Reproductive Health & Rights

Last week, there was a hearing in Congress entitled “Do New Health Law Mandates Threaten Conscience Rights and Access to Care?” How about an alternative that really addresses what this is all about: “Are religious employers entitled to impose their “values” on their employees?” This hearing focused on the Affordable Care Act and the requirement that all health plans cover contraceptives. The Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule in August that exempted a narrow class of employees from having to comply with the law. Only employers who hire and serve people of the same religion, and have the purpose of instilling religious values qualify for the exemption. Read more »

So another Friday is here. In this week’s roundup, we’ve got some thoughts on Occupy Wall Street, new developments around the HPV vaccine, a TV show on abortion in the works, and more. Read more »

Happy Friday! I’ve got a whole new batch of stories for you this week, including some on NOW’s campaign to love your body, more on Anita Hill, some new abortion-related shenanigans, women and girls who are drawn to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and more — all after the jump. Read more »

New jobs? Not yet. Improved economy? Debatable. Attacks on women's health? Non-stop.

Attacking women's ability to obtain reproductive health care services remains one of Speaker Boehner's top priorities. Tomorrow, Boehner and the House leadership will bring to a vote a dangerous bill that will undermine women's health and even put women's lives at risk.

Tell your Representative to protect women's health by voting NO on this harmful piece of legislation TODAY. Read more »

The contrast couldn’t be more striking.

Today, the Senate is expected to address the most urgent deficit facing this country: the jobs deficit. Senators will vote tonight on the President’s plan to put people back to work and get the economy moving again. The plan would keep teachers and first responders on the job, invest in rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, provide job training, create incentives to hire the long-term unemployed, provide help for disadvantaged workers, extend emergency unemployment benefits, and prohibit discrimination against jobless workers.   Read more »

It’s the end of another week, and we’ve got a new roundup for you. After the jump, stories on Breast Cancer Awareness and Domestic Violence Awareness Month, girls tackling the STEM field, SNAP benefits and more. Read more »

Happy Friday! Welcome to the first of a re-invigorated weekly news and blog round up here on Womenstake. From Fridays here on out, we’ll be sharing with you some links from our partner organizations or to blogs from across the web we think you might find interesting. Sound good? Then let’s get started. Read more »

Tomorrow marks the 35^th anniversary of the original passage of the Hyde amendment. The Hyde amendment, as you may know, prohibits the use of federal funding for abortion services. This amendment has been attached as a rider to appropriations bills each year since its original passage. So while it is not permanent law, it has been the reality for 35 consecutive years, and has altered the landscape on which we battle for access to reproductive health care. Read more »

Let’s review some facts.

According to the latest Census Bureau data, there are record numbers of poor women and children nationally, and widespread poverty and insecurity in the states. In Florida, 15.8 percent of women are poor. Women working full time, year round in Florida are paid 80 cents for every dollar paid to their male counterparts. 9.7 percent of women in Florida are unemployed. And 27.0 percent of women in Florida were uninsured.

So what is one Florida Congressman doing about it? Absolutely nothing. Read more »

Today, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held its first business meeting of the year to consider H.R. Read more »