The California Senate voted 26-12 to pass legislation on June 6 imposing state penalties on individuals who threaten or intimidate reproductive healthcare providers, staff, or patients. The bill, a state rendition of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), also penalizes individuals who cause property damage at clinics or who block or attempt to block entrances to reproductive healthcare facilities.
Under the new law, those who attempt to block abortion clinics could face jail sentences of up to one year. Violaters of the federal FACE Act are subject to jail sentences of up to three years. The California law, however, allows local law enforcement to make arrests they previously could not have made under the federal law.
Media Resources: Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report – June 8, 2001
6/18/2013 Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements - On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
In an opinion written [PDF] by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Arizona statute violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the "Motor Voter Law") of 1993, which created a federal form that individuals can mail in to register to vote in federal elections. . . .
6/18/2013 Pakistani Women's University Bus, Hospital Bombed - A bus for a women's university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital.
The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. . . .
6/18/2013 Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power - Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country's security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. . . .
