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3/1/2013 - Sequesters Go Into Effect, Major Impact on Women
Today the automatic government spending cuts called "sequesters" will go into effect at midnight. The cuts that total $85 billion of funding for government programs will have a disproportionately harsh impact on women, not only in the United States but around the world.
$32 million will be cut from overseas family planning programs, resulting in almost 1.7 million women losing access to contraception and an estimated 500,000 more unplanned pregnancies. Many of these programs also work to fight maternal mortality across the world and experts predict that the impact of the sequester will result in approximately 1,292 more women dying as a result of childbirth.
According to the Center for American Progress, $15 million will be cut from Title X programs, which provide funding for family planning providers for contraceptives and services including cancer screenings and STI/HIV testing. Title X also includes funding for infertility services and health care referrals. These cuts could result in approximately 130,000 women losing family planning access. In addition, the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, which helps lower income women access diagnostic services such as mammograms and clinic breast and pelvic examinations to prevent cancer, will be cut. These cuts combined could threaten family planning clinics across the country because they may no longer receive enough funding for basic services to stay open.
While Congress did approve the Violence Against Women Act yesterday, the sequester strips funding for violence prevention programs authorized by VAWA. A total of $13 million would be cut from violence prevention funding across the country. The three states that would see the greatest cuts in the STOP Violence Against Women Program created by VAWA are California, Texas, and New York. These three states alone could lose funding that would benefit an estimated 6,700 victims of violence.
WIC, or the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children program that supplies food security for low income mothers and their children would lose $600 million in funding. In addition, child care programs which are essential for working families that cannot afford private child care will see dramatic cuts alongside funding for child vaccination programs that could see 32,000 fewer children vaccinated as a result of sequester cuts.
Primary and secondary educational programs will see $713.3 million cuts in funding. California, Texas, and Florida will see the largest decreases in funding of public K-12 education, risking an estimated 2,890 teacher jobs at the grade school level. These states also could see large decreases in funding for programs focusing on education for children with disabilities. Higher education will also be impacted by reduced funding in financial aid and work study jobs that benefit primarily low-income students.
At a press conference yesterday, Nancy Pelosi lead women Representatives in condemning the effects the sequester will have on women. Pelosi addressed the media, "Cuts to women's health from pre-natal care to cancer screenings; cuts to services to victims of domestic violence; ...cuts to initiatives to support children and families like WIC and Head Start. ...For the sake of America's women ...Democrats and Republicans must work together to protect the middle class." Representative Rosa DeLauro echoed Pelosi's sentiments in saying "Allowing these cuts to pass is reckless, it's irresponsible and it is especially harmful to women, to their jobs and to the services that they rely on." Today, President Obama is meeting with leading Congressional officials in an attempt to see what resolution, if any, can be reached to avoid the extreme cuts.
2/28/2013 - BREAKING NEWS: House Passes Inclusive VAWA
Today, the House of Representatives passed the bipartisan, inclusive Violence Against Women Act as passed by the Senate.
The House of Representatives voted 286-138 to pass the Senate version of VAWA that included protections for students, the LGBT community, immigrants and Native Americans. This came after a bipartisan decision to reject a gutted substitute bill proposed by the House leadership that rolled back the provisions expanding protection.
Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority, said "The House passed by a wide margin (286-138) the strong, bipartisan Senate version of VAWA which was supported by the Feminist Majority and scores of women's rights, civil rights, labor, and domestic violence and sexual assault groups and organizations. ... Women's groups and their allies acted as one and created a massive grassroots lobbying campaign to pass a strong VAWA despite the Republican House leadership opposition. We cannot forget that 138 Republicans and no Democrats voted against final passage of the real VAWA. Nor can we forget those that voted to roll back full protections of VAWA for college students, immigrants, the LGBT community, and Native Americans as well as to weaken of the Office of Violence."
2/28/2013 - Teenager Accused in New Delhi Gang-Rape Pleads Not-Guilty
A teenager accused of murder in the violent gang-rape of a New Delhi medical student in December 2012 plead not guilty. According to Reuters, an anonymous official told the media outlet, "The court has framed charges against the boy under relevant sections. He has pleaded not guilty and claimed trial in the case."
In a ruling earlier this year, the Juvenile Justice Board determined that the accused was a minor at the time of the incident. As a result he will be tried in juvenile court separately from the other five alleged attackers, all of whom are over 18. If convicted of the charges of murder, rape, and kidnapping, the minor would face a maximum of three years in a juvenile facility. The five adults who also face charges of murder, rape, and kidnapping, could be executed if found guilty.
On December 16th, 2012, the 23-year-old medical student and her male partner were attacked while riding a bus in New Delhi. The woman was raped repeatedly for nearly an hour before a metal rod was pushed inside her, critically damaging her internal organs. She was transferred to a hospital in Singapore and required multiple surgeries for head and intestinal injuries. She died as a result of her injuries two weeks later.
2/28/2013 - AR House Moves to Override Governor Veto on 20-Week Ban
The Arkansas state House voted yesterday in favor of overriding Governor Beebe's veto of a bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks.
In a vote 53-28, state Representatives approved the decision to override the veto, sending it to the state Senate. In Arkansas, a governor veto can be overridden by the state legislature with a simple majority vote in both houses. If the Senate also votes to override the veto, the bill will automatically become law, and Arkansas will join seven other states with a 20 week term limit on abortion.
"It's disheartening that our lawmakers are knowingly passing an unconstitutional abortion ban for the sake of politics," Jill June, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, told reporters.
The Arkansas state Senate is expected to vote on the override on Thursday.
2/27/2013 - Supreme Court Hears Lawsuit on Voting Rights Act
Today, the justices of the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act for the fifth time since the law's passage in 1965. This section of the Voting Rights Act mandates that areas of the nation with a history of barring people of color from voting must get approval from the Department of Justice or a federal court before they alter voting rules. A plaintiff from Shelby County, Alabama, is challenging section 5, saying that the discriminatory environment that once justified its enactment is much improved. Civil rights groups disagree, saying that the situation is improved because of the Act. In past challenges to the law, the Court has cited the fifteenth amendment - no governmental body can stand in the way of an individual's right to vote - in their decision to uphold all components.
Frank "Butch" Ellis, attorney to the Shelby County plaintiff, told NPR that "The South has changed[.] There's probably bits of [discrimination] everywhere, but there's no evidence that it's more prevalent in these covered jurisdictions than it is in the non-covered jurisdictions. That's our complaint." Ellis argues that the federal government oversteps its bounds in dictating what certain states can and cannot do with its voting rules.
A voting rights expert who has filed briefs on various voter suppression cases, Pam Karlan, said that "Shelby County still advertises itself as the heart of the Heart of Dixie, and that tells you that some things have not changed, or at least haven't changed enough to take the bandage off the wound."
A county or city with ten consecutive years without questionable proposed changes to its voting structure is exempt from federal monitoring.Politico notes that Shelby County has not toed the line; the city of Calera (within Shelby County) proposed a reshaping of its district in 2008 which would reduce the number of African American voters from 70.9% to 29.5%. The Department of Justice rejected the proposition, citing the rights of all people to select their representatives.
The case goes before the court after an election year that included multiple legislative attacks aimed at suppressing minority voters. Last year, 17 states passed voter suppression laws that increased wait times at the polls, decreased early voting days, and mandated state-issued IDs requirements for voting. New laws affecting the election process have already been suggested this year in preparation for mid-term elections.
2/27/2013 - AR Governor Vetoes Bill that Would Ban Abortion at Twenty Weeks
On Tuesday Governor Mike Beebe (D) vetoed a bill that would have banned abortions in Arkansas after 20 weeks. The bill passed in the state Senate on a vote of 25 to 7 and passed the state House on a vote of 80 to 10 before reaching Governor Beebe's desk.
"Because it would impose a ban on a woman's right to choose an elective, nontherapeutic abortion before viability, House Bill 1037, if it became law, would squarely contradict Supreme Court precedent," Beebe wrote in the veto letter. "When I was sworn in as governor I took an oath to preserve, protect and defend both the Arkansas Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. I take that oath seriously." Originally, Governor Beebe had agreed to sign the ban into law if it was passed by the state Congress.
The Arkansas state legislation has the power to override the Governor's veto with a simple majority in both chambers. Both the Arkansas state House and Senate have majority support for the ban. The bill's sponsor, Representative Andy Mayberry (R), has said he is confident that there will be enough votes from supporters of the 20-week ban to override the veto.
2/27/2013 - VAWA To Go Before House of Representatives Tomorrow
Late last night, the House Rules Committee decided to bring the inclusive Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act (VAWA) to the House floor for a vote - provided that a restrictive House substitute bill is rejected first.
House leadership announced a substitute bill last week that guts necessary protections for students, LGBTQ individuals, immigrants, and Native Americans from the Senate bill. A similar "fake" VAWA was proposed by House leadership last year in an attempt to block inclusive protections, and instead allowed VAWA to expire at the end of the year without even seeing a vote.
However, the substitute bill has triggered an outcry from both House Democrats and Republicans, in addition to criticism from the White House and women's rights organizations. At a press conference yesterday, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi led Democratic and women's rights leaders in decrying the House's attempt to restrict protections. Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI), told the media "How can we justify turning battered women away because of their sexual orientation? "How can we throw our Native American women under the bus?" Also at the press conference Lauren Dunn, currently a law student at the University of Maryland who is a survivor of a gang rape by two undergraduate students, told reporters "Ending domestic assault is not about politics. Ending violence against women is about justice "justice for victims like me."
As determined by the House Rules Committee, if the substitute bill is defeated the House will then immediately vote on the inclusive bill as passed by the Senate. Reportedly, the restrictive substitute bill is likely to fail, paving the way for the Senate bill to pass with bipartisan support. If so, the bill could go before President Obama by the end of the week.
2/26/2013 - Sequester Targets Education, Violence Prevention Programs, Child Care
On Sunday, the White House released a comprehensive list of the impact the possible sequester cuts will have on each state if an agreement is not reached by Congress before March 1st. The list revealed shocking cuts to programs heavily relied upon by women in each state.
If the sequester goes into effect, one of the hardest hit areas will be education. California, Texas, and Florida will see the largest decreases in funding of public K-12 education, risking an estimated 2,890 teacher jobs at the grade school level. These states also could see large decreases in funding for programs focusing on education for children with disabilities. Higher education will also be impacted by reduced funding in financial aid and work study jobs that benefit primarily low-income students.
Another program that is set to be cut under the sequester is the STOP Violence Against Women Program. This program was created under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994, and provides grants to violence prevention programs. The three states that would see the greatest cuts in the STOP program are California, Texas, and New York. These three states alone could lose funding that would benefit an estimated 6,700 victims of violence. A total of $13 million would be cut for violence prevention across the country.
Sequester cuts will also impact government funding of child care programs. New York, Texas, and California would again be the three states most impacted by these cuts. Child care program funding is essential for working families that cannot afford private child care. In addition, California, Texas, and Florida would also see the largest cuts in funding for child vaccinations. An estimated 32,990 children would not be able to receive vaccines.
2/26/2013 - Anti-Choice Lawmakers Request Investigation of Planned Parenthood
A group of 72 members of Congress submitted a request last week to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) urging the organization to investigate multiple pro-choice organizations, including Planned Parenthood.
The request [PDF] asks the GAO to track the government funding of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, the Population Council, the Guttmacher Institute, Advocates for Youth, and Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SEICU) and to determine specifically how funds were used.
Representative Diane Black (R-TN), one of the lead signers of the request, told reporters, "My hope is that through greater transparency and accountability, we can successfully mobilize the support needed to de-fund abortion providers, once and for all."
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said of the request, "At a time when the American people want Congress to focus on creating jobs and preventing the looming budget cuts, it is ridiculous that some members of Congress are instead focused on launching baseless political attacks aimed at restricting women's access to preventive health care."
2/26/2013 - Microsoft Launches "DigiGirlz" In India
Microsoft launched a new program in India to encourage more girls to take up careers in technology, the Times of India reports. "India DigiGirlz" aims to drive high school girls towards science and engineering fields by giving them the opportunity to participate in workshops and connect with Microsoft's employees. Microsoft's DigiGirlz program was founded in 2000 to address the issue of girls and science in the United States.
"The students are aware of technology more than ever before. Almost 100% of them have Facebook accounts, but the idea is to make them think of technology as a career," Jacky Wright, Vice President of Microsoft IT, said. She added that the company is focusing on increasing awareness about the lack of girls in the technology field.
Girls make up less than 20% of students at the Indian Institute of Technology, and about 30% of employees in the IT Business Processing Outsourcing Sectors. Microsoft plans to expand the programs across India and Brazil, the company's two focus countries.
"These economies are growing and we need the program in these countries," said Wright. "Girls need to see role models. If they see it can be done, they will do it."
2/25/2013 - First Woman President of South Korea Sworn In
South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye, was sworn in Monday. Her election was an historic event for a country where women earn forty percent less than men, and women's groups hope that Park's presidency will include many advances in gender equity. She has nominated two women for Cabinet posts so far.
The current priority for the president is dealing with North Korea's atomic February 12th detonation test. Park recently denounced the test as "a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people" and urged Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, to shift its efforts from violence to peace. In a speech she stated that North Korea poses an immense threat to itself first and foremost with its testing of atomic and nuclear technology. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea [North Korea]stated that the February 12th test was meant to make South Korea and its American allies think twice before attempting to control the DPRK. Park has promised firm reform in relations with North Korea. World powers are waiting to see if Park will pursue a more aggressive policy with North Korea than her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
2/25/2013 - Military Rape Documentary The Invisible War Does Not Win Oscar
Last night, The Invisible War, a documentary on rape in the United States military, was considered for the 2013 Oscar for "Best Documentary Feature."
The Invisible War chronicles the ongoing epidemic of rape and sexual assault perpetrated within the ranks, and the military's failure to adequately prosecute the perpetrators of such crimes. In addition to raising awareness of the issue among the public, the film has led to policy changes within the Department of Defense and the adoption of a series of amendments passed in the most recent National Defense Authorization Act aimed at increasing accountability and victim care.
One of the lawsuits featured in the film, Klay v. Panetta, was dismissed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on February 7th. An earlier case, Cioca v. Rumsfeld and Gates, is currently pending in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals after a ruling in the Eastern District of Virginia that rape and sexual assault are incident to military service.
Though The Invisible War did not win the Oscar for "Best Documentary," the film's nomination has brought national attention to the wide spread occurrence of intra-military sexual assault. More information on the reform effort can be found at www.notinvisible.org. If you would like to purchase The Invisible War it is available through iTunes and Amazon.
2/25/2013 - OK Senate May Deny Women Affordable Contraception
A vote in the Oklahoma state Senate on a bill that would allow employers to deny contraception and abortion coverage for women in insurance plans passed the Senate Business and Commerce Committee. Senate Bill 452, introduced by Senator Clark Jolley (R) and Senator Pam Peterson (R), passed on a vote of nine to zero last Thursday.
The language of the bill states, "Notwithstanding any other provision of state or federal law, no employer shall be required to provide or pay for any benefit or service related to abortion or contraception through the provision of health insurance to his or her employees."
Jolley has said that the bill is the result of lobbying by Dr. Dominic Pedulla, a constituent who calls himself a natural family planning medical consultant and women's health researcher. His concern over contraceptive coverage stems from his belief that women are worse off with contraception because it suppresses and disables who they are, Pedulla told the Tulsa World. "Part of their identity is the potential to be a mother. They are being asked to suppress and radically contradict part of their own identity, and if that wasn't bad enough, they are being asked to poison their bodies."
Despite Pedulla's concern that contraception is poisonous, oral birth control was first FDA approved in 1960 and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists advocate that birth control be available without a prescription.
2/22/2013 - VAWA Could Brought Up In House Next Week
The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) could be brought up in the House of Representatives as early as next week.
According to news reports, House Republican leadership are poised to bring VAWA to the floor for discussion. As of now it is unclear if they will bring the inclusive version passed by the Senate last week to the floor or if they will propose their own version of the bill. S. 47, passed by the Senate on a vote of 78 to 22, includes provisions expanding protections for LGBTQ individuals, Native American women, students, and immigrant women. Last year, the House refused to vote on the Senate version of VAWA and proposed the "Cantor/Adams" VAWA that did not included the expanded protections. Since neither bill was approved by both chambers of Congress, VAWA was not reauthorized in 2012, the first time the bill failed to be reauthorized since it was passed in 1994.
It is imperative that the House approves the inclusive Senate bill so that all victims of violence are protected. Various organizations have called on constituents to reach out to Representatives who have not signed on to the Senate version. The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women issued a call to action on Thursday, saying "We must remind [the House leadership] that S. 47 has victim-centered support in the House from both parties and will pass if it comes to the House floor for a vote. Any effort to weaken or delay VAWA does not reflect the will of our country, of our Congress or the desperate need of victims in our homes and communities all across the nation. Survivors of violence cannot wait any longer!"
UPDATE: House leadership announces alternative to Senate bill.
2/22/2013 - Bill to Repeal Death Penalty Passes MD Senate Committee
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's bill to abolish the death penalty has passed in the state Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on a 6 to 5 vote. The bill will now move to the Senate floor, where it is expected to pass. Twenty-six of the Maryland Senate's forty-seven members have pledged to support the bill.
Senator Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery), who acted as the chairman of the panel, said, "Human beings make mistakes. No matter how hard we try . . . to find a way to beat all the error out of our system, I don't believe that's possible."
Thirty-two U.S. jurisdictions have refrained from using capital punishment in the last five years according to a 2011 study by the Death Penalty Information Center. In fact, most executions occur in southern states. Texas, for example, is credited with over one third of all executions nationally. If the state were to pass the bill, Maryland would join seventeen other states which have outlawed capital punishment. Currently, five prisoners are on death row in Maryland.
2/21/2013 - SD House Passes "No Weekend" Waiting Periods
The South Dakota state House passed a bill that could extend the time women seeking an abortion must wait before having the procedure Wednesday evening.
House Bill 1237 would exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from being included in the already-mandated 72 hour waiting period. This could greatly extend the time a woman would have to wait for her procedure and push her further into her pregnancy. The bill passed the House on a vote of 56 to 13, and now goes before the state Senate.
In 2011, the South Dakota legislature passed a bill that was signed into law requiring women to seek counseling at crisis pregnancy centers no less than three days before having an abortion procedure. Despite legal challenges and an injunction, the waiting period provision was not overturned. South Dakota currently has the longest waiting period in the country. The requirement that women seeking counseling from a crisis pregnancy center before having an abortion is still being contested in court.
2/21/2013 - Universal Theme Park Will Drop Coverage To Avoid Obamacare
Universal Orlando, a Florida based theme park based on Universal Studios films, will not offer health benefits to part time employees beginning next year, citing provisions in Obamacare.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, Universal Orlando currently offers part-time employees limited insurance benefits that feature a cap on payouts. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), insurance plans can no longer place a monetary limit on necessary health benefits. As a result, Universal Studios will be terminating coverage for employees effective January 1, 2014, instead of extending benefits.
Universal Studios is not the only company that has announced they will not provide health insurance coverage to part-time employees, despite pulling in over $1 billion in revenue last year. Wal-Mart stopped providing coverage for part-time employees two years ago. According to ThinkProgress, food service companies Applebees, Olive Garden, Wendy's and Denny's have all announced they will not be able to provide part-time insurance coverage because of Obamacare. The governor of Virginia is also considering cutting the amount of available hours to wage employees to avoid paying for health care under the ACA.
2/21/2013 - First Female Members Sworn In to Shura Council
The first female members of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council were sworn in by King Abdullah on Tuesday.
The Shura Council, composed of 150 members, councils the government in decisions regarding legislation. However, the Council does not have legislative powers itself and all members are appointed by the king. 30 women now hold seats on the Council, which is the first time women have held public office in the country.
Thuraya al-Arrayed, one of the 30 new female Council members told the BBC "I must say it's an historic occasion. I'm honoured to be part of it. If it works, if it is positive then it will change the attitudes that are still worrying about the participation of women. I'm not just talking about the Shura Council, I'm talking about the empowerment of women and their participation in the general affairs of the country."
Despite this advancement, women in Saudi Arabia face limited public involvement. In 2011, the King granted women the right to vote and run for public office as early as 2015. Despite gaining the right to vote, Saudi women still have to rely on male relatives or paid drivers to get around by car due to a religious edict issued by Muslim clerics. Women are also being tracked by text message.
2/20/2013 - AL Lawmaker calls Fetus "Largest Organ in the Body," Passes TRAP Law
An Alabama lawmaker justified a new TRAP (Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers) that could potentially shut down the handful of clinics currently open in in the state by arguing that a fetus is the largest organ in the female body on Tuesday.
In an interview about the legislation, state Representative Mary Sue McClurkin (R-Pelham) told the Montgomery Advertiser "When a physician removes a child from a woman, that is the largest organ in a body. That's a big thing. That's a big surgery. You don't have any other organs in your body that are bigger than that."
According the Guttmacher Institute, the majority of abortion procedures occur [PDF] in the first trimester when a fetus is typically less than three inches long. The average human lung is between 10 and 14 inches long.
H.B. 57, sponsored by Representative McClurkin, imposes outrageous standards on abortion clinics in an attempt to eliminate abortion in Alabama. The bill requires any doctor performing abortions in the state of Alabama to have admitting privileges at local hospitals and all clinics where abortions are performed to meet the same standards as ambulatory surgical centers. The bill was approved by the House legislature on a 73 to 23 vote and now goes before the state Senate. Similar TRAP laws threaten clinics in other states such as Virginia and Mississippi.
2/20/2013 - Georgia Lawmakers Propose Repealing the Seventeenth Amendment
Earlier this month six Georgia lawmakers, Representatives Dustin Hightower (R), Mike Dudgeon (R), Buzz Brockway (R), Josh Clark (R), Kevin Cooke (R) and Delvis Dutton (R) introduced legislation that would repeal the Seventeenth Amendment. The Seventeenth Amendment ensures that senators will be selected by voters rather than chosen for them by state legislatures.
House Resolution 273 states that "WHEREAS, the United States Senate was designed to protect the rights and interests of the individual states, and the repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment would help to prevent the many unfunded mandates and unconstitutional laws passed onto those states by the federal government."
Representatives from other states have also expressed support in repealing the Seventeenth Amendment. Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) wrote, "The American people mistakenly empowered the federal government during a fit of populist rage in the early twentieth century by giving it an unlimited source of income (the Sixteenth Amendment) and by changing the way senators are elected (the Seventeenth Amendment)."
2/19/2013 - NY Governor to Include Abortion Rights in Women's Equality Act
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) will include a section on expanding and protecting abortion rights in the state of New York as part of a Women's Equality Act.
The Reproductive Health Act would expand the conditions under which a woman could have a late abortion in the state to include when the mother's health is in jeopardy or the fetus is not viable in addition to cases to save the life of the mother. This would bring New York state law on late term in sync with federal regulations. The act would also allow licensed health care practitioners to perform abortions and remove abortion from the New York penal code and place it under regulation by the state's public health law.
According to an anonymous Cuomo official, one reason for the Reproductive Health Act is to protect a woman's right to choose in case the historic Roe v. Wade decision were to be overturned.
Cuomo has insisted that the Reproductive Health Act should not be treated separately from the Women's Equality Act, which is reportedly a 10-point piece of legislation that would provide equal pay for equal work, workplace protections against discrimination, and measures against violence against women. In Cuomo's "State of the Union" New York address, he said, "Maybe it's a man's world, but it is not a man's world in New York. Not anymore."
2/19/2013 - MS Officially Ratifies 13th Amendment
Mississippi finally officially ratified the 13th Amendment to the United State Constitution, which banned slavery in 1865.
The state legislature unanimously voted on a resolution to ratify the amendment in 1995 and was the last state to do so. However, the resolution was never filed with the US Archivist in the Office of the Federal Register and therefore was never officially recorded.
The error came to light after University of Mississippi professor Dr. Ranjan Batra researched the 13th Amendment after seeing the film Lincoln. When he realized that Mississippi never officially ratified the amendment, he reached out to fellow Mississippi resident, Ken Sullivan, who was able to connect him to the Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann. Hosemann filed the necessary paperwork, and the ratification of the 13th Amendment by Mississippi became official on February 7.
While Mississippi was the last state to formally ratify the 13th Amendment, Mississippi was also the last state to ratify the 19th Amendment in 1984, which granted women the right to vote.
2/19/2013 - Thousands Turn Out for Protests on Climate Change
Tens of thousands of people marched on Washington over the weekend in the largest demonstration on climate change in the history of the United States.
More than 50,000 people marched through the streets and demonstrated on the National Mall as part of the "Forward on Climate Change" rally organized by the Sierra Club and 350.org. While protesters chanted and held signs denouncing fracking and calling for other environmental reforms, the majority of the protest focused on the transcontinental Keystone XL Pipeline, which seeks to create a 1,700 mile long pipeline taking tar-sand from Alberta, Canada, and pumping it to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
"Keystone XL is a dirty and dangerous pipeline. It's literally going to cut our country in half, carrying a very dangerous fuel, and it will cause runaway climate change," Maura Cowley of the Energy Action Coalition said to demonstrators. "Young people across the country are the same generation that elected Barack Obama twice now, and we really want to see him reject the Keystone XL pipeline."
Michael Brune, Executive Director of the Sierra Club shared similar sentiments. "President Obama holds in his hand a pen and the power to deliver on his promise of hope for our children. Today, we are asking him to use that pen to [sic] reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, and ensure that this dirty, dangerous, export pipeline will never be built," he said. Brune was arrested last week in a protest in front of the White House against the Keystone XL Pipeline.
2/15/2013 - IL Same-Sex Marriage Bill Advances to House
The Illinois state Senate voted 32 to 21 in favor of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage on Thursday. The law would redefine marriage as the legal union of two people, not specifically a man and a woman. It would also convert civil unions to marriages within a year's time. Religious institutions and individuals that oppose homosexuality would not be required to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.
Two years ago, Illinois passed historic civil union legislation. Now with the possibility of same-sex marriage being legalized, some conservative senators feel homosexuality is moving front and center in a threatening way. Senator Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) told reporters, "People have a right to live as they choose; they don't have the right to redefine marriage for all of us." Same-sex marriage has plenty of supporters, however, one being Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D), who says that "when two people love each other, no government entity should stand in the way of letting them express that love."
Governor Pat Quinn (D says he will sign the bill into the law if it passes in the state House, however it is unclear if the legislation will be brought to the House floor. This is the farthest a same-sex marriage bill has gotten in the Illinois General Assembly. If the bill is signed into law, it would make Illinois the 10th state to legalize same sex marriage.
2/15/2013 - MS Bill to Regulate Abortion Passes the Senate
Senate Bill 2795, also known as the "Women's Health Defense Act," [PDF] passed in the Mississippi Senate yesterday on a 39 to 12 vote. The Mississippi State Medical Association, concerned that the regulations would potentially criminalize abortion providers, released a memo which stated, "Mississippi physicians have strong and serious concerns about SB 2795." The language of the bill was modified to address these concerns and has since lost support from some abortion opponents that consider the bill that passed to be "watered down."
Senate Bill 2795 could force abortion providers to follow outdated FDA guidelines for the prescription of mifepristone and misoprostol, abortion-inducing medications, and requires a physician to administer all doses. This would require women to go to four doctor appointments to complete a medical abortion, which would only be available within the first seven weeks after a woman's last normal menstrual period. The Senate bill also requires that doctors report every prescription of mifepristone to the Mississippi Department of Health.
This bill is the just the latest attempt to eliminate abortion in the state of Mississippi. Though a "Personhood" Amendment was overwhelmingly defeated in 2011, in April 2012 Mississippi's governor, Phil Bryant, signed House Bill 1390 into law. Under House Bill 1390, doctors who perform abortions must have admitting privileges at a local hospital and they must be board certified OB-GYNs. Currently both primary physicians at the state's only abortion clinic are board certified, but have been denied privileges by every local hospital. As a result, the clinic is currently facing the threat of closure.
