/2005	Woman Aid Worker Kidnapped in Kabul In another in a series of attacks on aid workers in Afghanistan, an Italian woman working for CARE International was abducted Monday evening in Kabul....
5/12/2005	Georgia Enacts 24-Hour Waiting Period, Tightens Parental Notification Laws Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed into law a bill on Tuesday that imposes 24-hour waiting periods on women seeking abortions in the state, and tightens the application of its parental notification laws....
5/9/2005	Women Demand Punishment for the Killers of Four Afghan Women A group of 200 women from 26 Afghan women's groups protested in Kabul on Thursday to demand that the killers of four Afghan women be punished for their crimes....
5/3/2005	Three Afghan Women Killed As Warning to Stop Working for Aid Groups Three Afghan women were found raped and strangled to death in the northern province of Baghlan with a warning for women to stop working for aid groups....
4/21/2005	Creator of Law that Restricts Federal Funding of Abortion Announces Retirement Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL), author of the law that prohibits the use of federal money for abortion services, announced on Monday that he will retire at the close of this term after more than 30 years in office....
4/8/2005	Colorado Governor Vetoes Emergency Contraception Bill Colorado Governor Bill Owens (R) vetoed a bill on Tuesday that would have required all hospitals to inform rape victims about emergency contraception....
4/7/2005	Almost Half of All Pregnant Women in Swaziland Have HIV A new survey shows that 42.6 percent of pregnant women in Swaziland have contracted HIV/AIDS....
4/6/2005	New Jersey Law Will Require Hospitals to Provide EC to Sexual Assault Victims Governor Richard Codey of New Jersey recently signed legislation that will require hospitals in the state to inform sexual assault victims about emergency contraception (EC) in order to prevent unwanted pregnancy after rape....
3/31/2005	Kenyan Women Take Complaints of Rape by British Military to the United Nations Several hundred Kenyan women from the Samburu and Masai tribes seeking compensation for being raped by the British military 15 years ago are taking their case to the United Nations....
3/30/2005	Report Shows Three Times More Women Killed Than Men in Tsunami-Hit Areas A leading aid organization reports that three times as many women were killed on average than men in the some of the tsunami-hit areas in India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka....
3/24/2005	Brazil’s New Family Planning Program Angers Catholic Church Brazil has launched a new family planning program that distributes free contraceptives through the country's 6,012 hospitals and 63,662 clinics, angering Brazil's Roman Catholic Church....
3/23/2005	SD: Governor Signs into Law the Nation's Toughest Anti-Abortion Bills Governor Michael Rounds (R) signed four of the nation's toughest anti-abortion bills into law last week that will drastically restrict a woman's right to choose in South Dakota....
3/22/2005	Indiana: Planned Parenthood Fights AG's Attempt to Obtain Records Planned Parenthood of Indiana sued the state last week, filing both temporary and permanent injunctions against Attorney General Steve Carter, who has demanded the medical records of 73 low-income Planned Parenthood patients under the age of 14....
3/21/2005	One in Seven Attending Military Academies Report Being Sexually Assaulted The US Department of Defense released a report on sexual misconduct on three military academies' campuses, showing that one female student in seven reported being sexually assaulted last spring....
3/18/2005	Kansas Attorney General Accused of Violating Gag Order Two abortion clinics have accused Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline of violating a gag order barring him and the clinics from discussing publicly Kline's attempts to obtain the unedited medical records of 90 women and girls who sought late-term abortions in 2003....
3/14/2005	New Bill Seeks to Correct Decision to Omit EC from National Guidelines The "Best Help for Rape Victims Act" was introduced last week to require the Department of Justice to include emergency contraception (EC) in the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination....
3/14/2005	Congo Government Fails to Protect Tens of Thousands of Rape Victims A leading human rights organization issued a report last week documenting how the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has not taken the necessary steps to prosecute the militiamen and renegade soldiers responsible for raping and beating tens of thousands of women and girls in the eastern part of the country....
3/10/2005	Bush Nominates Anti-UN Candidate for Ambassador to the UN Earlier this week, President Bush nominated John Bolton to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, angering women's rights and human rights advocates....
3/7/2005	Report Shows Dire State of Family Planning Funding A report released last week by the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) brought to light the dire state of family planning funding in the United States, made worse in recent years by anti-choice legislation and restrictive budget proposals....
3/4/2005	Village Gang-Rape Convicts Freed By Pakistani Court Five of the six men sentenced to death by a Pakistani court for gang-raping a 30-year-old woman, Mukhtar Mai, were acquitted by a village council yesterday, angering the human rights community....
3/2/2005	Kansas Attorney General Seeks Women's Abortion Records Two clinics in Kansas are fighting attempts by Attorney General Phill Kline to subpoena unedited medical records of 90 women and girls who sought late-term abortions in 2003....
2/24/2005	Report Finds Iraqi Women No Better Off Iraqi women are no better off now than they were under the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein according to a report released on Monday by Amnesty International....
2/22/2005	UN Reports that Afghanistan Could Easily Slip Back Into Chaos The United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) first ever Afghanistan Human Development Report found that while the country has made progress since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan could easily fall back into chaos....
2/17/2005	Polish Parliament Drops Vote to Liberalize Abortion Poland's Parliament voted 199 to 183 to drop a measure that would have liberalized the severely restrictive abortion laws in a country that currently has a very powerful Catholic hierarchy....
2/16/2005	South Dakota Considers Several Anti-Choice Bills South Dakota's Republican-dominated House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday that would outlaw abortion in the state if a woman's right to choose was no longer protected by the federal government....
2/14/2005	Congresswoman Maloney Prevented from Testifying on EC for Rape Survivors Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was prevented from testifying on Thursday about the need to include information on emergency contraception in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) guidelines for the treatment of sexual assault victims before an advisory committee working to strengthen the federal Violence Against Women Act....
2/11/2005	UN Peacekeepers Banned From Having Sex with Local Congolese United Nations peacekeepers stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been banned from having sex with local residents as a result of allegations of widespread sexual abuse of women and girls by peacekeepers....
2/10/2005	United Nations Official Accuses Iran of Women's Rights Abuses A United Nations human rights investigator accused Iran of sentencing women to death based on flimsy evidence and called on the Iranian government to abolish the death penalty....
2/3/2005	UN Commission Finds Crimes Against Humanity in Sudan; Urges International Court Action A United Nations-appointed commission released a report earlier this week that found that the pattern of atrocities in the Sudan did not constitute acts of genocide committed by the government, but instead found the government guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes....
1/25/2005	Male Dominance Has Led to World's Highest Rate of HIV in Swaziland Experts are pointing to polygamy, rape, sexual violence, and legal exploitation as the main causes why Swaziland, an African country that borders South Africa, has the world's highest HIV infection rate (39 percent)....
1/25/2005	Ashcroft Opts Out of Aiding Guatemalan Asylum Seeker US Attorney General John Ashcroft will neither grant nor deny asylum to a Guatemalan woman who fled her country after ten years of abuse at the hands of her husband, including being raped, whipped with electrical cords, and threatened with death....
1/24/2005	Ex-Priest's Trial for Child Rape Begins The trial against Paul Shanley, a 73-year-old defrocked Catholic priest facing three counts of child rape and two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child, begins tomorrow....
1/14/2005	Members of Congress Urge Inclusion of EC in Federal Sexual Assault Guidelines Ninety-seven US Lawmakers, led by Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), sent a letter Tuesday to the Department of Justice, in which they "strongly urged" the revision of its new guidelines for the treatment of sexual assault survivors to include information about emergency contraception (EC)....
1/10/2005	Female Victims of Tsunami Face Violence and Threats to Health Local women's organizations in tsunami-affected areas are reporting violence, including rape, against women and girls....
1/7/2005	Gang Members Convicted of Slaying 12 Women in Juarez Ten members of a Mexico gang were convicted in the killings of 12 women in the border city of Juarez....
12/16/2004	Pentagon Report Blames Air Force Academy Leadership for Sex Abuse Pentagon Inspector General Joseph Schmitz released a report last week on his investigation into the Air Force Academy's sexual assault scandal that found a succession of commanders responsible for the lack of attention paid to the rampant occurrences of rape and sexual abuse....
12/15/2004	HHS Secretary Nominee Opposes Abortion Rights President Bush on Monday nominated Republican Mike Leavitt to replace Tommy Thompson as Secretary of Health and Human Services....
12/8/2004	Governments Fail to Protect Women from Violence During War A leading human rights group has issued a global call to action to challenge violence against women and the failure of governments to prevent it....
11/29/2004	Investigators Find Cases of UN Sex Abuse in Congo Investigators sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo reported more than 150 cases of pedophilia, rape and soliciting prostitutes by United Nations officials and peacekeepers....
11/18/2004	Poland's Restrictive Abortion Laws Criticized by UN Committee The United Nations Human Rights Committee recently criticized Poland's strict abortion laws....
11/17/2004	NC Public Radio Station Bars Ad with the Phrase "Reproductive Rights" A North Carolina public radio station refused to run an underwriting announcement as it was submitted by Ipas, an international women’s rights and health organization, because it contained the phrase “reproductive rights.” Citing fear of being fined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the radio station, WUNC-FM, maintained that use of the phrase could be construed as an endorsement of abortion, the Boston Globe reports....
11/15/2004	Foreign Women Raped In Ivory Coast Several dozen foreign women were raped in the Ivory Coast over the past week as a result of recent anti-French riots....
11/8/2004	King Releases Nepalese Women Imprisoned for Having Abortions Nepal's King Gyanendra granted amnesty to 12 female prisoners who were jailed for having abortions....
11/1/2004	Activists Protest Murders of Young Women at the Mexican Border Over 1,000 Mexicans and dozens of American and Canadian activists are demanding justice for the hundreds of women and girls murdered in Mexico's border town of Juarez....
10/28/2004	Brazilian Court Rules Against Aborting Fetuses Without Brains Brazil's highest court has ruled against allowing abortions in cases where the fetus has developed without a brain....
10/26/2004	UN Still Divided on US-Backed Ban on All Forms of Human Cloning Despite pressure from the United States, the United Nations has delayed a vote on a proposal to ban all forms of human cloning, including stem cell and other therapeutic cloning research that scientists believe has the potential to treat serious illnesses such as cancer and spinal cord injuries....
10/21/2004	UNICEF: Violence and Sexual Exploitation Continue in Sudan The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports that rape is still being used as a weapon to terrorize women and girls, their families, and their communities in Darfur, Sudan....
10/13/2004	Rape Kit Logjam Finally Broken Little noticed in the unusual Saturday session, the Debbie Smith bill passed the US Senate....
10/6/2004	Sierra Leone Gay and Lesbian Rights Activist Murdered A leading Sierra Leone gay and lesbian rights activist was found brutally murdered in her office....
9/30/2004	Majority of Portuguese Want Abortion Law Reformed A recent poll shows that nearly 77 percent of Portuguese want a new referendum on Portugal's restrictive abortion laws....
9/28/2004	Group Criticizes Islamic Law in Nigeria Citing Discriminatory Practices Sharia (Islamic) courts in northern Nigeria impose discriminatory and harsh sentences and have failed to respect due process rights, according to a report just released by Human Rights Watch (HRW)....
9/21/2004	US House Votes to Allow Doctors to Refuse to Perform Abortions Earlier this month, the US House of Representatives voted to approve the Federal Refusal Clause, which will allow any doctor, hospital, or health care provider to refuse to perform an abortion, and refuse to refer a patient seeking an abortion to another doctor, even in the case of rape or medical emergency....
9/10/2004	Powell Reports Genocide in Sudan In his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, US Secretary of State Colin Powell declared that genocide has occurred in the Darfur region of the Sudan....
9/2/2004	Sudanese Women Raped by Militia Large numbers of Sudanese women are being raped by, or have lost their husbands to, the mostly-Arab militia called the Janjaweed....
8/24/2004	Muslim Cleric Opposes Calls To Protect Women From Marital Rape One of Malaysia's most prominent clerics, Mufti Harussani Zakaria, has angered women's rights and human rights groups by opposing calls to protect women from rape within marriage....
8/23/2004	Women on Waves Leaves for Portugal Women on Waves will set sail for Portugal this afternoon to bring attention to the nation's restrictive abortion policies....
8/3/2004	Governor Breaks Promise and Alters Abortion Policy in Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski (R) of Alaska broke an election-year promise made in 2002 when he signed a bill into law affecting abortion policy last week....
7/8/2004	Three Women Stand Trial for Abortion in Portugal Three Portuguese women are standing trial for allegedly undergoing illegal abortions....
7/7/2004	Extremist Nominee Confirmed to US District Court In a vote of 51 to 46 yesterday, the Senate confirmed James Leon Holmes to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas....
6/29/2004	Missouri 24-Hour Waiting Period Law Suspended Pending Court Case A Missouri mandatory delay for abortion services law was suspended last Tuesday pending the outcome of a legal challenge filed by two Planned Parenthood affiliates....
6/23/2004	Unnecessary Pap Smears Administered to 10 Million Women Approximately 10 million American women who have had hysterectomies are unnecessarily receiving Pap smears, a new study has revealed....
6/18/2004	Top FDA Scientists Criticize Rejection of EC Over the Counter Top Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists wrote an internal memo criticizing FDA leadership for rejecting Barr Laboratories' application for over-the-counter status for its emergency contraceptive Plan B....
6/18/2004	Kofi Annan Opposes Allowing US Troops Exemption from International Court United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan is urging the Security Council to oppose the United States' attempt to obtain another exemption for US troops from prosecution under the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
6/11/2004	Air Force Cadet Takes Plea Deal in Rape Case Douglas Meester, the Air Force cadet accused of rape last year, settled his case with a reprimand and a fine of $2000 on Tuesday....
6/7/2004	Report: Turkey Fails To Protect Women from Violence A leading human rights organization issued a report criticizing the Turkish government and judiciary for failing to protect women from violence....
6/4/2004	Army Report Finds Increase in Sexual Assault An internal Army report released yesterday acknowledged the alarming increase in numbers of rapes and sexual assaults within its ranks and indicated that these crimes may have been facilitated by faults and oversights within the system....
6/1/2004	UN Peacekeepers Allegedly Sexually Abuse Teenage Girls in Refugee Camp Young female refugees in the Congo who were raped by militiamen are now allegedly being sexually exploited by United Nations peace troops....
5/27/2004	Trafficked Victim Allowed to Remain in US A Mexican woman who served 22 years in prison for the murder of the man who bought and raped her in 1976 was released and allowed to remain in the United States after pressure from various human rights group and members of Congress....
5/19/2004	Report: Sexual Assault of Women in US Military Major Problem The Department of Defense (DOD) released a report last week that found 112 cases of sexual assault of women in the military by their male counterparts over the past 18 months in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait....
5/14/2004	Iraqi Female Prisoners Face Trauma Even After Release Women's rights and human rights advocates fear that whether or not there was widespread sexual abuse of female prisoners in Iraq, the women who were imprisoned face even more problems upon release....
5/11/2004	NH Bill to Allow Access to EC Directly From Pharmacists Last Wednesday, the New Hampshire House passed a bill that would allow women to purchase emergency contraception directly from pharmacists without a prescription....
5/11/2004	Spain's New Prime Minister Makes Women's Equality a Top Priority The new Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, appointed half of his cabinet seats to women and is making female empowerment a top priority....
5/5/2004	FL: Legislature Seeks Parental Notification Constitutional Amendment The Republican-controlled Florida legislature on Friday garnered the three-fifths majority necessary to place a proposed constitutional amendment restricting abortion access for young women on the ballot this November....
5/5/2004	FDA Approval of Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception Uncertain Barr Laboratories, distributors of the emergency contraceptive Plan B, are reportedly concerned that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will not approve their proposal to make the drug available without a prescription....
4/12/2004	Experts Speak Out Against FDA Delay on Emergency Contraception Several members of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) expert advisory committees are speaking out against the agency’s delay of its decision to make the emergency contraceptive Plan B available without a prescription....
4/2/2004	Iraqi Female Minister Escapes Assassination Earlier this week, Iraq’s only female interim minister, Nasreen Barwari, escaped an assassination attempt near Mosul....
3/31/2004	Women's Bill Introduced in Pakistan A bill to abolish laws that discriminate against women in Pakistan has been presented before Pakistan's parliament....
3/22/2004	Huge Shortage of Girls in China The United Nations (UN) has reported that China will face a huge shortage of girls that will cause major problems for China's family and social stability if the trend is not changed....
3/12/2004	Air Force Ordered Study on Sexual Misconduct and Rape An Air Force five-month review found that ninety-two accusations of rape by Air Force personnel were reported to military officials from 2001 to 2003 in the Pacific....
3/2/2004	Pentagon Questioned About Sexual Assaults in Military Both Democrat and Republican Senators questioned top Pentagon officials and officers last week about the military's failure to protect servicewomen from sexual assault, to provide the proper medical treatment and counseling to victims, and to punish the violators....
2/27/2004	Rape Charges Continue to Surface at Colorado University In the weeks since ex-University of Colorado football place-kicker Katie Hnida's accusation that she was raped by a teammate and sexually assaulted by several fellow players in 2000, seven more women have come forward alleging they were also raped by CU players or recruits....
2/26/2004	SD: Bill to Ban Most Abortions Goes to Governor for Signature A bill that would ban almost all abortions in South Dakota was passed by the state House on Wednesday....
2/24/2004	The US & the Global Gag Rule United States funds represent a significant proportion of the budgets of many international nongovernmental organizations that provide essential health care to women in the developing nations....
2/19/2004	FDA Delays Approval of Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception The Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday that it would delay its decision on over-the-counter status for the emergency contraceptive Plan B....
2/18/2004	Portuguese Women Acquitted In Abortion Case Seventeen people, including seven women who were accused of undergoing illegal abortions in Portugal, were acquitted yesterday of breaking Portugal's strict abortion laws....
2/6/2004	SD: Committee Rejects Requiring Emergency Contraception for Rape Victims The South Dakota House Health Committee on Monday rejected 11-1 a proposal to require hospitals to offer rape survivors emergency contraception....
2/4/2004	Pharmacist Refuses to Fill Prescription for Emergency Contraception A pharmacist in Denton, Texas drew protestors for refusing to fill a prescription for emergency contraception for a victim of rape....
2/3/2004	US Cuts Aid to Ecuador Over International Criminal Court The United States is withholding millions of dollars in military aid to Ecuador because of Ecuador's reluctance to sign an agreement with the US that would grant US military immunity from the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
1/29/2004	Portugal: Advocates Campaign for Abortion Decriminalization Referendum Portuguese abortion rights activists have collected over 100,000 signatures to force Parliament to consider a decriminalization referendum that would make abortion legal during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy....
1/13/2004	Court Rules No Guardian For Fetus A Florida Appeals Court ruled on Friday that the state could not appoint a guardian for a mentally disabled rape victim's fetus....
1/5/2004	Indian Court Rules That Rape Cases Must Have Female Judges India's Supreme Court has set up special courts to deal with rape cases that will be judged by female judges....
12/23/2003	GA: Court Denies Medicaid Coverage for Abortions A Georgia court on Monday ruled that the state is not required to pay for medically necessary abortions for poor women through Medicaid....
12/12/2003	MN: Health Dept. Criticizes Website Linking Abortion, Breast Cancer Minnesota Health Department officials are questioning a statement posted on the department's website to comply with a new law asserting that having an abortion increases a woman's risk of breast cancer....
12/11/2003	IL: Group Pushes to Clear Rape Kit Backlog A group of women in Chicago has banded together to address a mounting backlog of untested rape kits at the Illinois State Police Crime Lab....
12/3/2003	Report: One-Third of Women Will Be Abused in Lifetime The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) released its findings that one third of women will be beaten, raped, or otherwise abused in her lifetime....
11/26/2003	Liberian Women Demand Peace Last week, over 800 women marched through Monrovia, Liberia demanding peace in their West African country....
11/19/2003	Cherie Booth Criticizes Bush's Stance on the International Criminal Court Cherie Booth, a leading human rights attorney and Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife, criticized the Bush administration's opposition to the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
11/14/2003	Afghan Human Rights Official Calls for More Peace Troops Speaking before a conference of human rights defenders at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Dr Sima Samar, Chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, called for an expansion in the size, range, and mandate of international peacekeeping forces in Afghanistan in order to secure women's rights and human rights....
11/13/2003	House Passes DNA Testing Legislation The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the Advancing Justice Through DNA Technology Act (HR 3214), authorizing over $1 billion to facilitating the testing and processing of DNA kits in criminal cases....
11/10/2003	FDA Panel to Consider EC Over-the-Counter Status A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel will meet next month to consider over-the-counter sales status for the emergency contraceptive (EC) Plan B....
11/10/2003	Schwarzenegger Hires Private Firm to Investigate Groping Allegations Against the protests of women's rights advocates, Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger recently hired a private investigation firm to look into allegations that he groped at least 16 women in the past three decades....
11/6/2003	Activists Demand Justice in Juarez Murders Human rights activists marched in Washington to the Mexican Embassy this weekend to demand justice for over 370 women who have been victims of serial killings in the Mexican state of Chihuahua....
11/6/2003	Women on Waves Cleared of Accusations in Poland After a four-month-long investigation, Women on Waves has been cleared of charges of breaking strict abortions laws by of performing illegal abortions in Poland and by introducing the abortion pill mifepristone (RU 486) into the country....
10/28/2003	Air Force Academy Struggles with New Sex Assault Allegations Months after the administrative shakeup replaced top brass at the US Air Force Academy, officials at the institution say incidents of sexual assault or harassment continue to occur....
10/24/2003	Rwanda Tops Sweden With Highest Proportion of Female Members of Parliament After elections held earlier this month, Rwanda achieved the highest proportion of female parliamentarians in the world....
10/23/2003	Pakistan: Majority of Jailed Women are Rape Victims The National Commission on the Status of Women in Pakistan recently issued a report on the Hudood Ordinances, stating that as many as 88 percent of female prisoners are serving time for violating the 1977 Zina Ordinance, which makes fornication a crime and adultery a state offence....
10/17/2003	Swiss Diplomat Raped In India A Swiss diplomat was raped after a film festival in India earlier this week....
10/6/2003	Report: Afghan Women Still Facing Human Rights Abuses Amnesty International issued a report today asserting that women's rights in Afghanistan have barely improved since the fall of the Taliban....
10/2/2003	NY Hospitals to Offer Rape Victims EC New York joined California, Washington and New Mexico yesterday, becoming the fourth state to mandate that hospitals offer rape victims emergency contraception (EC)....
9/30/2003	Indiana Supreme Court Expands Medicaid Coverage for Abortions Last week, Indiana's Supreme Court expanded Medicaid coverage to include abortions for low-income women when the pregnancy poses a serious risk to the woman's health....
9/17/2003	Japanese Court Sentences US Marine For Rape A Japanese court sentenced Lance Corporal Jose Torres to three-and-a-half years in prison for raping a woman in Okinawa, Japan....
9/10/2003	Feminist, Labor Activist Named to UC Board of Regents Dolores Huerta, an icon of the feminist and labor movements, was appointed yesterday to a five-month term on the University of California Board of Regents....
9/4/2003	Perfume As Rape Risk? The leader of an Islamic Party in Malaysia is facing harsh criticism from women's groups after saying that women who do not want to be raped or molested should stop wearing lipstick and perfume....
9/3/2003	Air Force Academy Report Confirms Sexual Assault Is Widespread Problem A Department of Defense report of initial findings released on August 21 confirmed the claims of former cadets that sexual assault is a widespread problem at the Air Force Academy....
8/28/2003	Russia Increases Restrictions on Abortion Russia increased its restrictions on abortion for the first time in nearly 50 years....
8/25/2003	Report: Domestic Violence in Uganda Increases Risk of AIDS for Women A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report reveals that the Ugandan government's failure to address rape and attacks on women by their husbands increases women's risk of contracting HIV....
8/21/2003	Kenyan Widows Face Dangerous Tradition A major national newspaper recently investigated a traditional requirement that widows in Kenya often face that is being blamed for helping spread HIV/AIDS....
8/20/2003	Afghanistan: Security and Rule of Law Failing Due to Lack of Funds Amnesty International issued a report last week on the failure of donor countries in supporting efforts to reestablish the rule of law in Afghanistan....
8/19/2003	Florida State Officials Face Possible Charges in Rape Case Several Florida State University officials face possible charges after evidence was revealed that suggests at least one official had discouraged an alleged rape victim from reporting the incident to the police....
8/19/2003	Groups Granted Motion in Mentally Disabled FL Rape Case In what is becoming an increasingly moot point for the severely disabled, pregnant 22-year-old woman who was raped while in state custody and due to give birth later this month, Florida's 5th District Court of Appeals last week granted an emergency motion, giving abortion-rights and civil rights groups "friends of the court" status in an appeal involving Jennifer Wixtrom, who seeks guardianship of the woman's fetus and the state Department of Children and Families (DCF)....
8/14/2003	Report: Govt. Fails to Investigate Women Killed in Juarez Amnesty International issued a report asserting that Mexican police have failed to take the necessary actions to investigate the abductions and brutal murders of women and girls in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua, Mexico....
8/12/2003	Bill Introduced to Ensure Rape Victims Offered EC Legislators in Congress have introduced a bill that would require hospitals that receive federal funds to provide access to emergency contraception for sexual assault victims....
8/5/2003	IL Gov. Signs Laws Clarifying Rape, Requiring Contraceptives Coverage Late last month Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) signed a law clarifying rape as any situation where someone continues to have intercourse after the partner asks to stop....
8/5/2003	NYC Launches Program to Indict DNA Profiles New York City yesterday unveiled an innovative project allowing indictments against DNA profiles matching biological evidence collected from unsolved sex crimes....
7/25/2003	Okinawa: Marine Pleads Guilty to Rape The US marine arrested in June for allegedly punching and raping a 19-year-old Japanese woman in Okinawa pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of rape and assault, reported Reuters....
7/17/2003	US Naval Academy: Midshipmen Face Rape Charges Vice Admiral Charles Moore, acting superintendent of the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, issued a decision last week to court-martial a fourth-year midshipman, charged with raping a first-year student, reported the Associated Press....
7/16/2003	Law Enforcement Fails to Respond to Reports of Rape and Abduction in Iraq Widespread reports of abduction and rape of women in Iraq have been met with disinterest from Iraqi and US authorities, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports in a study released today....
7/15/2003	LAPD Domestic Violence Whistle Blower Serves Time in Prison A criminal defense consultant recently completed a 45-day federal prison sentence for exposing a pattern of domestic violence and cover-up by officers in the Los Angeles Police Department....
7/11/2003	Kenyan Women Win Legal Aid to Sue British Troops for Rape Several hundred Kenyan women who accused British soldiers of sexual assault and gang rape won legal backing to take the British Army to court....
7/8/2003	Air Force Academy Cadet Faces Court-Martial The Air Force Academy last week announced a decision by Brigadier General Johnny Weida to court-martial Douglas Meester, 20, the first cadet to be tried since the rape scandal erupted last year....
7/3/2003	Women on Waves Investigated for Missing Abortion Pills As Women on Waves finishes its historic trip to Poland, Polish police are investigating the group for distributing the abortion pill mifepristone (RU 486), which is illegal in Poland....
7/1/2003	Countries Set to Lose US Aid Over ICC Immunity Threatened with cuts in US military assistance, nearly 50 countries-mostly small, poor nations strongly reliant on international aid-have signed immunity deals (also known as Article 98 agreements) with Washington, allowing the US to effectively bypass the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
7/1/2003	Mentally Disabled Florida Rape Survivor to Carry Pregnancy to Term After much back and forth about the health risks of a pregnancy for a mentally disabled woman who became pregnant after she was raped while under the state's care, a Florida judge approved a decision made by the woman's court-appointed guardian to carry her pregnancy to term....
7/1/2003	Sex Assault Expert Appointed to Air Force Academy Panel The Pentagon on Thursday appointed a sexual assault expert to a panel investigating the recent rape scandal at the Air Force Academy....
6/27/2003	Women on Waves Performs First Abortion in International Waters Women on Waves successfully performed the first abortion in international waters off the coast of Poland yesterday....
6/26/2003	Emergency Contraception Approved Without Prescription in Australia The Australian Therapeutic Goods Association Committee on National Drugs and Poisons made a preliminary decision to allow the selling of emergency contraception (EC) over the counter....
6/24/2003	Rape Case Highlights Inadequacy of Yale Sex Assault Policy A federal judge dismissed on April 30 charges of breach of contract, negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress made by a former student who claims she was raped while at Yale, but her charges of defamation and inadequate protection from harassment will go to trial....
6/23/2003	Anti-Abortion Activists Protest Women on Waves Anti-abortion protesters threw red paint and eggs at the Women on Waves (WOW) boat and its supporters yesterday....
6/20/2003	FMF Assists Women on Waves in Poland Women on Waves (WOW), a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands whose mission is to prevent unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortions throughout the world, arrives today in Poland - where access to abortion is extremely restricted - to provide abortion and reproductive health services to women on a specially equipped ship....
6/20/2003	Women on Waves in Poland FMF Provides Security Training to Mobile Abortion Clinic WASHINGTON, DC-- Women on Waves arrives today in Poland, where access to abortion is extremely restricted, to provide abortion and reproductive health services to women on a specially equipped ship....
6/18/2003	Okinawa: Marine Arrested for Rape Coming on the heels of the ongoing Air Force Academy scandal, a US marine accused of punching and raping a 19-year-old Japanese woman in Okinawa was arrested this week, highlighting the continuing problem of sexual violence in the military....
6/16/2003	Air Force Academy Leadership Failed to Act on Sexual Assaults An investigation by the Denver Post found that Air Force Academy brass and board members failed to act aggressively to protect female cadets from a pattern of sexual assault over the past 20 years....
6/13/2003	Women in Iraq Face Restrictions on Rights Iraqi women are seeing their rights increasingly constrained by religious groups gaining increased power and the almost nonexistent security....
6/12/2003	US Seeks Extension of Immunity from the ICC Exacerbating an already deteriorating reputation in the international community, the United States this week resumed its call for extended immunity from the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
6/9/2003	New Air Force Academy Policy Nixes Victim Confidentiality Altering its position held earlier this spring, the US Air Force Academy this weekend unveiled a new sexual assault policy that rejects the confidentiality of victims reporting assault....
6/5/2003	Man Sentenced to Only One Year for Killing Sister in Jordan A 20-year-old man, who strangled his pregnant sister to death, was sentenced to one year in prison by the Jordanian Criminal Court....
6/3/2003	Florida Judge Refuses To Appoint Guardian for Fetus Stating there is no legal basis for such a request, Florida judge refused Governor Jeb Bush's plea that the state appoint a guardian for the fetus of a severely disabled woman who became pregnant after being raped in state custody....
5/30/2003	Female Cadets Blamed for Alleged Sexual Assaults at Air Force Academy Mirroring the hostility many female cadets confronted when they reported sexual assault incidents at Colorado’s Air Force Academy, a woman appointed to a panel charged with investigating the academy’s mishandling of more than 50 sexual assault incidents has said that she questions the truthfulness of the female cadets’ allegations....
5/29/2003	Anti-Abortionists Target Mentally Retarded Rape Victims A Florida anti-abortion group is now claiming that they have persuaded a Miami judge to change his ruling in what has become a highly charged case involving a severely disabled woman who became pregnant after she was raped....
5/23/2003	Congress Upholds Abortion Ban for Servicewomen Overseas Both the US House and the Senate rejected amendments to $400 billion defense spending bills that would have repealed a ban on abortions for women stationed overseas....
5/20/2003	EC: NM Allows Direct Dispensation by Pharmacists New Mexico last Thursday became the fourth state-joining Alaska, California, and Washington-to allow direct dispensation of emergency contraception (EC) by pharmacists....
5/15/2003	Burmese Women Suffer Systematic Rapes From Military A new report reveals that Burma's army has been using rape as a weapon of war against ethnic women....
5/15/2003	Studies Released on EC, Controversy Continues in States US minority women are less informed about emergency contraception (EC), also known as the "morning-after" pill, according to a new study by ACOG....
5/14/2003	Hearings Held for Cadets Charged in Air Force Sex Scandal One month after new leadership was installed to quell the embarrassing sexual assault scandal plaguing the US Air Force Academy, hearings were held for two cadets accused of sexual assault....
5/5/2003	Police Chief’s Wife Dies; Reports of Abuse Continue to Surface After filing for divorce to escape more than a decade of abuse, Crystal Brame, the estranged wife of Tacoma Washington Police Chief David Brame, died Saturday after clinging to life for nearly a week....
4/29/2003	Afghanistan: Constitutional Commission Includes Seven Women A 35-member commission appointed to review Afghanistan's draft constitution includes seven women....
4/29/2003	JMU Students Fight for Access to Emergency Contraception Nearly 3,000 students demanded that James Madison University's Board of Visitors reverse their decision to stop the student health center from dispensing emergency contraception....
4/25/2003	Florida Court Strikes Down Punitive Adoption Law The Fourth District Court of Appeals struck down a Florida law that required birth mothers, including rape victims and teenage girls, who wanted to give their child up for adoption to take out newspaper ads publicizing their sexual histories, purportedly to identify the father....
4/25/2003	Harvard Panel Recommends New Sexual Assault Policy A report issued last week by a Harvard panel urged the college to change its current controversial sexual assault policies to include more education and a more efficient review process....
4/21/2003	Request Filed for Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception Women's Capital Corporation, makers of the emergency contraceptive Plan B, submitted their request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today to make Plan B available over the counter....
4/18/2003	Air Force Academy Installs New Leadership, Proposes Changes One week after replacing its top brass, the embattled US Air Force Academy is bracing for institutional changes, promising to confront the embarrassing rape scandal that has plagued the academy the last several months....
4/17/2003	Senate Committee To Consider Anti-Abortion Activist In another example of Bush's court-packing plan, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the nomination of anti-abortion lawyer James Leon Holmes to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas after the spring recess....
4/4/2003	Senate Calls For Independent Review of Air Force Academy Rape Scandal After Senators from both sides of the aisle demanded that a climate of hostility toward women at the nation's Air Force Academy be addressed, the Senate voted unanimously Wednesday to appoint an independent panel to investigate the academy's handling of close to 60 sexual assault allegations from female cadets over the past decade....
4/4/2003	College Students Take Back the Night Students across the nation are commemorating Sexual Assault Awareness Month with major events, rallies, and Take Back the Night events....
4/2/2003	Democrats Maintain Estrada Filibuster, Senate Passes Tymkovich Senate Democrats defeated the fourth cloture vote today with a vote of 55-44, maintaining a two-month filibuster against Miguel Estrada....
3/31/2003	Hearing, Vote Scheduled for Right-Wing Judicial Nominees The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on Carolyn Kuhl, a Bush nominee to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, whose record is anti-women’s rights....
3/28/2003	States Debate Human Cloning Issue As federal legislation to ban all types of human cloning makes its way through the US Congress, similar proposals are appearing at the state level – many propelled by claims by anti-abortion forces that the practice threatens “unborn” lives....
3/27/2003	Arizona Students Campaign Against Battin’ 1000 Students in Arizona are rallying support around the nation against an anti-abortion fundraising campaign led by professional baseball players and executives....
3/26/2003	Air Force Academy to Change Leadership Air Force Secretary John Roche and chief of staff General John Jumper told the Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday that the academy’s top four leaders will be replaced and reassigned....
3/24/2003	Senate Committee Debates Stem Cell Research Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Orrin Harch (R-UT) launched Senate debate last week on a bill he introduced to support stem cell research, a stance that breaks away from his typically far-right ideology....
3/21/2003	Study Shows Emergency Contraception Reduces Unwanted Pregnancy A study by researchers at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles demonstrated that teenage mothers who are given an advance supply of emergency contraception are less likely to get pregnant, Reuters Health reported Wednesday....
3/17/2003	Air Force Proposes Separating Cadets by Gender to End Sexual Assault As investigation continues into reports of at least 56 sexual assaults at the United States Air Force Academy over the past 10 years, military officials are proposing changes that include housing male and female cadets in separate dormitories and training Air Force nurses and investigators to deal with sexual assault....
3/17/2003	More Federal Dollars Proposed for DNA Testing Attorney General John Ashcroft last week announced a proposal that would allocate $1 billion over five years for DNA testing....
3/13/2003	Catholic Church Revokes Decision to Punish Nine-Year-Old Rape Victim After protest from feminists, Roman Catholic authorities in Managua, Nicaragua decided to backtrack from their decision to excommunicate a nine-year-old rape victim, her parents, and their doctors for terminating the child’s pregnancy, the Guardian reports....
3/12/2003	EC, Health Exception Amendments to Abortion Procedures Ban Defeated The Senate on Tuesday rejected an amendment introduced by Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) to provide $10 million over five years to improve awareness about emergency contraception (EC), make EC available to rape victims in emergency rooms across the country, and require insurance companies to cover prescription contraceptives....
3/12/2003	Emergency Contraception Finds Support in New York Bills in the New York State Assembly and the New York City Council would expand women’s access to emergency contraception (EC)....
3/11/2003	Senators Introduce EC Amendment to So-Called “Partial-Birth” Abortion Ban As debate continued on the floor of the US Senate today over unconstitutional legislation that would ban so-called "partial birth” abortions, Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced an amendment that would provide $10 million over the next five years to improve awareness about emergency contraception (EC), make EC available to rape victims in every emergency room across the country and require insurance companies to cover contraceptives. “If we are going to jeopardize women’s health by banning certain health procedures, we must protect women’s health by covering contraceptives,” Murray argued on the floor this morning....
3/10/2003	Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Another Anti-Woman Nominee The Senate Judiciary Committee approved another one of President Bush’s far-right, anti-woman judicial nominees late last week....
3/7/2003	Air Force Cites 54 Cases of Rape, Sexual Assault in Academy Air Force Secretary James Roche revealed yesterday that there have been 54 cases of alleged rape or sexual assault at the Air Force Academy, and acknowledged that number was likely to be much higher, according to the Los Angeles Times....
3/6/2003	Afghanistan: Injustices Against Women and Girls Persist Despite some measures of progress following the Taliban’s fall from power in late 2001, Afghan women and girls continue to suffer brutal acts of violence and inequality, according to a United Nations (UN) report released today....
3/6/2003	Ashcroft to Review Gender-Based Violence as Basis for Asylum Attorney General John Ashcroft is reconsidering a case that could have far-reaching implications for using gender-based persecution and violence as a basis for granting asylum to refugees, according to the Los Angeles Times....
3/4/2003	Baseball Players, Owners Launch Anti-Abortion Fundraising Initiative Close to 100 baseball executives and professional baseball players have announced an initiative to raise $1 million for the American Life League’s (ALL) planned “Campus for Life.” The “Campus for Life” will be built in Virginia, outside of Washington, D.C., and its intended purpose is to lend academic credibility to the anti-abortion movement and to “train the next generation’s leaders,” according to the Arizona Republic....
3/3/2003	Rape Charges Continue to Unfold at Air Force Academy; Pentagon Criticized for Disbanding Sexual Assault Committee With widespread reports of sexual assault against female cadets continuing to surface at a Colorado Air Force Academy, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has come under fire for disbanding a panel that addressed sexual assault throughout the military....
2/28/2003	House Passes Ban on All Human Cloning With the full support of President Bush, the US House of Representatives passed a ban yesterday on all types of human cloning with a vote of 241 to 155....
2/25/2003	States Lose Track of Thousands of Sex Offenders Parents for Megan’s Law, a group named after a 7-year old New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a child molester who moved in across the street, has released a new survey finding that states across the country have lost track of tens of thousands of rapists, child molesters, and other sex offenders supposed to be registered in Megan’s Law databases....
2/24/2003	FL: Adoption Law Mandating Disclosure of Intimate Details Set to Change A Florida adoption law that requires pregnant women considering adoption to publish intimate details about their sexual history — purportedly to identify the father—is getting an overhaul, reports Reuters....
2/24/2003	Nine-Year-Old Nicaraguan Rape Victim Granted Abortion After much debate in Nicaragua, a nine-year-old girl who became pregnant after being raped was granted an abortion by the Nicaraguan health ministry in a private clinic....
2/21/2003	FMLAs Celebrate V-Day with Safe Sex Campaigns, Performances, and More The WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY FMLA organized a V-Day celebration with chocolate vaginas....
2/21/2003	Air Force Academy Probed for Mishandling Rape Charges Following an investigative news piece by Denver’s 7NEWS last week, the Pentagon has launched an investigation of the Air Force Academy for allegedly punishing women cadets who reported sexual assaults by fellow students, according to the Washington Post....
2/21/2003	Congress Approves Spending Bill With Abortion Restrictions With the president’s signature expected any day, the US Congress approved the fiscal year 2003 $397.4 billion omnibus spending bill last week with several anti-women measures - including continued bans on federal spending for abortions....
2/20/2003	Judge Denies Boston Archdiocese’s Request to Dismiss Civil Lawsuits A Superior Court judge yesterday rejected a motion filed by the Archdiocese of Boston, seeking dismissal of 500 civil lawsuits alleging priest sex abuse....
2/11/2003	Afghan Warlords Will Face International Criminal Court Human Rights Watch reports that Afghan warlords who commit atrocities in the future may face prosecution by the new International Criminal Court (ICC)....
2/10/2003	Survey: Sex Offenders Not Accounted For Despite registration that is required annually nationwide, the whereabouts of more than 77,000 convicted sex offenders are unknown in 32 states, according to a survey conducted recently by Parents for Megan’s Law, a nonprofit advocacy group....
2/6/2003	Six Female Judges Elected to International Criminal Court Six women and one man were elected to the 18-member International Criminal Court (ICC) after the first round of voting on Tuesday....
1/31/2003	EU Accession Treaty: Catholics Call for Protection of Poland’s Abortion Policies The Roman Catholic Church in Poland is demanding that the treaty allowing its accession to the European Union (EU) contain language stipulating Poland’s freedom to set its own abortion policy....
1/24/2003	Senate Passes Spending Bill Without Abortion Restrictions The Senate passed a $390 billion spending bill last night that lacked funding restrictions on abortion....
1/16/2003	Rape Used as Systematic Weapon of War in Sierra Leone Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report today stating that all parties in Sierra Leone’s ten-year civil war committed systematic sexual violence....
1/14/2003	New Jersey Expected to Pass Bill in Support of Stem Cell Research While far-right extremists are pushing the US Congress to approve legislation banning all types of cloning, the New Jersey legislature is expected to pass a bill in support of the therapeutic cloning needed for stem cell research....
1/13/2003	Afghanistan Joins ICC, Stability Remains Key Concern Afghanistan today announced its decision to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), signaling the government’s increased efforts to weaken the power of feuding warlords, reported the Reuters English News Service....
1/13/2003	CA High Court Rules That Rape is Still Rape if Victim Changes Mind In a ruling that changes the legal definition of rape in California, the CA Supreme Court ruled recently that rape could still occur if a victim changes his or her mind during sexual intercourse....
1/10/2003	House Reintroduces Human Cloning Ban Legislation Compelled by Clonaid’s latest claims crediting itself with the first-born human clone, House representatives Dave Weldon (R-FL) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) on Wednesday reintroduced the Human Cloning Prohibition Act, calling for a total ban on reproductive as well as therapeutic human cloning....
1/9/2003	Polish Women Push For Loosening of Anti-Abortion Law Polish women’s groups on Tuesday demanded a loosening of the country’s anti-abortion law, marking the 10th anniversary of the legislation....
1/9/2003	California Loses Track of 33,296 Sex Offenders California has lost track of 33,296 sex offenders, or 44 percent of the 76,350 who registered with the state at least once, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday....
1/3/2003	Senate Gains Additional Woman Senator The total number of women US Senators rose to 14 in December, a new record, when Senator Frank Murkowski (R-AK) appointed his daughter, Lisa Murkowski, to finish his term after being elected governor of Alaska....
12/19/2002	Rapes Go Unreported in Atlanta Police Department Over a year and a half after an internal audit of the Atlanta Police Department found 34 unreported rape cases, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington has launched an investigation....
12/19/2002	Prescribe Choice Hits Fever Pitch: Emergency Contraception Action Day and More Activism! The Feminist Majority Foundation's Emergency Contraception Over-the-Counter (ECOTC) campaign is petitioning the Food and Drug Administration to allow women to access EC over the counter without a prescription so that it can be easily and quickly accessible to all women in the United States....
12/19/2002	And More Feminist Activism! The group SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY FMLA declared November, Gender Wage Gap Awareness Month, and held their second Pay Equity Bake sale to demonstrate the average wage gap experienced by women in 2001 in California....
12/17/2002	Study Shows Emergency Contraception Reduces Unwanted Pregnancy An Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) study released today revealed that emergency contraception (EC) was responsible for reducing unwanted pregnancies and lowering the number of abortions in the US by as many as 51,000 in the year 2000....
12/16/2002	Phoenix Police Worst at Solving Rape Cases Phoenix, the sixth largest city in the country, has the worst record of solving rape cases among the nation’s big cities, reports the Arizona Republic....
12/12/2002	Honor Killings on the Rise in Pakistan Honor killings in Pakistan have risen 25 percent since last year, according to Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission (HRC)....
12/11/2002	Human Rights Day Marked by Protests for Peace International Human Rights Day, held yesterday on the anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was marked yesterday by protests, rallies, and marches across the United States against plans for war against Iraq....
12/11/2002	Rush Limbaugh Attacks Ms. Women of the Year Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show host known for his anti-feminist rants, devoted an entire show to the 2002 Ms. Women of the Year....
12/9/2002	Senate Split 51-48 for Republicans after Landrieu Wins Seat in Louisiana First-term Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu beat her Republican opponent, Suzanne Haik Terrell, by 52 to 48 percent in Louisiana’s runoff election on Saturday....
12/6/2002	Landrieu Faces Terrell for Senate in Louisiana Runoff Race Mary Landrieu, a first-term Democratic US Senator, faces Republican challenger Suzanne Haik Terrell in tomorrow’s runoff race in Louisiana....
12/6/2002	Thousands of Feminist Activists to Participate in National Day of Action Feminist activists on campuses and in communities across the country will participate tomorrow in the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Day of Action for Emergency Contraception Over the Counter (EC OTC) by collecting petitions to make emergency contraception available over the counter....
12/5/2002	WHO, Others Mark International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women After releasing a study in October that for the first time called violence against women a global health problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a campaign to prevent violence against women through public education....
11/26/2002	*Latina Leader Dolores Huerta Awarded Puffin/Nation* Prize** Celebrated labor leader and Feminist Majority Foundation Board member Dolores Huerta won the second annual Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship....
11/25/2002	UNHCR Investigates Sex Abuse of Bhutanese Refugees in Nepal The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has dispatched a fact-finding team to investigate reports that 18 Bhutanese refugees were sexually assaulted in Nepal by aid workers from local non-governmental organizations, the UN Wire reports....
11/7/2002	Rape Used as Weapon of War in Congo The first complete report on the rape and abuse of women during the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo concludes that all sides commit atrocities against women as a common military tactic intended to subdue the civilian population. The report, entitled Women’s Rights Violations During the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was compiled by two researchers at the local organization, Association for the Rebirth of Human Rights in Congo, according to Women’s Enews....
10/29/2002	Bishop Admits to Promoting Sexually Abusive Priest Bishop Thomas Daily admitted in testimony made public yesterday to promoting Paul Shanley two decades ago to head a Boston parish, despite knowing that Shanley had openly expressed his approval of sexual relations between men and boys, according to the Boston Globe....
10/28/2002	Leadership Alliances Nationwide Promote EC and Mifepristone Access on Campus In February of 2001, more than 70 organizations, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, submitted a joint petition to the FDA demanding that emergency contraception be approved for over-the-counter use....
10/28/2002	Leadership Alliances Work to Promote Women's Health, Positive Body Image, and Sexual Assault Prevention The FMLA at SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY brought Julz Chavez, creator and owner of a new doll line "Get Real Girl," to speak about the need for realistic and healthy images in toys and products for children....
10/24/2002	Arizona Supreme Court Rules Against Ban on Medicaid Funding for Abortions Arizona’s Supreme Court ruled earlier this week that the ban on using Medicaid funding to perform medically necessary abortions on low-income women was unconstitutional, reversing a state appeals court ruling....
10/23/2002	Native American Women Denied Abortion Services Native American woman activist Charyn Asetoyer met with a group of abortion rights advocates on Capitol Hill today to talk about the dismal state of reproductive healthcare on Indian reservations in the US....
10/22/2002	Oregon to Vote on Universal Health Care Oregon could become the first state in the country to have universal health care, if Measure 23 passes on November 5....
10/17/2002	Tight Senate Races Hold Key to Balance of Power With the current Senate at only a one-vote majority for the Democratic Party, the mid-term elections on November 5 are seen as crucial by both liberals and conservatives alike....
10/16/2002	LAPD Whistle Blower’s Case Heard by Appeals Court Robert Mullally, the legal researcher turned whistle-blower who brought attention to domestic violence felonies committed by Los Angeles police officers, may face time in federal prison for leaking personnel files to a local television station....
10/16/2002	Utah: Plural Wife is First Woman Charged in Polygamy Case In the first case of its kind, a Utah woman is facing charges for aiding and abetting a polygamist relationship between her legal husband and her then 16-year-old sister....
10/15/2002	Alabama Enacts Abortion Waiting Period Alabama’s informed consent law (SB 333) went into effect yesterday, mandating that all women seeking an abortion meet with a health care professional 24-hours prior to the procedure....
10/10/2002	US Rejects European Compromise on ICC Despite a compromise offered by the European Union (EU) last week that could exempt US military personnel and diplomats from prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Bush Administration is continuing to press for full exemption of all US citizens, the New York Times reports....
10/3/2002	Unocal Liable For Human Rights Abuses Abroad A federal appeals court ruled recently that Unocal, the giant US oil company based in California, may be held legally responsible for forced labor, rape and murder committed by Burmese soldiers during the construction of a major Unocal gas pipeline project completed in 1999....
10/2/2002	Catholic Doctrines Imposed When Hospitals Become Secular In the sale of several Catholic hospitals to secular entities, the Catholic Church has imposed conditions of sale that stipulate a continued ban, sometimes indefinite, on healthcare options such as abortion previously forbidden under Catholic doctrine, according to a recent article in the Chicago Tribune....
10/1/2002	EU Compromises Stance on US Immunity from the ICC The European Union (EU) agreed yesterday to allow its 15 member nations to form bilateral immunity agreements with the United States to exempt US military personnel from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
9/30/2002	Women Gain Abortion Rights in Nepal In a huge step forward for women’s rights in Nepal, the King of Nepal recently signed a bill that officially legalizes abortion, makes sexual abuse against children a crime and allows women to inherit property from their parents....
9/27/2002	Los Angeles City Council Moves to Strengthen Rape Investigations With the help of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women , two Los Angeles city council members have proposed a new bill that would create a local version of the federal Debbie Smith Act, which authorizes money to reduce the national backlog of untested DNA rape kits....
9/26/2002	House Passes Bill Restricting Access to Abortion The US House of Representatives passed a bill yesterday that will allow health care providers, including hospitals and health plans, to refuse to perform abortions, offer abortion training, cover abortions or provide medically accurate information about abortions and still receive federal funding....
9/26/2002	Scientists Say Bush Has Brought Stem Cell Research to a Standstill Several scientists told a US Senate subcommittee yesterday that President Bush has severely thwarted research on embryonic stem cells that could hold the key to cures for such degenerative diseases as Parkinson’s, neural injuries and diabetes....
9/26/2002	TX Court Rules for Medicaid Funds for Abortion Last week, a Texas court of appeals ruled that denying Medicaid funding to poor women seeking abortion violates their equal rights....
9/25/2002	Support Group for Victims of Priest Abuse Fights Subpoena The victims support group SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests) has vowed to fight a subpoena that they argue is meant to intimidate and harass victims of sexual abuse by priests, according to the Boston Globe....
9/20/2002	Government Cracks Down On Internet Sale Of Date Rape Drug The US Department of Justice announced 119 arrests in 84 cities in the United States and Canada yesterday, following a two-year, multi-agency investigation into the sale of the “date rape” drug GHB over the Internet....
9/16/2002	Senate Passes Bill to Test More Rape Kits The Senate last week unanimously approved the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2002 (S 2313), a bill aimed at reducing the growing nationwide backlog of DNA evidence for sexual assault cases....
9/16/2002	Rwanda’s Female Minister Charged With Rape As A Crime Against Humanity Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Rwanda’s Minister of Family and Women’s Affairs, is the first woman to ever be charged with rape as a crime against humanity....
9/13/2002	Doctors Call For Over-the-Counter Access to Emergency Contraception As the United States continues to experience one of the highest rates of unintended pregnancy in the developed world, support for emergency contraception (EC) is increasing, backed by several studies and prominent doctors....
9/11/2002	Three Arrested In New York For Forcing Russian Women Into Sexual Slavery Three people were arrested in New York City recently and accused of bringing at least 30 Russian women into the US and forcing them to dance nude in strip clubs....
9/6/2002	Judge Sends Sexual Abuser Home To Live With Teenage Victim A Montgomery County, Maryland judge with a long history of rulings against women has angered law enforcement officials for a decision that may have led to further sexual abuse of a now 15-year-old girl....
9/6/2002	DNA Proves Michigan Man Did Not Rape/Murder—17 Years Too Late Eddie Joe Lloyd walked out of a Michigan prison a free man last week after spending 17 years behind bars for a rape and murder that DNA tests prove he did not commit....
9/3/2002	Six Men Sentenced to Death for Gang Rape in Pakistan A Pakistani judge sentenced six men to death by hanging for the tribal court-ordered gang rape of a woman in the village of Meerwala....
8/30/2002	Debate Over Medicaid Funding For Abortions Resumes In Florida A judge in Florida refused to dismiss a lawsuit yesterday challenging the state’s ban for funding most abortions under Medicaid....
8/29/2002	States Prosecute Priests for Sex Abuse Going Back Several Decades Prosecutors in several states are working around the statute of limitations on sexual abuse cases in order to prosecute priests for child molestation and rape that occurred over the past several decades, according to the New York Times....
8/28/2002	Utah Polygamist Gets Minimum Sentence For Child Rape Convicted Utah polygamist Tom Green received a lenient sentence of five years to life yesterday for child rape of his 13-year-old “spiritual wife.” Fourth District Court Judge Donald Eyre sentenced Green to the minimum sentence for the first-degree felony conviction – he will serve this sentence concurrently with his 2001 bigamy sentence of up to five years....
8/27/2002	Philadelphia Judge Stands Tough Against Domestic Violence A Philadelphia judge took a stand against domestic violence recently when he sentenced a man to 11-22 years in prison for the all too common crime of assaulting his wife....
8/26/2002	Bush Threatens NATO in Latest Attempt To Undermine ICC In President Bush’s latest attempt to strong arm US allies into supporting demands for American immunity from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the administration is threatening to use the US role in NATO against the European Union should they refuse to exempt American personnel from the newly created court, the New York Times reported today....
8/26/2002	Women’s Equality Day Celebrated Today In celebration of Women’s Equality Day, Ellen Goodman announced the "Equal Rites Awards" in her national column – a satirical spoof meant to honor those who have "set back the cause of women." Among Goodman’s honorees are President Bush for the "Mixed Message Award"—Goodman describes Bush as "the world leader who bragged about liberating women of the world [who] now hedges, hems and haws about supporting the United Nations treaty for women’s equality (CEDAW)." Others include the "Blind Justice Award" to the Pakistani tribal council that sentenced a young woman to gang rape, the "International Ayatollah Award" to the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Saudi Arabia—who wouldn’t let 15 girls out of a burning school because their hair wasn’t covered, and the "Our Make War, Not Love" prize for the 200 US soldiers who used their government credit cards at strip clubs to pay for lap dances....
8/23/2002	MA Police Officer Accused of Rape A Nantucket Police Officer, working in a temporary summer position, has been charged with rape....
8/22/2002	Women Demand Church’s Attention for Sexual Abuse of Nuns by Priests Despite worldwide focus on the notorious child sexual abuse scandal, the Catholic Church is continuing its routine of secrecy, denial, and feigned alacrity in regards to the little-publicized issue of nun sexual abuse by priests....
8/14/2002	Cardinal Law Admits He Knowingly Allowed Abusive Priests To Remain In Ministry In seven hours of videotaped testimony released today in a Boston court, Cardinal Bernard Law admitted to allowing priests accused of sexual abuse, as well as those who had admitted to abuse, to remain in the ministry without informing parishioners....
8/13/2002	Priest Scandal Extends Worldwide; Catholic Heartland of Ireland Reels With Revelations After years of sexually abusing young boys while leaders of the Catholic church looked the other way, a prominent Irish priest was arraigned on 29 charges of sodomy, indecent assault and gross indecency – showing that the scandal that has rocked the church in the US extends even as far as the devoutly Catholic stronghold of Ireland....
8/12/2002	Bush Continues Attack on ICC In yet another attempt to undermine the power of the first international court created solely to protect victims of genocide and other crimes, the Bush administration has threatened to withdraw military aid to countries that will not guarantee US immunity in the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
8/9/2002	Bush Administration Blocks Corporate Responsibility Overseas With the State Department urging a US court to dismiss a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil Corporation for its operations in Indonesia, the Bush administration is making its second bid this year to restrict international corporate responsibility for human rights violations abroad, the New York Times reported today....
8/8/2002	Florida Adoption Law Forces Disclosure of Intimate Details For the first time since its enactment last October, a Florida adoption law that requires pregnant women considering adoption to publish intimate details about their sexual history — purportedly to identify the father — was challenged by six women claiming it unconstitutionally violates their privacy....
8/7/2002	Bush Seeks Nations’ Pledges For US Immunity in ICC The Bush administration is asking other nations to promise that they will not press charges against American peacekeepers and other personnel through the new International Criminal Court (ICC)....
8/2/2002	Senate Committee Approves Bill to Test More Rape Kits In an effort to address the growing backlog nationwide of DNA evidence for sexual assault cases, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved the DNA Sexual Assault Justice Act of 2002 earlier this month....
8/2/2002	LAPD Destroyed Evidence in Sexual Assault Cases; Reform of Police Procedure Urged The Los Angeles Police Department has admitted that inadequate training caused the destruction of DNA evidence from over 1,100 sexual assault cases....
7/29/2002	Pakistan: Police Response to Crimes Against Women Lacking The suicide of a young woman raped at gunpoint follows a series of recent incidents in which horrific crimes against women in Pakistan’s Punjab province have been brought to the world’s attention....
7/24/2002	American Troops To Guard Afghan President With conditions in Afghanistan still described as unstable, American soldiers will take over President Hamid Karzai’s personal security detail, Karzai’s Spokesman Said Tayab Jawab announced yesterday....
7/22/2002	FDA Approves Date Rape Drug in Treating Sleep Disorder The Food and Drug Association (FDA) recently approved the dangerous date rape drug GHB for its first legal use as a medical product in treating a complication of narcolepsy, according to the Associated Press....
7/17/2002	Officer Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Female Inmate Another law enforcement officer has pled guilty to sexually assaulting a female inmate....
7/11/2002	Bush Backs Down from Demand for ICC Immunity In light of severe criticism from some of its closest European allies, the Bush administration agreed yesterday to drop its demand for US troops serving in United Nations peacekeeping missions to be declared immune from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
7/11/2002	Bush’s Bioethics Panel Unable to Agree on Cloning After seven months of debate, the President’s Bioethics Council released a report today announcing that the 18-member panel was unable to reach consensus on the highly contentious cloning issue....
7/11/2002	Officers Investigated for Sexual Assault at Indiana Women’s Prison Four male correctional officers from the Indiana Women’s Prison have been suspended on charges that they raped female inmates....
7/9/2002	Report: Rape Used as “Weapon of War” by Burmese Military Relations between the US and Burma (Myanmar) are once again strained following a report by Thailand-based human rights activists that charges the Burmese military with using systematic rape of ethnic civilians as a war tactic....
7/3/2002	Six Arrested in Tribal Council-Ordered Gang Rape in Pakistan District police in Pakistan’s Punjab province arrested six suspects yesterday in connection with the tribal court-ordered gang rape of an 18-year-old girl....
7/3/2002	UN Halts Return of Refugees to Afghanistan The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has suspended the return of refugees to Afghanistan’s central and northern regions because of deteriorating security as a result of rival warlords....
7/3/2002	Cincinnati Officers Sued in Sexual Assault Case A woman who alleges that two Cincinnati police officers raped her while she was intoxicated has filed a lawsuit against the officers....
7/1/2002	Bush Administration Threatens to Withdraw US Peacekeeping Troops if Americans Are Not Exempted from ICC As the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened its doors in The Hague today, the United States government showed its opposition by casting a vote in the UN Security Council to withdraw American peacekeepers in Bosnia....
6/27/2002	Feminist Majority Urges Expansion of Peace Troops in Afghanistan WASHINGTON, DC - In the wake of threats against human rights advocates in Afghanistan after the Loya Jirga and continued reports of violence against women in the provinces, the Feminist Majority has renewed its call for the immediate expansion of international peacekeeping troops in Afghanistan....
6/27/2002	Colorado Sheriff’s Official Charged with Assaulting His Wife Major Carlos Jackson of the Denver Sheriff’s Office has been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence and assault for four attacks on his wife....
6/27/2002	Additional Charges Filed Against California Officer Accused of Serial Rape Prosecutors filed additional charges last week against Officer Ronald VanRossum, a San Bernadino, California police officer accused of raping more than a dozen women while on patrol....
6/25/2002	Utah Polygamist Found Guilty of Raping 13-year-old Tom Green, a convicted Utah polygamist, was convicted yesterday of raping his 13-year-old “wife,” Linda Kunz, in 1986....
6/25/2002	Senate Committee to Address Expansion of Peacekeeping Troops in Afghanistan In the wake of violence and intimidation against human rights advocates in Afghanistan, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing at 10:45 a.m....
6/21/2002	Senate Votes to Lift Ban on Overseas Abortions for Military Personnel Legislation that could repeal a federal ban on abortions overseas for women serving in the military passed today in the US Senate by a vote of 52-40....
6/21/2002	More Peacekeeping Forces Desperately Needed in Afghanistan Conditions in Afghanistan are described by international aid workers as dangerous and unstable....
6/19/2002	Russian Women Call for End to Sex Trafficking A coalition of Russian women’s groups appealed to President Vladimir Putin to establish a task force to combat trafficking in humans....
6/17/2002	Recent Spate of Violence Could Push Aid Organizations out of Afghanistan Reports of violence in northern Afghanistan, including the gang rape of a female international aid worker, have raised further concerns about security in the war-torn nation with several international groups threatening to leave the country....
6/4/2002	Honduran Women Trafficked in Texas Forty Honduran women and girls, lured by the promise of jobs as maids and waitresses, trekked for days from Choluteca, Honduras to Fort Worth, Texas only to be tricked and forced into a Texas couple’s sex trafficking ring....
5/31/2002	As Many As 27 Million Worldwide Forced into Slavery A Britain-based nongovernmental organization, Anti-Slavery International, released a report Monday showing that the number of people forced into slavery has risen to an estimated 27 million....
5/29/2002	Indonesian Military Accused of Inaction While Witnessing Rape An ad hoc tribunal investigating the involvement of 18 Indonesian military and police officials in massacres resulting in 1,000 deaths during and following East Timor’s 1999 vote for independence heard the first testimony Tuesday from an East Timorese....
5/28/2002	Violence Against Women Leads to Major Health Problems Globally Preliminary data collected by the World Health Organization(WHO) found that women worldwide suffer from severe health problems resulting from pervasive violence against women....
5/28/2002	Priest Pleads Guilty to Date-Rape Drug Charges A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois pled guilty this week to charges that he conspired to make and distribute gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), also known as the “date-rape” drug....
5/24/2002	Violence Against Women Leads to Major Health Problems Globally Preliminary data collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that women worldwide suffer from severe health problems resulting from pervasive violence against women....
5/24/2002	Priest Pleads Guilty to Date-Rape Drug Charges A Roman Catholic priest from Illinois pled guilty this week to charges that he conspired to make and distribute gamma hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), also known as the “date-rape” drug....
5/17/2002	Pakistani Rape Victim Sentenced to Death by Stoning Zafran Bibi is on death row, sentenced to death by stoning for having sex outside marriage....
5/16/2002	A Call for Justice in East Timor Over 125 women representing 14 countries and 22 US states joined with the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) to urge the United Nations Security Council to establish an international tribunal for East Timor....
5/14/2002	Women Military Personnel Continue to Have Restricted Abortion Access The House last week rejected an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would have allowed US servicewomen overseas to use their own funds to obtain abortions at military hospitals....
5/14/2002	Indian Women Protest “Unprecedented Violence” in Gujarat Thousands of women in state capitals throughout India – including New Delhi and Chennai – demonstrated yesterday, denouncing the violence committed against women in Gujarat following the religious riots in late February....
5/7/2002	Rape Victims Not Routinely Offered Emergency Contraception A survey of Pennsylvania hospital emergency departments shows that only one in three hospitals routinely offer emergency contraception (EC) to survivors of rape, and half of these hospitals have no standard procedure for counseling patients about EC....
5/6/2002	Bill Introduced to Improve DNA Evidence Collection for Sexual Assault Cases The Debbie Smith Act, a bill requiring that health officials test rape victim DNA samples within 10 days of receipt, has been introduced in the House and Senate....
5/1/2002	Mother Jones Profiles Unsolved Murders of Women in Juarez In the May/June issue of Mother Jones, Evelyn Nieves takes an in depth look at the murdered women of Juarez, Mexico and the women’s rights groups that are pressuring the Mexican government to find the killer(s) responsible for the deaths of nearly 270 women in this border city, across from El Paso, Texas, since 1993....
4/18/2002	House Passes Anti-Abortion Legislation In a 260-161 vote, the House yesterday passed the Child Custody Protection Act (HR 476), which would make it a federal crime for an adult to transport a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion if that adult is not the minor’s parent....
4/11/2002	ICC Ratified by 66 Countries, Will Begin Operation in July Ten nations ratified the International Criminal Court (ICC) today bringing the total number of nations to ratify the 1998 Rome treaty to 66, meaning that the ICC will finally enter into force this July....
4/9/2002	Vatican Knew of Past Allegations Against Boston Pedophile Priest Church records released under court order in Massachusetts show that the Archdiocese of Boston knew of allegations of pedophilia against priest Paul Shanley and had shared information about the allegations with the Vatican by 1979....
4/5/2002	Feminist Majority Student Group Mobilizes for Women in Juarez Students in the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance at the University of Texas, El Paso are working with the Coalition on Violence Against Women and Families to organize a silent protest against the murders of hundreds of women in Juarez, Mexico, across the border with El Paso....
4/3/2002	Washington State Hospitals Must Provide EC to Rape Survivors Emergency rooms in Washington state hospitals will now be required to provide emergency contraception (EC) to victims of rape....
4/1/2002	ICC may be 'Unsigned' by US Ambassador for War Crimes Issues, Pierre Prosper, stated Thursday that the Bush Administration is considering "unsigning" the treaty authorizing the soon-to-be launched International Criminal Court (ICC)....
3/15/2002	Nepal to Legalize Abortion In a victory for Nepalese women, the Lower House of Parliament amended the Nepalese Civil Code to legalize abortion in the first trimester, in cases of rape or incest, or to protect a woman’s health....
3/1/2002	Nepalese Push for More Liberal Abortion Laws Six Nepalese women die each day from botched illegal abortions according to Panos, an international non-profit organization focusing on the developing world....
2/22/2002	Brutal Murders of Women Workers Continues in Mexico Border City Nearly 270 women have been raped and murdered in Juarez, Mexico since 1993, yet Mexican officials are still no closer to finding their killers....
2/14/2002	National Geographic Exposes Honor Killings National Geographic yesterday premiered a documentary on its cable television channel focusing on honor killings in Pakistan....
2/13/2002	Women Used As Sex Slaves for Taliban, al Qaeda While reports of the Taliban’s involvement in the trafficking of Afghan women was long reported by Afghan refugees fleeing Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule, more detailed and numerous accounts continue to emerge following the collapse of the brutal regime....
2/12/2002	Catholic Priest Charged With Making Date Rape Drug; Boston Scandal Intensifies Rev....
2/12/2002	Mexico Supreme Court Approves Restricted Abortion The Mexican High Court ruled last Wednesday that women in Mexico City may obtain abortions to preserve their health or in cases of rape....
2/11/2002	Boston Cardinal Refuses to Resign Returning from a week-long trip to the Vatican, Cardinal Bernard Law of the Roman Catholic Boston Archdiocese announced yesterday that he has no plans to resign after knowingly allowing alleged pedophiles to remain in their posts as priests for decades....
2/8/2002	Boston Archdiocese Identifies More Priests as Alleged Pedophiles; Archdiocese Influence in Legislation Wanes During an ongoing review of church personnel records, the Boston Archdiocese identified at least 60 priests who have allegedly molested and abused children over the span of forty years....
2/7/2002	Ecuador and Portugal Ratify the ICC Ecuador and Portugal became the 51st and 52nd countries to ratify the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week, joining the international community in its commitment to prosecuting the most heinous crimes against humanity....
1/28/2002	Nigerian Woman Sentenced to Death by Stoning Changes Defense Sufiyatu Huseini, the Nigerian woman sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery, is now being helped by a local women’s rights group (financed by the Ford and MacArthur Foundations) who have hired lawyers to defend Huseini....
1/24/2002	Former Catholic Priest Convicted of Pedophilia John J....
1/18/2002	Portuguese Nurse Imprisoned for Performing Abortions Nurse Maria do Ceu Ribeiro was sentenced to eight years and six months in jail for providing abortions in Portugal where abortion is illegal except in cases of rape and in cases where pregnancy poses a serious risk to the woman....
1/16/2002	Boston Priest Arrested for Allegedly Raping Teenager Kevin E....
1/10/2002	Nigerian Woman Still in Danger of Stoning Sufiyatu Huseini (also referred to as Sufiya Hussaini in earlier reports) is still awaiting a decision from an Islamic sharia appeals court that will determine whether she lives or dies....
1/9/2002	Vatican Directs Priests Accused of Pedophilia to Stand Trial in Secret Church Courts Scandalized by public outcry over widespread pedophilia and sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy, Pope John Paul II issued a directive ordering the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith to set up guidelines for handling the problem....
1/9/2002	Truth Be Told - Part II But I have hope that what happened to America may create a world where justice and democracy are not just words....
12/19/2001	Casualty of War - Part II He makes the decisions ....
12/14/2001	Male-Dominated Cultures May Put Women More At Risk for HIV/AIDS in Africa Women participating in the 12th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa declared that cultural attitudes assuming male domination over women and a lack of women’s rights contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS among African women....
12/12/2001	New Drug May Be Effective in Treating Breast Cancer Studies presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium indicate that a new class of hormone therapy may replace Tamoxifen in the treatment of certain types of breast cancers....
12/10/2001	Senate Votes for Anti-International Criminal Court Amendment The Senate voted 78-21 in favor of adopting an amendment to the Defense Appropriations Act that would block the United States from participating in the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
12/10/2001	Anti-Choicers in a Time of War At the same time that our government is bolstering support for the "War on Terrorism" by condemning the Taliban's treatment of women, U.S....
12/6/2001	If Women Had A Foreign Policy Looking for ways to measure 30 years of Ms., I scribbled down notes: the first issue featured unpublished work by Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath, two dead women....
12/3/2001	Nigerian Woman to Appeal Death Sentence For “Adultery” An Islamic court of appeals in Sokoto state, Nigeria has granted Safiya Hussaini a stay of execution, allowing Hussaini to appeal the decision of a lower Islamic court sentencing her to death by stoning....
11/28/2001	Kidnappings, Rape, and Torture Reported in Kabul As Taliban soldiers began to flee Kabul about three weeks ago, they kidnapped girls and young women from the area, according to Northern Alliance officials and Kabul residents....
11/27/2001	Pope Apologizes for Sexual Abuse of Nuns Pope John Paul last week apologized to those who were victims of sexual abuse and rape committed by clergy members, including priests....
11/9/2001	Vatican Denounces UN Effort to Save Refugees While Afghan women are in the midst of a refugee health crisis that threatens the lives of millions, the Vatican has criticized efforts by the United Nations to provide sound healthcare information and services....
11/7/2001	Pro-Choice Candidates Emerge Victorious On Tuesday, both New Jersey and Virginia elected pro-choice governors to lead their states....
11/5/2001	Afghan Refugee Women Face Danger in Camps Even after escaping the Taliban and fleeing to refugee camps in Pakistan, Afghan women are not free from danger, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative Dr....
11/2/2001	Pro-Choice Candidates Ahead in 2001 Elections Pro-Choice Virginia gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner (D), according to a recent Washington Post poll, enjoys a 10-point lead over his staunchly anti-choice opponent, Mark Earley (R)....
10/30/2001	Mr. Lady Rocks We're a community service, not just a business," say Kaia Wilson and Tammy Rae Carland, cofounders of Mr....
10/25/2001	Portugese Women on Trial for Illegal Abortions Seventeen Portugese women accused of having illegal abortions and twenty-six others accused of aiding the illegal abortions have gone to trial and are now facing jail sentences of up to three years....
10/23/2001	Incidents of Rape Increase in 2000 A report released by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) indicates the first increase in reported rapes since 1992....
10/16/2001	Britain Ratifies ICC; US Opposition Continues Britain became the 42nd country to ratify the International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty, increasing pressure on the United States, one of the few Western nations not to ratify the treaty, to follow suit....
10/12/2001	Abortion Under Attack: Dispatches From the Front In the U.S., George W....
10/9/2001	Afghan Women Refugees in Continued Crisis Acknowledging a healthcare crisis for Afghan women refugees, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has requested $4.5 million for donor countries to provide refugees with reproductive healthcare services including services intended to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)....
10/5/2001	“Comfort Women” Have No Legal Recourse U.S....
10/1/2001	Gender Matters It's been said that girl power is Africa's own vaccine against HIV, and that should be true for the whole world," stated Kofi Annan, secretary general of the United Nations, during the organization's first-ever Special Session on HIV/AIDS in late June....
10/1/2001	A Court For Human Rights "The women of Rio Negro, some of them pregnant, were dragged from their homes, and along with their children, were raped, tortured, and killed....
9/27/2001	Hear the Voices of Women - Part II SPAIN: "Thousands of people in the heart of Western civilization (New York) have had to die in order for the international community to react and consider putting an end to (terrorists/fundamentalist leaders.) The West never cared when the Taliban attacked Afghan women's rights, when they assaulted them, when they killed them....
8/28/2001	The Sins of the Fathers A friend in the sisters of Loretto told me after a trip to Ghana in the early 1990s that sisters there reported that priests forced them to have sex before they were allowed to receive grants from groups abroad....
8/23/2001	Two Marines Charged with Raping Trainees The Marine Corps has charged two drill instructors with raping female students at the Ft....
8/22/2001	Women's Rights Opponent to Finally Leave Senate Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), the ultraconservative politician famous for his 30-year assault on women’s rights, announced his retirement today, effective at the end of his 2003 term....
8/14/2001	AZ Parental Consent Law Upheld An Arizona U.S....
8/2/2001	House Committee Rejects Servicewomen's Right to Privately Funded Abortions On Wednesday the House Armed Services Committee denied servicewomen and military dependents the right to privately funded abortions in overseas military health facilities....
8/1/2001	Illegal Abortions Claim Thousands of Lives In African nations where abortion is illegal, tens of thousands of women are forced to undergo back-street abortions that often lead to severe injury or death....
7/31/2001	Equal Protection Applies to Medically Necessary Abortions The Alaska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the state cannot fund pregnancy-related services for low-income women without also funding medically necessary abortions....
7/26/2001	"Bandit Queen" Assassinated in New Delhi Phoolan Devi, the outlaw-turned-lawmaker portrayed in the movie "Bandit Queen," was assassinated yesterday outside her New Delhi home....
7/18/2001	Whose Serbia? The following is a first-hand report of the recent gay rights parade in Serbia, where police and others attacked the marchers. Belgrade 30 June, 2001 It was supposed to be a feast, the first public demonstration of the gay lesbian movement, celebrating their international day, in the main Square of the Republic, where all our democratic history has happened....
7/17/2001	A Philadelphia Story - Part I Samantha Richards (not her real name) was only seven on January 12, 1996, when 29-year-old Jasper Washington pulled her into his car, drove a few miles, raped her, and pushed her out onto the snow-covered ground....
7/17/2001	A Philadelphia Story - Part II By the third city council hearing in December 2000, 91 percent of the 2701 cases had been reviewed....
7/16/2001	Coalition Calls Vatican to Accountability for Abuse of Nuns At demonstrations in New York and Washington D.C., a coalition of over 140 religious, human rights and women's rights organizations, including the Feminist Majority Foundation, called the Vatican to accountability in an effort to end sexual violence against nuns by Catholic priests....
7/11/2001	July 14th Demonstrations To Call for Vatican's Accountability to Crimes Against Women The Feminist Majority Foundation, along with over 100 national and international organizations, will participate in demonstrations at the Permanent Mission of the Holy See (Vatican Mission) on July 14, 2001 in New York City and the Vatican Embassy in Washington D.C....
7/10/2001	Japanese Women’s Groups Deplore Rape by U.S Serviceman While the U.S....
7/3/2001	Cruel and Unusual On January 19, Bariya Ibrahima Magazu, of Zamfara state in northern Nigeria, received 100 lashes for being pregnant and unmarried....
6/21/2001	Experts Question Accuracy of New Rape Statistics The U.S....
6/18/2001	Sexual Abuse Alleged at Girls' Prison Allegations of sexual abuse by a 16-year-old girl imprisoned in Alabama’s only youth lockup facility for girls have generated a $171 million federal lawsuit against the Department of Youth Services, which administers juvenile corrections in Alabama....
6/7/2001	IWF Launches Anti-Feminist Ad Campaign on Campuses In an effort to thwart feminist student activism on college campuses nationwide, the conservative Independent Women’s Forum has unveiled a major anti-feminist advertisement campaign, called “Take Back the Campus.” Already in three college papers, the full-page ad lists “the 10 Most Common Feminist Myths,” disputing the accuracy of the college rape statistics and criticizing Women’s Studies Departments....
6/7/2001	IWF Launches Anti-Feminist Ad Campaign on Campuses In an effort to thwart feminist student activism on college campuses nationwide, the conservative Independent Women’s Forum has unveiled a major anti-feminist advertisement campaign, called “Take Back the Campus.” Already in three college papers, the full-page ad lists “the 10 Most Common Feminist Myths,” disputing the accuracy of the college rape statistics and criticizing Women’s Studies Departments. The Independent Women’s Forum was founded in 1992 by the wives of prominent right-wing politicians such Lynne Cheney, wife of Vice-President Dick Cheney and Wendy Lee Gramm, wife of Senator Phill Gramm (R-TX)....
6/5/2001	V-Day's Stop Rape Awards On V-Day (February 10, 2001) 18,000 people gathered at New York City's Madison Square Garden to protest violence against women and to celebrate the vagina....
6/5/2001	Academy of Pediatrics Urges Doctors to Ask About Sexual Assault With recent data showing that adolescents have the highest national rate of rape, the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that doctors ask their patients if they have ever been sexually assaulted....
5/29/2001	The Global Gag - Part I On January 22—the twenty-eighth anniversary of Roe v....
5/29/2001	The Global Gag - Part II "It kills me that I can't ask lawmakers from my own country, 'Can you imagine how horrible it is for us when a 13-year-old rape victim walks into a clinic and we can't tell her anything?'" says Galdos....
5/27/2001	FMLAs Across the Country Organize to End Sexual Assault and Violence Against Women Last April, Leadership Alliances and activists across the nation commemorated Sexual Assault Awareness Month with major events, rallies,and marches....
5/15/2001	Helms Attempts to Stop Ratification of International Criminal Court In July 1998, 120 countries, excluding the United States, voted to adopt the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC)....
4/30/2001	Leadership Alliances Work to Improve Campus Sexual Assault Policy Kelly Adams and Jennifer Heitel, officers of the LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE at GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, wrote an opinion editorial on the current debate around their campus Sexual Harassment Policy that was printed in a local newspaper....
4/27/2001	Detroit Police Admit Wrong Stats for Rape Arrests Throughout the 1990s, the Detroit Police Department's rape squad looked great, consistently reporting the nation's highest arrest rates, always at least double the national average. Women's advocates are alarmed and say the phony numbers gave them a false sense of security. Now, the city's shame-faced police department acknowledges that the statistics were wrong and its crime data are so seriously flawed that it is unclear how many suspects really were collared....
4/20/2001	What News Looks Like When Women Matter: Profiles of Rita Henley Jensen and Victoria Graham of Women's Enews - Part III We covered the economic reforms, abolition of the communes and so on....
4/20/2001	Second Judge OKs Suit Against LAPD as Racketeering Enterprise U.S....
4/18/2001	Married to the Visa - Part I Ankita's (not her real name) ordeal began in early 1998 when she arrived in the United States with her new husband, an Indian software engineer working for a prestigious Silicon Valley firm....
4/16/2001	A New Audience for Anti-Rape Message The number and voices of groups like One in Four and Men Can Stop Rape are growing and reaching new audiences with their message of stopping rape, but they are drawing criticism from traditional anti-rape efforts because their messages are focused on men-only groups....
4/5/2001	“Dr” Laura Show Cancelled The Dr....
4/4/2001	More Feminist Activism The FMLA at the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO (UTEP) is working with the Coalition on Violence Against Women and Families on the Border to organize a silent protest against the murders of hundreds of women in Juarez....
4/2/2001	Bush Administration Announces Limited Medicaid Coverage for Mifepristone As most abortion rights activists anticipated, the Bush administration officially announced that the government will apply the same restrictions on Medicaid funding for mifepristone as it has for surgical abortions....
4/2/2001	Court Tries to Limit Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners’ Testimony in Rape Trials The weight of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners’ (SANE) testimony in trials of rape is in question, as three judges in Virginia have ruled that SANE nurses may not draw conclusions regarding whether or not the sex that occurred was consensual or forced and may only testify about injuries noticed during sexual assault examinations....
3/30/2001	V-Day 2001: To End Violence Against Women A sold-out crowd in Madison Square Garden of 18,000 gathered to witness V-DAY 2001: Take Back the Garden, the smashing success of an especially courageous, innovative and funny performance of the Vagina Monologues....
3/30/2001	Ironic Feminism, Empathic Activism: Robin Morgan's Saturday's Child A child actor, radical Leftist feminist, founder of the global women’s movement, poet, writer, lesbian, and mother, Robin Morgan gives us a story we have and haven’t heard before in her memoir Saturday’s Child....
3/27/2001	Special Series: Priests, Rape, and AIDS – Part IV *Exploited Nuns Go Unheard* A young Islamic woman converts to Christianity, alienating her family and effectively banishing herself from the community she has grown up in....
3/23/2001	Special Series: Priests, Rape, and AIDS – Part III *Priests Impregnate Nuns, Some Advise Abortion* Reports from 23 countries, mostly concentrated in Africa, reveal the widespread sexual exploitation of nuns by priests, many of whom are targeting nuns for sex because they see nuns as “safe” from HIV and AIDS....
3/22/2001	Special Series: Priests, Rape, and AIDS – Part II *Sexual Exploitation of Nuns by Priests Widespread* The scandal surrounding priests, rape, and AIDS, according to news accounts, includes abuses of power and financial explotation....
3/21/2001	Special Series: Priests, Rape, and AIDS – Part I *HIV Leads Priests Away from Prostitutes, Toward Nuns, Young Girls* According to several reports by senior nuns, and in one case by a priest, the sexual abuse of nuns by priests, including rape, is a serious problem in the Catholic Church, especially in Africa and the developing nations where the AIDS epidemic has hit hardest....
3/7/2001	Torture of Women a Worldwide Phenomenon Amnesty International released two new reports this week showing that women worldwide are tortured and abused both by relatives and by government officials, including police....
3/6/2001	Georgia Rape Victims Charged for Exams Despite a 1996 state law that prohibits charging rape victims for forensic exams or kits used to collect evidence after a rape, three counties in Georgia have been charging women as much as $1,200 to cover costs that the law states should be paid for by law enforcement....
3/5/2001	Leadership Alliances Work to End Violence Against Women and Gather in NY for Eve Ensler's V-day Gala The Vagina Monologues opened to a sold out crowd of 18,000 at Madison Square Gardens on Feburary 18th....
3/2/2001	Disturbing Findings in an Emergency Room Survey Catholics for a Free Choice recently conducted a nationwide survey of 589 Catholic hospital emergency rooms to determine if emergency contraception was available to women who requested it....
2/23/2001	UN Court Issues 1st Ruling on Rape as War Crime In the first war crimes case focused solely on rape and sexual slavery, the U.N....
1/31/2001	Bush's Picks: A Cabinet that looks like Radical Right America - Part IV Although union officials are not as opposed to Bush II's second labor secretary nominee as they were to Linda Chavez, Chao merits scrutiny from progressives....
1/22/2001	Bariya Ibrahim Magazu Receives Inhumane Flogging On January 19, in oil-rich Nigeria, the most populous country on the continent of Africa, an Islamic Court in the north carried out a “Sharia” sentence of 100 lashes with a cane on 13-year old Bariya Ibrahim Magazu on charges of premarital sex (zina) and making “false” charges against the three men she claimed raped her....
1/17/2001	Dems Question Ashcroft’s Ability to Enforce All Laws The Senate confirmation hearing in John Ashcroft’s bid for Attorney General continues today, with protestors again crowded outside the Russell Senate building, opposing the nomination of this anti-choice, anti-woman, anti-civil rights politician....
1/16/2001	Ashcroft: Ideology Trumps Legal Judgment 20-Year Anti-Women’s Rights Record Disqualifies Ashcroft WASHINGTON, DC – John Ashcroft is a totally anti-choice, anti-women’s rights nomination for Attorney General....
1/16/2001	Ashcroft's Ideology Trumps Legal Judgment! 20-Year Anti-Women’s Rights Record Disqualifies Ashcroft John Ashcroft is a totally anti-choice, anti-women’s rights nomination for Attorney General....
1/16/2001	Democrats Focus on Women’s Rights, Civil Rights in Opening Day of Ashcroft Hearing The first session of the Senate confirmation hearing for John Ashcroft’s nomination to the position of attorney general began Tuesday morning with Democratic leaders coming out strong against Ashcroft’s anti-choice, anti-civil rights, and anti-woman record....
1/9/2001	Ashcroft: Ideology Trumps Legal Judgment 20-Year Anti-Women’s Rights Record Disqualifies Ashcroft WASHINGTON, DC – John Ashcroft is a totally anti-choice, anti-women’s rights nomination for Attorney General....
1/9/2001	20-Year Anti-Women’s Rights Record Disqualifies Ashcroft John Ashcroft is a totally anti-choice, anti-women’s rights nomination for Attorney General....
1/9/2001	Newsmaker: Aloisea Inyumba Aloisea Inyumba is reserved but warm, with a smile that flickers softly during the telling of a favorite story....
1/3/2001	Clinton Signs International Criminal Court Treaty On New Year’s Eve, just in time to meet the year-end deadline, President Clinton signed the International Criminal Court (ICC) Treaty—a major victory for women’s rights and human rights groups....
1/2/2001	Skirting the Issue Last July, as the 13th International AIDS Conference drew to a close in Durban, South Africa, a lawmaker in neighboring Swaziland was proposing a way to halt the spread of AIDS in his country: ban miniskirts....
12/21/2000	Bush Cabinet Grows; Number of Women Appointees Shrinks Despite much talk of inclusiveness and diversity for the George W....
12/21/2000	Bush Cabinet Grows; Number of Women Appointees Shrinks WASHINGTON, DC -- Recent appointments to the George W....
12/18/2000	RU 486 Not Covered by Any D.C. Medical Programs The Congressional prohibition against using federal funds to pay for abortions will affect Mifepristone....
12/11/2000	TX Court Rules for Medicaid Funds for Abortion Last week, a Texas court of appeals ruled that denying Medicaid funding to poor women seeking abortion violates their equal rights....
12/11/2000	Historic “Comfort Women’s” Trial Underway In Tokyo For the first time in history, claims of forced servitude and rape made by more than 200,000 women during World War II in Japan are heard before a symbolic court lead by Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, former president of International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia....
12/11/2000	Leadership Alliances Take Part in Global Campaign to End Violence Against Women Many Leadership Alliances joined in the "16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE," a campaign of the Global Campaign for Women's Human Rights....
12/6/2000	20 Suspects Arrested for Gang Rape of Disabled 13-Year-Old Police in Cobb County Georgia have arrested 20 suspects in the rape of a 13-year-old mentally disabled girl that occurred on October 13-14....
12/4/2000	Republicans Announce Campaign Against The International Criminal Court Republicans in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, led by Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jesse Helms, have announced their plans to not ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court, making it a “top legislative priority” for next year....
12/1/2000	NYC Establishes Civil Rights Remedy for Victims of Gender-Biased Crime On November 30, a New York City Council Committee passed a new law that would allow victims of rape, domestic violence, and other crimes motivated by gender bias to sue the perpetrators in civil cases....
11/28/2000	The Right's Stealth Tactics - Part II Today, he heads up the American Civil Rights Institute (ACRI), a national group that works on similar efforts in other states. Many of today’s new-right legal activists met up in the Reagan and Bush administrations: Bill Bennett, Linda Chavez, and IJ’s Clint Bolick, to name but three....
11/27/2000	*V-Day Stop Rape Contest Deadline Approaching Launched on Valentine’s Day in 1998 with a benefit performance of The Vagina Monologues, the Obie-award winning play by Eve Ensler, V-Day is a movement to stop violence against women....
11/20/2000	Shalala Appointed President of University of Miami Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala accepted the presidency of the University of Miami this past weekend....
11/16/2000	LAPD Corruption Case Returns 3 Guilty, 1 Acquitted The Los Angeles Police Department Rampart scandal, which broke over a year ago and revealed deeply rooted corruption in the LAPD, including framing innocent people, fabricating evidence, and covering up physical abuse by police officers, has produced three convictions of LAPD officers....
11/14/2000	Healing Voices When women from the six Tewa-speaking pueblos of northern New Mexico decided to do something about the rape and sexual violence in their communities, they turned to their cultural roots of peace and respect for the earth....
11/10/2000	UN Security Council Passes Women, Peace And Security Resolution On October 31, 2000, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Women, Peace and Security....
11/10/2000	Tokyo Tribunal To Address Issue Of “Comfort Women” Women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II, often known as “comfort women” will convene in Tokyo on December 7-10 to testify and demand accountability from the Japanese government....
11/7/2000	NY and CA Medicaid Will Cover Mifepristone Medicaid programs in New York and California will cover mifepristone, the early abortion pill, according to Reuters Health News....
10/24/2000	US Senate Candidate George Allen Distorts Abortion Position In a recent debate, as well as in his ad campaign, U.S....
10/23/2000	Manila Mayor Against RU-486 Manila mayor Lito Atienza has stated that he will arrest anyone who attempts to ship the abortion pill RU-486 into the city, dubbing the pill as a “do-it-yourself murder kit”....
10/19/2000	Indiana Judge Rules Medicaid Must Cover Medically Necessary Abortions A county judge in Indiana ruled in favor of two women’s health clinics that filed a suit in August of 1999 arguing that the state’s Medicare policies discriminated against low-income women with certain health conditions....
10/13/2000	Proposed Legislation In Chile Advance Reproductive Rights A coalition of "center-left" legislators seeking to win legislation designed to improve sexual and reproductive rights, reported the Chilean Times....
10/10/2000	United Kingdom Tackles "Honour Killings" The British newspaper, The Observer, reports that within the last five years there have been at least 20 deaths in Britain that are linked to so-called crimes of "honour"....
10/10/2000	Malaysians React Over Claim That Attire “Invites Rape” The chief minister of an opposition-ruled Malaysian state recently claimed that women were the main cause of social ills and moral decadence, due to attire that exposed their bodies....