House bans funds for teaching abortion techniques

WASHINGTON – The House voted Wednesday to ban teaching health centers from using federal money to train doctors on how to perform abortions, the latest in a series of anti-abortion measures pushed by the Republican majority.

The author of the measure, Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said she wanted to make it “crystal clear that taxpayer money is not being used to train health care providers to perform abortion procedures.”

The proposal was presented as an amendment to the latest of several GOP bills to restrict funding for the health care act that was enacted last year. This bill gives Congress control over spending for a program to encourage health centers to provide training to medical residents. The amendment applies to funding in that grant program.

The Foxx amendment passed 234-182 despite the objections of some Democrats that it would prevent health centers from teaching a basic medical technique that can be critical to saving a woman’s life during emergencies.

“This amendment would jeopardize both education and women’s health care by obliterating funding for a necessary full range of medical training by health care professionals,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo.

The Foxx amendment and the overall bill to restrict the health care act both are likely to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Since coming to power in January, the Republican majority in the House has acted to write permanently into law the ban on federal funds to perform abortions, to make it easier for hospitals to refuse abortion cases and to make it more expensive for small businesses to choose insurance plans under the health care act that provide abortion coverage. The House unsuccessfully tried to cut off federal money for Planned Parenthood as part of the battle over this year’s budget.

“If organizations want to provide elective abortions or train abortion doctors they need to find someone other than taxpayers to write the checks,” Foxx said.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said Foxx’s amendment was an unprecedented restriction on medical training. “Regardless of how one feels about legal abortion, reasonable lawmakers can agree that doctors should be as well-trained as possible to deal with any medical situation that may arise,” she said.

The amendment also states that no funds available under the grant program can be used to perform abortions and that teaching health centers will not be eligible for funds if they discriminate against providers that deny abortion services.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director of the anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said the anti-discrimination provision was important because “the Obama administration has severely weakened enforcement of existing laws.”

He said conscience protections get a better reception in the Senate and that, even if the Senate does not act, it was important for the House to push its anti-abortion agenda. “It usually takes more than one Congress to accomplish worthwhile legislative goals,” Johnson said. “It is necessary often to build up momentum over several Congresses.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110525/ap_on_re_us/us_house_abortion_4

As Wealth and Literacy Rise in India, Report Says, So Do Sex-Selective Abortions

NEW DELHI — India’s increasing wealth and improving literacy are apparently contributing to a national crisis of “missing girls,” with the number of sex-selective abortions up sharply among more affluent, educated families during the past two decades, according to a new study.

The study found the problem of sex-selective abortions of girls has spread steadily across India after once being confined largely to a handful of conservative northern states. Researchers also found that women from higher-income, better-educated families were far more likely than poorer women to abort a girl, especially during a second pregnancy if the firstborn was a girl.

“This has deep implications,” Shailaja Chandra, one of the study’s authors and the former director of the National Population Stabilization Fund, said Tuesday during a panel discussion after the release of the findings. “The scale is very large and requires intervention beyond what has been done so far.”

The study, being published in the British medical journal The Lancet, is the latest evidence of India’s worsening imbalance in the ratio of boys to girls. The 2011 Indian census found 914 girls for every 1,000 boys among children 6 six or younger, the lowest ratio of girls since the country gained independence in 1947. The new study estimated that 4 million to 12 million selective abortions of girls have occurred in India in the past three decades.

The government has enacted legislation intended to prevent parents from using ultrasound screenings or other technologies to decide whether to abort a girl. Yet despite such laws, the situation has not improved. Few medical practitioners who violated the law have been prosecuted, while regulation of private health care providers is very limited.

India is similar to many Asian countries in that many families prefer boys. In Hindu funeral rituals, only males, preferably a son of the deceased, may perform last rites; sons also usually inherit property (while daughters are married into other families) and carry on the family name. A cultural preference for sons is also common among many Indian Muslims.

Dr. Prabhat Jha, a lead author of the study, noted that the use of sex-selective abortions expanded throughout the country as the use of ultrasound equipment became more widespread. Typically, women from wealthier, better-educated families are more likely to undergo an ultrasound, Mr. Jha said, and researchers found that these families are far more likely to abort a girl if the firstborn is a daughter.

“This is really a phenomenon of the educated and the wealthy that we are seeing in India,” said Mr. Jha, director of the Center for Global Health Research at the University of Toronto.

Census data has already confirmed that the problem has accelerated since 2001. The 2011 census found about 7.1 million fewer girls than boys under the age of 6, compared with a gap of roughly 6 million girls a decade earlier.

The Lancet study was conducted by researchers from several partner institutions, with the United States National Institutes of Health providing some of the financing. About 250,000 births from 1990 to 2005 were examined, using data from surveys conducted by India’s National Family Health Survey, as well as census data from 1991 to 2011.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/25/world/asia/25india.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

Masked South Korean sex workers rally against police crackdown on brothels

SEOUL, South Korea — Hundreds of prostitutes and pimps rallied Tuesday near a red-light district in Seoul to protest a police crackdown on brothels, with some unsuccessfully attempting to set themselves on fire.

A crowd of about 400 people, mostly women wearing baseball caps, masks and sunglasses, chanted slogans like, “Guarantee the right to live!” during the four-hour rally.

At one point, about 20 protesters in their underwear and covered in body and face paint doused themselves in flammable liquid in an apparent attempt to burn themselves, but others stopped them from lighting any flames. Some of the women then sat in the street and wept and screamed, while other protesters consoled them.

Minor scuffles between protesters and police officers erupted after the rally, but there were no reports of major injuries.

Prostitution is illegal in South Korea but is widespread despite repeated government crackdowns.

The rally comes weeks after officials began stationing police cars near brothels in a bid to drive away people looking to pay for sex.

The sex workers accuse a nearby department store of pushing police to take such measures. Police deny the claim.

As part of their protest, a group of prostitutes on Sunday tried to buy expensive items at the department store with only coins; when they were rejected, they placed large piles of coins on the department store’s floors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/masked-south-korean-sex-workers-rally-against-police-crackdown-on-brothels/2011/05/17/AFMCbW5G_story.html?wprss=rss_world

State budget panel trims university funding 15%, caps welfare

Lansing—Welfare benefits would be limited to 48 months and 124,000 children will no longer get an $80 clothing allowance under a joint House-Senate Department of Human Services budget approved by the Senate this afternoon.

The Senate earlier today approved by a 26-16 vote a joint House-Senate budget for higher education that trims 15 percent in funding from state universities that Snyder has proposed. Both budgets now head to the House, where they are expected to be approved by the Republican majority.

A $1.9 billion Department of Corrections budget passed out of committee and awaits action in the Senate. The plan would cut $70.8 million from the department’s budget, including $31.3 million to be saved by competitively bidding the housing of 1,750 prisoners.

The House and Senate are reconciling budget bills for various state departments. They must both concur and pass the final budgets before they can be sent to Gov. Rick Snyder for his signature. Earlier, the Legislature passed a tax reform plan that awaits Snyder’s signature. The plan eliminates the Michigan Business Tax, imposes a 6 percent corporate tax on some businesses, eliminates many business and personal tax credits and imposes a phased-in tax on pensions.

The House will roll all of the state budgets into two “omnibus” bills, one for higher education, community colleges and universities, and the other for the rest of the budget.

The Legislature hopes to send the complete budget to Gov. Rick Snyder by May 31 to be signed into law.

The 48-month lifetime limit on welfare is retroactive, and would begin immediately if the budget also passes in the House and is signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder. The Senate Fiscal Agency estimates 12,600 families, about 15 percent of state caseloads, would be immediately tossed off welfare rolls, saving more than $77 million from the state’s main checking account.

Democrats on the committee said the cuts will leave many families without help at a time when few jobs are available for laid off workers. People with a mental or physical disability, who are caring for a disabled family member, domestic violence victims and women in advance pregnancy or who recently have given birth would be exempt from the 48-month lifetime limit.

“Ninety percent of families on (welfare) are working, but not earning enough to leave assistance,” Sen. Vincent Gregory, D-Southfield, told the committee. “I would have preferred to see it phased out.”

Republicans said the cuts are necessary and noted they aren’t as harsh as either chamber had approved in their separate budgets. Children of working parents would no longer be able to receive an average $80 allowance for school clothes under the budget, but the bill would increase the amount their parents can earn while receiving benefits by about $4,000. Children in foster care aren’t affected.

“We actually gave more to those people and encouraged them to work, incentivized them to work,” said Rep. David Agema, R-Grandville.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110524/POLITICS02/105240398/State-budget-panel-trims-university-funding-15—caps-welfare#ixzz1NQcuRxYM

Nearly 19,000 women aged under 25 had their second abortion last year

Nearly 19,000 women aged under 25 had their second abortion last year, new figures show.

The statistics published today by the Department of Health, also revealed almost 40,000 women aged under 20 had an abortion in 2010.

Overall there has been a slight rise in the number of abortions carried out in England and Wales.

Some 189,574 abortions were carried out in 2010, up 0.3 per cent on the 189,100 in 2009 and eight per cent more than in 2000 (175,542).

These abortions were to women living in England and Wales. Another 6,535 were to non-residents.

The last time there was a rise in the total number of abortions was between 2006 and 2007.

Dr Paula Franklin, director of clinical development at Marie Stopes International, said: ‘Although the numbers are similar to those of 2009, we are surprised not to see a further decrease in the number of abortions across England and Wales.

‘Improved access to counselling and advice, through services like Marie Stopes International’s OneCall, is allowing women to access a full range of information early.’

In total, 64,303 procedures were to women who had had at least one abortion previously.

Of these, 1,201 abortions were among girls under 18 who had undergone one previous abortion, while 79 were to girls who had had two or more.

Among those aged 18 to 24, 17,735 abortions were to girls who had one abortion previously while 3,453 were to girls who had had two previously.

Half of abortions last year were to women with partners while 26 per cent were to single women and 16 per cent of abortions occurred within marriage.

Some 3,718 were to girls under 16, which was slightly down on the previous year. Some 27,046 abortions were among women aged 35 and over.

The rate was highest in women aged between 19 and 20, but has dropped among the under-16s and under-18s.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: ‘We welcome the continued fall in teenage pregnancies. Abortions are traumatic and stressful and should never be seen as a form of contraception.’

In total, 64,303 procedures were to women who had had at least one abortion previously.

The statistics also showed that almost 300 women aged 25 to 29 had had four or more previous abortions.

Overall, 77 per cent of abortions took place before 10 weeks gestation.

Age of woman	No. of abortions 2009	No. of abortions 2010
Under 16	3,823	3,718
16-17	14,093	12,742
Under 18	17,916	16,460
18-19	22,151	21,809
20-24	54,749	55,481
25-29	40,634	40,800
30-34	26,701	27,978
35 or over	26,949	27,046
Total	189,100	189,574

Natika Halil, director of information for the Family Planning Association (FPA), said: ‘Over the last decade, we’ve seen significant achievements in abortion services. Most women are having abortions under 13 weeks and we’ve seen a substantial rise in early medical abortions.

‘Medical abortions are a much more straightforward and less invasive procedure for women.

‘The cost to the NHS is greatly reduced – especially relevant in the current economic climate. The next logical, clinically-safe step with early medical abortion is to allow women to have them at home.’

Across all ages, the abortion rate was 17.5 per 1,000 resident women aged 15-44, the same as in 2009 but more than double the 8.0 recorded in 1970.

The rate was highest in women aged between 19 and 20, but has dropped among the under-16s and under-18s.

Shadow public health minister Diane Abbott said: ‘Abortion rates were falling under the Labour government because of its investment in contraceptive services and sexual health campaigns.

‘Abortion rates have levelled off and will now undoubtedly rise further because contraceptive services are being slashed nationwide.

‘The coalition Government has not protected provision of contraceptive services despite the fact they are cost-effective as well as being a basic human right.’

Ann Furedi, chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), said the fact that numbers had not decreased showed how difficult it was for women to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

She added: For many women abortion is a back-up to their contraception. It is a rational and ethical solution to the problem of a pregnancy that they cannot continue with.

‘We must do what we can to reduce the need for abortion while accepting that it will always be an important back-up for women whose contraception has failed, or whose circumstances have changed.’

However Michaela Aston, a spokeswoman for Life, said: ‘At Life we see every abortion as a tragedy, and we work hard to provide positive alternatives for women and their families who find themselves in what seem like impossible situations.

‘We are concerned that women are being rushed into abortion, as more and more women are having abortions earlier in pregnancy. It is vital that women are given time to think through their options.

‘We hope too that the Government will resist pressure to liberalise the law on home abortions. Such a move would further isolate women from networks of support, and risks trivialising abortion still further.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1390402/Abortion-Nearly-19-000-women-aged-25-SECOND-abortion-year-shock-figures-show.html?ITO=1490

Transgender widow’s marriage debated at hearing

WHARTON, Texas (AP) — The transgender widow of a Texas firefighter will likely learn next week whether his family’s request to nullify their marriage and strip her of any death benefits will be granted, a judge said Friday.

State District Judge Randy Clapp made the announcement after hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by the family of firefighter Thomas Araguz III, who was killed while battling a blaze last year. The suit argues that his widow shouldn’t get any benefits because she was born a man and Texas doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage.

The widow, Nikki Araguz, said she had done everything medically and legally possible to show that she is female and was legally married under Texas law. She believes that she’s entitled to widow’s benefits.

“I believe the judge is going to rule in my favor,” Araguz said after the court hearing.

The lawsuit seeks control over death benefits and assets totaling more than $600,000, which the firefighter’s family wants to go to his two sons from a previous marriage. Voiding the marriage would prevent Nikki Araguz from receiving any insurance or death benefits or property the couple had together.

Thomas Araguz died while fighting a fire at an egg farm near Wharton, about 60 miles southwest of Houston, in July 2010. He was 30.

His mother, Simona Longoria, filed a lawsuit asking that her son’s marriage be voided. She and her family have said he learned of his wife’s gender history just prior to his death, and after he found out, he moved out of their home and planned to end the marriage.

But Nikki Araguz, 35, has insisted that her husband was aware she was born a man and that he fully supported her through the surgical process to become a woman. She underwent surgery two months after they were married in 2008.

Longoria’s attorney, Chad Ellis, argued that Texas law — specifically a 1999 appeals court ruling that stated chromosomes, not genitals, determine gender — supports his client’s efforts to void the marriage.

The ruling upheld a lower court’s decision that threw out a wrongful death lawsuit filed by a San Antonio woman, Christie Lee Cavazos Littleton, after her husband’s death. The court said that although Littleton had undergone a sex-change operation, she was actually a man, based on her original birth certificate, and therefore her marriage and wrongful death claim were invalid.

Ellis presented medical and school records that he said showed Nikki Araguz was born without female reproductive organs and that she presented herself as a male while growing up and going to school. He also said her birth certificate at the time of her marriage indicated she was a man.

“By law, two males cannot be married in this state,” Ellis told the judge.

Nikki Araguz, who was born in California, did not change her birth certificate to reflect she had become a female until after her husband’s death, said Edward Burwell, one of the attorneys for Thomas Araguz’s ex-wife, Heather Delgado, the mother of his two children.

But one of Nikki Araguz’s attorneys, Darrell Steidley, said that when his client got her marriage license, she presented the necessary legal documents to show she was a female. He also noted changes made in 2009 to the Texas Family Code that allowed people to present numerous alternatives to a birth certificate as the proof of identity needed to get a marriage license. That was an example, he argued, of the state trying to move away from the 1999 appeals court ruling.

The changes in 2009 allowed transgendered people to use proof of their sex change to get a marriage license. The Texas Legislature is currently considering a bill that would prohibit county and district clerks from using a court order recognizing a sex change as documentation to get married.

After the hearing, the firefighter’s family and attorneys for his ex-wife criticized plans by Nikki Araguz to star in a reality television dating show and implied she was only interested in money and fame that the case would bring her.

“That is absurd,” Nikki Araguz said in response. “I’m after my civil equality and the rights that I deserve as the wife of a fallen firefighter.”

If the judge rules against the firefighter’s family in their motion for a summary judgment, the case would then proceed to trial. Araguz said if the judge rules against her, she would appeal, all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Transgender-widow-s-marriage-debated-at-hearing-1388734.php#ixzz1NISN5qUn

Abortion Rate Down Overall, Up Among Poor Women

The abortion rate in the United States dropped 8 percent between 2000 and 2008, while rising nearly 18 percent among the country’s poorest women — a trend that researchers believe might reflect tough economic times. Of the more than 1.2 million legal abortions reported in 2008, women whose family income fell below the national poverty level accounted for 42 percent of them.

“In the middle of a recession, it’s possible women have reduced access to contraception and have more unintended pregnancies,” said Rachel Jones, senior research associate at New York City’s Guttmacher Institute and lead author of the report published Monday in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology. “It’s also possible that women confronted with unplanned pregnancies when they are out of work decide to have abortions, even though they might have carried it to term in more stable times.”

Using information collected through patient surveys, Jones and colleagues estimated the rate of abortion among women of various ages, races, religions, income and education levels, calculating changes in the rate since 2000. The rise in abortions among poor and low-income women was the most worrying finding, Jones said.

A woman studies the results of a pregnancy test. While the U.S. abortion has declined overall, it has risen among poor women, perhaps reflecting tough economic times and limited access to contraception.

“Increasingly, we’re seeing restrictions placed on abortion services, and this shows that it’s going to have a disproportionate impact on poor women,” Jones said.

Planned Parenthood puts the the cost of an abortion during the first trimester at between $300 to $950 — a fee many women front out-of-pocket because of a lack of insurance coverage, confusion about whether the procedure is covered or a desire for privacy.

The abortion rate has been steadily declining since 1990 — a possible product of more and better contraceptive use as well as fewer teens having sex, Jones said. But the decline seems to have stabilized. If the 2008 rates persist, it’s estimated that almost one in three women in the U.S. will have had an abortion before the age of 45.

“A lot of people find this surprising,” Jones said. “But a lot of women have abortions and just don’t talk about it.”

About one-half of U.S. pregnancies each year are unintended, and about half of those end in abortion, according to a 2006 study published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health.

“Women who are deciding to have an abortion are women who have unintended pregnancies, and limited access to contraception is one of the key drivers of unintended pregnancies,” said Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute and author of the 2006 report. “Most Americans want to control how many kids they have and when they have them. We should [ease] access to contraception when possible to reduce the substantial proportion of unintended pregnancies.”

Although teens account for 24.8 percent of U.S. abortions, women over 25 represent 49 percent, according to the report. Almost 20 percent of women who have abortions have a college education, and 44 percent are married or living with their partners.

“All types of women have abortions. People don’t realize that their friends, their family members have had this experience,” Jones said. “If people realize that a substantial minority of women will have one, maybe they will have a less harsh evaluation of abortion and the circumstances surrounding it.”

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/WomensHealth/abortion-rate-poor-women/story?id=13665925

DNA evidence said to link ex-IMF leader to NY maid

NEW YORK – DNA taken from former International Monetary Fund leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn matches material on the uniform of a hotel maid who says he sexually assaulted her, two people familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.

The two people would not describe the material found on the shirt but said DNA matched a sample from Strauss-Kahn, who submitted to testing after his arrest more than a week ago. He denies the maid’s allegations.

Testing was being performed on other items, said the two people, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke to the AP on Monday on condition of anonymity.

During their investigation, authorities cut out a piece of carpet and swabbed sinks and other surfaces in his hotel room. Investigators told the AP they believed the carpet in the hotel room may contain Strauss-Kahn’s semen, spat out after an episode of forced oral sex by the maid.

The forensic evidence is the first to link Strauss-Kahn to the woman — and it’s also on track with what his lawyers have suggested would be his defense.

Strauss-Kahn’s attorney Benjamin Brafman declined to comment on Monday. At a court hearing last week, he told a judge that forensic evidence developed in the investigation “will not be consistent with a forcible encounter” — leading to speculation that Strauss-Kahn’s defense would argue that it was consensual.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul J. Browne and the Manhattan district attorney’s office wouldn’t comment.

The one-time French presidential contender has been charged with a criminal sex act, attempted rape and sexual abuse and is free on $1 million bail, under house arrest at a lower Manhattan apartment. He’s been accused of attacking the 32-year-old West African immigrant on May 14 in his luxury suite at the Sofitel hotel near Manhattan’s Times Square. His lawyers say he’s innocent.

Staff at the Sofitel told authorities that the 62-year-old Strauss-Kahn had made passes at them the day before the attack was reported, including flirting with a clerk and calling another employee to ask her up to his room, according to a third person with direct knowledge of investigators’ interviews with staff.

Strauss-Kahn had flirted with one female staff member who accompanied him to his suite to make sure his accommodations were satisfactory after he checked in on May 13, the person said. Later, he phoned the desk clerk who had checked him in, asking her if she would like to get together with him when she got off duty, the person said. The desk clerk refused, saying she was not allowed to socialize with the VIP guest, the person said.

That person also wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, lawyers for Strauss-Kahn continued to search for new housing for their client as he awaits trial. His bail agreement hit a snag late last week after tenants at the Upper East Side apartment building chosen for his house arrest refused to allow him, citing unwanted media attention.

Strauss-Kahn has been staying at a temporary location under watch by armed guards with Stroz Friedberg, the same company that guarded disgraced financier Bernard Madoff. It wasn’t clear when he would be moved. French and U.S. media have been staking out the building where Strauss-Kahn spent the weekend after he was released from his Rikers Island jail cell.

He resigned last Wednesday from the IMF.

His attorneys have described Strauss-Kahn as a loving father and family man. They say his actions after the attack was reported are not those of a guilty man eager for a quick escape. He left the hotel, had lunch and then phoned later to ask if he’d left anything behind. When hotel staff said he had left his cellphone, he told them exactly where he was: at John F. Kennedy International Airport on a flight bound for Paris. Authorities pulled him from the jetliner.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/imf_leader_assault;_ylt=AsDmrc725y4jK.RlnN.klZ.s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTM5cjExNDRiBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNTI0L2ltZl9sZWFkZXJfYXNzYXVsdARjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzMEcG9zAzcEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Rzaw–

Headmaster held for rape bid on maid

KISHANGANJ: Police on Thursday arrested a school headmaster after a mob severely assaulted him for making a bid to outrage the modesty of a school maid engaged for cooking midday meal for the school children.

The incident took place at Jave village under the Bhawanipore police station area in Purnia district on Thursday afternoon. The maid was allegedly summoned by headmaster Raj Kumar Harijan to a room in the school where he allegedly tried to outrage her modesty. As she raised an alarm, villagers gathered and caught the headmaster red-handed, a police officer said and added the mob was so furious that the headmaster would have been lynched had police not reached in time.

Incidentally, the school was closed for summer vacation. The headmaster allegedly summoned the maid by making a call on her cellphone.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-20/patna/29563919_1_headmaster-maid-modesty

Welfare recipient drug testing passes state legislature

Legislation to mandate drug testing for people on welfare is on its way to the governor’s desk.

The House signed off on the bill this morning, which was even tougher when it came back from the senate.

“Recipients of welfare benefits, commonly called TANF, would have a drug test if there’s reasonable cause to believe that they may be using drugs illegally,” said Rep. Ellen Brandom (R) of Sikeston

Under the bill, welfare recipients would lose their benefits for three years if they fail a urine test that screens for narcotics.

The House originally said one year, but the Senate pushed it to three. The measure would allow drug users to receive benefits again after a time if they complete a drug treatment program and do not test positive again.

Critics say the legislation will have little deterrent value without treatment…

“And until we solve the underlying problem of drug abuse, you can take the money away all you want, those parents are gonna find a way to get the drugs,” said Rep. Genise Montecillo, (D), of St. Louis

Others question the expense.

“We’re gonna cost the taxpayers of this state a million dollars. And we don’t actually know how much it’s gonna save,” said Rep. Jacob Hummel (D), St. Louis. 

The senate also added a provision to require that the electronic cards used to claim welfare benefits include a photo of the recipient and be renewed every three years.

Lawmakers say that comes from recipients selling their cards to third parties for cash.

http://www.connectmidmissouri.com/news/story.aspx?id=616537

5000 Edinburgh women face working longer for pension

AN estimated 5000 women in Edinburgh will have to work another year or more to qualify for their state pension under latest UK Government proposals – but many of them do not realise it.

Edinburgh Labour MPs today called for a rethink on the plans to speed up the raising of the pension age for women, warning the change would force many families to change their plans for the future.

Under the new Pension Bill proposals, women’s pension age will increase to 65, in line with men’s, by 2018 and the increase, along with men’s, to 66 by 2020, six years earlier than originally planned.
The change mainly affects women currently aged 57-58, but the worst hit are at the younger end of that group.

According to charity Age UK, women born between April 6 and May 5, 1953, will have to carry on working until July 2016, two months longer than under the previous timetable for increasing the pension age.

Women born between March 6 and April 5, 1954, will not be able to claim their pension until March 2020, a full two years later than originally proposed.

Mark Lazarowicz, Labour MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, said the changes had been sprung on women without giving them fair notice.

He said: “Many people are unaware of what is going to happen because the Government has not properly publicised the changes.

“Across Edinburgh, about 5000 are likely to be hit. Most of these women are likely to rely on the state pension as a high proportion of women in this age group don’t have a private pension.

“Of course some people are happy to work on but it’s just not that simple for everyone to go on working – over a third of those affected are no longer in paid work because they are in ill-health or caring for others.”

Edinburgh East Labour MP Sheila Gilmore said: “Many of these are women who have juggled working lives with raising a family, and who, through no fault of their own, have very little retirement saving to fall back on. The lack of warning means they do not have enough time to adjust carefully-thought-out retirement plans, and leaves them feeling robbed of their pension.”

Trade unions and organisations such as Age UK and Saga say they accept the need for the pension age to rise but argue people must have time to prepare. Edinburgh South Labour MP Ian Murray said: “Despite the coalition agreement stating that they would not raise the state pension age for women before 2020, the Government has made another U-turn.

“I will be fighting these changes every step of the way to ensure fairness for those approaching retirement, not the feeling that the goalposts keep being moved.”

The Department of Work and Pensions said with forecasts that ten million people across the UK will live to 100, the country could not continue paying the state pension at an age which was set early last century.

Although women would experience the pension age rising more quickly than planned, they would still draw the state pension for an average of 23 years.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/5000-Capital-women-face-working.6772078.jp?articlepage=2

Syria’s defiant women risk all to protest

They came for the men first, as the security forces of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad killed, beat and arrested people protesting against his regime.

Next, they came for the women of Syria’s revolution. Despite the threats, however, they refuse to be silenced.

As the violence has become worse, women activists have organised a Friday protest of Free Women showing solidarity with those seized or killed. Women-only protests in towns across the country have led the effort to let the outside world know what is happening in Syria. But they are now being targeted as well, with the same lethal brutality.

Two weeks ago three women were shot dead at an all-women march near the besieged city of Banias. A week later human rights activist Catherine al-Talli (32) was detained in the Barzeh district of Damascus after being forced off a minibus when it was stopped at a checkpoint by the secret police.

Others, such as Razan Zeitouneh, whose husband has been arrested, have been forced into hiding as evidence emerges that the regime is targeting relatives of those it is seeking to arrest.

On Saturday it was Zeitouneh who reported that the final death toll for the latest crackdown on Friday protests by the regime had been 30. Twelve were reported dead in Ma’aret al-Nu’man, south of Syria’s second city Aleppo, after tanks entered the town earlier in the day to disperse protesters; 11 in the central city of Homs and seven in Dera’a, Latakia, the Damascus suburbs and Hama.

“Reem” — we have changed her name to protect her family — spoke to the Observer from Syria last week. Aged 22, she is expecting her first child in the next few weeks. Her husband, an anti-regime activist, has been arrested twice and is now in detention. Her father was invited to a meeting with a senior member of the regime and detained afterwards.

Reem has been arrested once. In common with activist friends, she expects a knock on her door from the security forces at any moment. She is still ready to risk prison by talking about the murderous repression in her country.

“I have women friends who have been arrested like me,” she said. “But then they just go out again to protest. One of my friends was arrested for collecting medical supplies for the people in Dera’a. She was beaten at the security branch and they forced her to take off her headscarf. She was held for two weeks and released two days ago.

CONTINUES BELOW

‘Arresting anyone with a phone’
“She is very enthusiastic and active. She is getting ready to protest again. The only thing that is keeping me at home right now is that I’m expecting a baby in two weeks.”

For now, Reem has to content herself with reporting what she has seen and what she knows, which is dangerous enough in a country where the international media are largely banned. “If you tell the truth,” she said, “there is a big chance of arrest. You risk being beaten and being treated with no dignity.”

That treatment was described last week by Dorothy Parvaz, an al-Jazeera journalist who was arrested by the Syrians in Damascus and encountered a number of terrified young women in the security barracks where she was held. Upon her release, Parvaz described how two of the young women she met had simply been plucked off the street for no apparent reason. “One had been there for eight days when I met her,” wrote Parvaz last week. “And she looked ill. The food we were given three times a day — fetid, random and at times rotting — mostly had the effect of making her vomit, but she was too hungry to stop eating .”

Reem has an explanation for the detention of these young women. “They have been arresting anyone with a phone they see in the streets,” she said. “They do not want anyone to take pictures, to tell the world what is happening.”

Reem describes seeing one young woman being dragged by security forces into a shop at a demonstration. “We saw a young girl and some security men in civilian clothes. They grabbed her by the head and dragged her off, calling her a traitor. She said: ‘I’m not a traitor!’ They pulled her into a shop and we tried to reach her, but they shut the door on us and then took her somewhere else.

“Women have played a really important role since the first protests in March — non-violent activists like myself and the mothers and sisters of prisoners of conscience.”

And the part women are playing has become ever more important. “In some areas,” says Ameera, a human rights lawyer, “so many of the men have been killed, arrested or injured it is the women who have been left to protest. The biggest problem is trying to find the people who have disappeared. The security forces won’t say where they are, and the families are afraid to speak out.”

For some — like Ameera — the threat has succeeded in persuading them to stay at home. She now feels unable to protest. “It feels like you are waiting for your turn to be arrested. I am expecting to be arrested at any moment. I am not scared for myself, but I am afraid for my family.”

http://mg.co.za/article/2011-05-22-syrias-defiant-women-risk-all-to-protest/

CBI probe sought into attack on women in village

The demand for an independent probe into alleged atrocities against farmers of Uttar Pradesh’s Bhatta-Parsaul village intensified yesterday as the National Commission for Women (NCW) slammed the state government for molestation and rape of village women.
The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), effectively supporting the claims of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, demanded a judicial probe.
Yasmeen Abrar, acting chairperson of the women’s commission demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the incidents after a visit by its team to the affected areas.
“We have prepared a preliminary report which states that the women in the village have been molested and sexually assaulted. There are allegations that they have been raped but it could be confirmed only after all the investigations are over,” Abrar said.
The village in Greater Noida, near the Indian capital, has become the epicentre of the movement against land acquisition for an expressway project.
A protest on May 7 turned violent claiming the lives of four people, including two policemen.
An NCW team which visited the village on May 12 saw ransacked homes, horrified women, hungry and helpless children and bones of human beings lying in the ashes on the ground.
“There are bones of human beings lying with the ashes of burnt bodies. The family members of the villagers have been burnt alive. The burnt houses bear the marks of flames on the walls. Villagers, especially women, are not just broken, but terrified,” said Abrar.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the original problem of the farmers was being overlooked in the controversy created by Gandhi’s allegations about rape of women and discovery of bones in ashes, which have been denied by the government of Chief Minister Mayawati.
“The NCW is a statutory body, they have found some facts and given a report, but what we are asking for is an independent inquiry. We are demanding a judicial inquiry in the action done by the state government,” Sitharaman said.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi also favoured a judicial probe. “A judicial inquiry will find precisely that (facts),” Singhvi said.
The NCW team visited Bhatta-Parsaul after a delegation of villagers met its officials and alleged rape, molestation and sexual assault of women by policemen. The report will be given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Abrar said she did not believe in the forensic report of the state government which denied the presence of any human bones in the heaps of ashes in the village. “We have got certain proofs and pictures, which we cannot disclose now, to prove it.”

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=436049&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22

More women join dole queue as public sector cuts bite

The number of women claiming out-of-work benefits has hit its highest level since 1996, with public sector job cuts starting to bite last month.

Attempts by the government to nudge single mothers into the workforce have also pushed up the number of women claiming jobseeker’s allowance (JSA), as they are stripped of income support once their children turn seven.

New figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that 474,000 women were receiving JSA in April. While the government took some comfort from the fact that total unemployment fell by 36,000 to 2.46 million in the three months to March, according to the broad International Labour Organisation measure, there was a rise of 12,400 in the more timely claimant count last month – with more than three-quarters of the increase among women.

It was the 10th consecutive month in which the number of women claiming out-of-work benefits had increased – although there are still more than twice as many men, 994,000, receiving JSA. The Department for Work and Pensions said part of the rise resulted from rule changes that have seen single mothers shifted on to employment benefits to encourage them to look for a job.

Since October, single mothers have joined the claimant count when their youngest child turns seven, down from the previous limit of 10. Single parents receiving JSA rose by 6,000 in March.

The DWP said the number of people receiving JSA was likely to go on increasing as incapacity benefit claimants were assessed for their readiness to work.

Since George Osborne announced the tightest fiscal squeeze in a generation last autumn, equality campaigners have been warning that the impact will be disproportionately felt by women, who make up much of the public sector workforce. Anna Bird, acting chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said women were acting as “shock absorbers” for the austerity measures.

“We are beginning to see the real impact of the government’s approach to cutting the deficit and, as we feared, women are bearing the brunt,” she said. “Combined with reduced benefits and increasing costs of childcare as state support dwindles, the lack of employment prospects risk rolling back women’s rights a generation.”

The figures also confirm that the pressure on household incomes is intensifying, as salaries fail to keep pace with rocketing inflation. While the inflation rate hit 4.5% last month, average pay rose by just 2.3% in the year to March.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/may/18/more-women-join-dole-queue-cuts

UK: Women and the coalition: mothers’ and child benefits

The coalition may present itself, like all the main political parties, as pro-family, but it is mothers who have become the “shock absorbers” for the coalition’s cuts in welfare benefits and childcare provision, say critics.

From cuts to maternity grants and child benefits, to closures of Sure Start centres, childcare schemes and after-school clubs, it is women – particularly single mothers on low incomes – who bear the brunt of attempts to reduce the deficit.

The changes will affect women’s incomes and ability to enter the job market, critics say, and put many at risk of poverty. “The disproportionate impact of the cuts on women raises issues of fairness and calls into question the idea of society sharing the weight of national debt reduction,” said Abigail Davies, assistant director of policy and practice at the Chartered Institute of Housing. “Overall the public spending cuts are known to impact disproportionately on single parent families, most of which are headed by women. Cuts to benefits and public spending, coupled with stricter job-seeking expectations for lone parents claiming benefits, will trap some women in an impossible situation.”

Benefit cuts that affect women include reductions in the childcare tax credit, the Sure Start maternity grant, and the health in pregnancy grant, and the freezing of child benefit rates for three years.

Katherine Rake, chief executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, said: “The targeting of family benefits for cutbacks in the last 12 months means women’s incomes have been disproportionately hit. For many women, child benefit was the only source of income they received directly, giving them independence and control over family spending. The coalition’s decision to end universal child benefit was therefore a particularly painful blow.”

There are concerns that single parents – most of whom are women – will also be unfairly affected by housing benefit reform. “This will require some families to move, which is expensive, unsettling, affects [children's] educational performance, and puts families into less economically successful areas with reduced employment opportunities,” said Davies. “Cuts to tax credits, Sure Start, after-school clubs and so on, create further barriers to employment for single parents.

“The government wants to encourage social mobility and tackle poverty, but these cuts do not create an environment which supports women or enables them to help themselves.”

Despite the government’s commitment to guarantee 15 hours a week free childcare provision, childcare support has been badly hit by local authority spending cuts. These have led to widespread cuts in Sure Start children’s centres and after-school and holiday play schemes. Although many councils have committed themselves to keeping centres open, most have reduced services drastically.

A survey of mothers using Sure Start centres, carried out in February by the Daycare Trust charity, found that 35% felt that the removal or reduction of services would leave them more socially isolated, and 32% felt it would be harder to see their midwife or health visitor.

Rake said there had been some positive policy developments for mothers over the past 12 months, such as proposals for shared postnatal parental leave, and to extend rights to flexible working. She added: “The government must deliver on these proposals if it is to make strides towards a truly family-friendly society.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/20/women-coalition-mothers-child-benefits

New Texas law mandates sonograms before abortion

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Texas Governor Rick Perry on Thursday signed into law a measure requiring women seeking an abortion in the state to first get a sonogram.

Texas is one of several U.S. states with strong Republican legislative majorities proposing new restrictions on abortion this year. The Republican governor had designated the bill as an emergency legislative priority, putting it on a fast track.

Under the law, women will have to wait 24 hours after the sonogram before having an abortion, though the waiting time is two hours for those who live more than 100 miles from an abortion provider.

“Governor Perry was pleased to sign this important legislation, which bolsters our efforts to protect life by ensuring Texans are fully informed when considering such an important decision,” said Katherine Cesinger, a spokeswoman for the governor.

A sonogram is an imaging technique using high-frequency sound waves to produce images of a developing baby in a woman’s uterus.

Under the measure, women will be offered the option of hearing the heartbeat and seeing the sonogram image, which they may decline. But the woman’s doctor must describe the image, explaining the size of the embryo or fetus and the presence of organs and limbs.

In certain cases, including those involving rape and incest victims or serious fetal abnormalities, the woman could decline to hear the description of the sonogram.

Opponents of the legislation said the law interferes in the doctor-patient relationship by adding a government requirement for a procedure that could be traumatizing to women going through an already difficult situation.

During debate on the House floor in March, Democratic state Representative Carol Alvarado wielded a trans-vaginal probe used for sonograms early in pregnancy.

“This is government intrusion at its best,” she said during that debate.

http://dailynews.muzi.com/news/ll/english/10109243.shtml

Women angered by IMF coverage

PARIS: French women’s groups outraged by the political and media reaction to the sexual assault allegations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were due to protest in central Paris yesterday evening.

A week after New York police arrested the French political heavyweight, feminist groups are circulating a petition against the impunity that they say sexism enjoys in France.

Their campaign has already won the support of several prominent female politicians and journalists.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, has been formally charged in New York with the sexual assault and attempted rape of a maid in the luxury Times Square Sofitel hotel where he was staying.

He denies the charges and has quit his job at the head of the International Monetary Fund to concentrate on fighting his case.

A furore has broken out over the $US250,000 ($234,000) severance pay he will receive after his resignation. However, the IMF said that his life pension benefits will be considerably less than if he had completed his full term.

The petition, circulated by an alliance of feminist groups, does not enter the debate over Mr Strauss-Kahn’s guilt or innocence. But it hits out at the political reaction to – and media coverage of – the affair in France.

”For a week, we have been stunned by the daily surge of misogynistic remarks by public figures, widely broadcast on our televisions, radios, in the workplace and on social networks,” it says. ”We are angry, disgusted and outraged.

”We don’t know what happened in New York last Saturday but we know what has been happening in France for the last week.

”We call on all those fighting the sexist onslaught we have witnessed this last week to rally”, in the square in front of the Centre Pompidou in central Paris at 5pm.

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been the Socialist front-runner to challenge Nicolas Sarkozy in next year’s presidential election, but the scandal has in effect destroyed his political career.

In a French poll on Wednesday, 57 per cent of respondents said they thought he was ”the victim of a plot”. here have been at least as many people defending him in the French media as those standing up for the alleged victim.

Campaigners have objected to what they say have been remarks playing down the seriousness of rape, and the ”intolerable confusion between sexual freedom and violence against women” in the French media’s coverage of the affair.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/women-angered-by-imf-coverage-20110522-1eyzh.html#ixzz1NCEHdoZZ

Fate of Uganda’s Anti-Gay Bill Uncertain

Photo: AFP

A woman holding a placard as she takes part in an anti-gay demonstration in Jinja, Kampala, (File)

Some lawmakers and activists in Uganda say voting on controversial anti-homosexuality bill has been postponed.

Speaker of the Parliament Edward Ssekandi adjourned parliament Friday, saying there was not enough time to start debate on the bill.  The current legislative session ends Wednesday.

The bill calls for mandatory death sentences for some homosexual acts and has drawn condemnation from the United States and various human rights groups.  U.S. President Barack Obama has described it as “odious.”

The author of the bill said earlier this week that a new version of the bill would not contain the death penalty.  But no amended version was released.

The human rights group Avaaz said parliament’s refusal to take up the measure was a victory for all Ugandans.

On Thursday, the group Human Rights Watch warned that a Ugandan parliamentary committee was recommending the passage of the anti-homosexuality bill.  The international rights group also said the committee recommends adding criminal penalties for involvement in a same sex marriage.

A Ugandan gay rights activist who spoke out against the bill was murdered in January.  But Ugandan officials say the killing had nothing to do with his campaign against the legislation.

Activist David Kato had been the target of death threats since a Ugandan tabloid featured him on a list of what it called the country’s top homosexuals.

Uganda is widely regarded as an oppressive environment or gays.  Homosexuality is currently punishable by life in prison.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/east/Fate-of-Ugandas-Anti-Gay-Bill-Uncertain-121774624.html

Plans to recruit 20,000 women in paramilitary forces in 3 yrs

New Delhi, May 12 (PTI) The government is planning to recruit 20,000 more armed women personnel in paramilitary forces in the next three years.

According to the new plan formulated by the Home Ministry, all paramilitary forces — CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and NSG — will essentially have 5 per cent of their total force strength as women personnel in three to five years and 10 per cent in the subsequent five years.

These women will be hired and deployed for general guard duties, patrolling, frisking suspects and other normal policing activities undertaken by their male counterparts.

Subsequently, the government plans to enhance the facilities being offered to women security personnel.

“We have to construct more barracks for women, toilets, creche, day-care centres besides being more considerate in granting leave. We hope that in ten years, there will be generational shift in the paramilitary forces,” an official said.

The CRPF is the first central force to have inducted women personnel in its combat ranks. The force presently has two operational battalions (2,000 women) while the third (around 1,000 personnel) is being raised currently. The total strength of CRPF is about 3 lakh personnel, making it the country”s largest paramilitary force.

The government has also begun to induct the first batch of 650 women personnel in the BSF for border guarding duties. The BSF has more than two lakh personnel on its rolls.

Other forces which have women in combat roles are the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), with about 700 women personnel, and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force with about 800 women combatants. The total strength of SSB and ITBP is about 50,000 personnel each.

The CISF has about 1,500 women personnel on its rolls out of the total strength of about 2 lakh personnel.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/plans-recruit-20-000-women-paramilitary-forces-3-130800195.html

Women in Saudi Arabia try to ‘buy’ their freedom to work

ABHA: Saudi workingwomen have embarked on new ways to win the consent of their male legal guardians or husbands to  take a job. This is so in jobs where there are still strong taboos about women working in them.

Many Saudi workingwomen set aside a portion of their monthly income, which enables them to win the consent of their male guardians as well as to enjoy full freedom to do job, according to a report in Al-Riyadh Arabic daily.

These women, who often managed to secure a job after a long period of waiting, see their job as a basic requirement of their day-to-day life. Hence, they are wary of safeguarding it by taking all the precautionary measures. Even if the job does not improve their economic status, it contributes substantially in upgrading their social status compared to jobless women.

Critics point out that legal guardians are cashing in on this particular state of affairs facing Saudi women. These women “bribe” their guardians to secure their permission to take up a job, mainly in the media, health, and educational sectors. They see this “monetary element” as the major factor that influences guardians to allow their women to work, in addition to the opening up of Saudi society with the advancement of the information technology. Some describe this tendency among guardians as “unsuitable utilitarian bargaining,” while others say it is a “medium solution” for women to satisfy their men while reaching out to realize their goal.

Take for example the case of Fatima. She was appointed by the Ministry of Education as a teacher in Al-Baqaa in Asir province in the beginning of the current academic year. Her workplace was located in a remote area where women teachers prefer not to work. Fatima said that she found it very difficult to reach her workplace, which is far away from her place of residence in Khamis Mushayt city. “It took me at least three hours to reach the school. So I asked my jobless brother to take me to school and back for a monthly fee of SR1,500. He grabbed it as a golden opportunity to earn an income, as well as to accompany me as mahram (legal guardian). My colleagues — 10 women teachers — decided to travel together with me. This resulted in my brother earning a huge monthly income of SR15,000 in addition to my share of SR1,500. This also helped me to overcome the objection of my parents to go to work at a remote place in the company of a foreign driver,” she said.

Similar was the case with Nadia, who lives with her husband and children in Jeddah. She got appointed at a school in Mikhwa in Baha province. Nadia was not in a position to abandon her job, due to her family’s financial position and her desire to earn some income for herself. “In the beginning, my husband rejected my request to allow me to take up the job. Later he agreed on condition that I arranged any blood relative to accompany me to and from the workplace. My brother Abdullah, who did not continue his schooling after completion of intermediate level, agreed to transport me to and from Mikhwa for a monthly payment of SR1,000,” she said.

Noura, a nurse, says that she joined a nursing course after promising her father that she attended the course for the sake of obtaining a certificate, and not to start working as a nurse. But after completion of the course, she started searching for a job without informing her father. Subsequently, she managed to secure a job at a primary health center.

“I tried to convince my father about the advantages of having a job, assuring him that there was no gender mixing at the workplace. But my father’s response was disappointing. He started abusing me as if I had committed a grave offense. This situation continued until I received my first salary. When I got two months’ salary, I set aside SR2,000 for my father and SR500 for my mother,” she said, adding that this had an electrifying effect. Her father changed his attitude toward her job. “Henceforth, he has been very keen on seeing me going to my workplace regularly. He does not like me staying away from work,” Noura said, adding that it does not bother her to allocate a portion of her revenue to her parents in return for them allowing her to enjoy freedom to work. “Moreover, my father now allows me more freedom, especially for travel to attend conferences anywhere inside the Kingdom,” she said.

At a time when legal guardians try to prevent women under their custodianship from taking up jobs on the pretext of mixing with men, a number of men block their wives from going out for work on the ground that they must be always available at home to take care of them as well as to bring up their children, says Muna. “Some husbands do not like to see their wives enjoying economic liberty by earning money for themselves. I managed to allay apprehensions of my husband in this respect by lending him a helping hand through meeting a portion of household expenses and settling a part of his debts,” she said, adding that she has been keen to keep a portion of her revenue to fulfill her personal needs. “I lied to him about the exact amount of my monthly salary. I told him that my monthly salary is SR9,000, even though I was drawing a much higher amount,” she said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Zayed Al-Almai, a prominent writer and human rights activist, is of the view that this type of behavior toward women shows the degradation of values with regard to social integration and family bonds in addition to transforming these relations into a level of “utilitarian bargaining.”

Al-Almai also sees in this something that transforms social and human rights into a commodity, selling one’s dignity to buy one’s interests without any feeling of remorse. He also underlined the need for enacting stringent regulations aimed at protecting the weaker sections, such as women and children, in addition to enlightening male members of society on their duties and responsibilities toward women.

On his part, Abdullah Al-Towairqi, a prominent citizen, said that this attitude is common not only among legal guardians of women, like parents and brothers, but also on the part of their husbands, who see their women as a tool for exploitation and even for blackmailing in certain cases. He denounced the deprivation of women’s right to earn wealth as well as her right to work, in addition to choose her family life and future course of action.

Al-Towairqi ruled out the wrong notion that it is a disgrace for a man who faces financial difficulties to be supported by his wife.

Echoing the same view, Hala Al-Dosary, a human rights activist, said a job is something that enables a woman to have financial capabilities and enjoy more freedom. “It is significant if a woman can play her role in improving the financial level of her family by supporting her husband to meet household expenses,” she said.

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZAWYA20110512032752/Women_in_Saudi_Arabia_try_to_buy_their_freedom_to_work

Census shows big jump in women-led families in Wisconsin

When Ally Moll had her daughter three years ago, she felt isolated. Her family lives in Florida and New York, and the girl’s father was out of the picture.

So the Madison woman took her plight to an online classifieds board: “I’m a new mom and I’m alone. Does anyone want to hang out?”

It led to connections with many other moms in her situation and monthly social gatherings that continue today, perhaps not surprising given that the last decade brought a dramatic increase in women-led families here and across Wisconsin.

In the state, the number of families headed by women with children and no husband increased 13 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to Census figures released Thursday. In Dane County, they’re up 23 percent. In Madison, it’s 22 percent.

The data show a further decline in the traditional nuclear family approach, with married couples with kids comprising 19 percent of total Wisconsin households in 2010, down from 24 percent in 2000.

The changes come even as population in the state, Dane County and Madison increased. Nuclear families dropped by 10 percent in the state since 2000, but increased slightly in Dane County and Madison — but at a lower rate than the general population increase for the county and city.

Moreover, the percentage change in the number of unmarried partners living together rocketed up — by more than 40 percent in the state and even more than that in the city and county.

Changing reality

The American family structure began a significant shift in the 1980s, and it continues today for a number of reasons, including that women generally are getting married much later or not at all, said Stephanie Coontz, director of public education for the national Council on Contemporary Families.

But she called on society to catch up to the changed reality.

“We still organize our school schedules and work policies on the assumption that every child has someone at home and every worker doesn’t have competing obligations,” she said.

The impact on children can be profound. Single-parent homes tend to be poorer, especially in the vital first five years of a child’s life, because there’s only one income and women tend to earn less than men.

“At the point when child development is at its most important is when families are at their poorest,” said Ken Taylor, executive director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families.

But Coontz pointed out that despite the challenges posed by the changing family structure, children’s lives have actually improved nationally over the past three decades. She cited declining rates of youth violence, binge drinking and teen pregnancy as well as lower rates of domestic and child abuse.

“Clearly the gold standard is two cooperating parents in a lasting relationship,” she said. “Since that’s not always what you draw, we’re actually kind of surprised by the trends in youth.”

Aging population

The new Census numbers also show the state continues to get grayer, with median age going from 36 in 2000 to 38.5 in 2010. Dane County and Madison didn’t age as much. The city’s median age barely increased, from 30.6 to 30.9 In the county, it increased from 33.2 to 34.4.

“You’re always going to have a younger population in communities with a university or a prison,” said David Egan-Robertson, demographer with the state Department of Administration.

The shift toward an older population shows in many of the family categories, as well. The average size of households and families declined statewide and locally, with a sizable jump in the number of households with at least one retirement-aged member.

An aging of Wisconsin presents opportunities and challenges, said Katherine Curtis, demographic specialist at UW-Madison. On the upside, older members of society tend to volunteer more and be more active in the community. On the other hand, their interests don’t always align with younger people, such as in funding education, which can create a rift and lead to younger people moving out with no one moving in to replace them.

“It basically becomes an issue of attracting new residents,” she said.

http://host.madison.com/news/local/88c1a5b0-7c38-11e0-9b2e-001cc4c03286.html

Chinese babies reportedly trafficked into adoption

Authorities in China are investigating reports that about 20 babies born in violation of population-control policies were abducted and then trafficked into adoption by officials.

The investigation comes after Caixin magazine reported this week that family planning officials in central China’s Hunan province had abducted children and sold them internationally – some to people in the United States and the Netherlands.

Chinese officials do not always enforce the “one child” policy with much vigour and the worst that violators normally expect is a fine.

The case, which is not the first to accuse Chinese family planning officials of abusing population control policies for profit, sheds further light on the uneven implementation of child-population-control policy.

One family claimed they had not broken the law as the child was their first, but family planning “enforcers” nonetheless took the baby away.

“They mistook my daughter for being illegal when my wife and I were working in Shenzhen,” migrant worker Yang Libing told the magazine.

Mr Yang said he had tracked down his daughter, now seven years old and living in the United States.

Family planning officials in Longhui county allegedly received $142 for each child handed over to welfare agencies, which in turn received up to $2,760 for each child put up for adoption overseas, it said.

The abductions peaked in the middle of the last decade but had been occurring for 10 years, the magazine said.

Trafficking of women and children remains a serious problem in China, with many sociologists blaming the one child policy for fuelling the crime.

Under the policy, aimed at controlling China’s world-leading population of more than 1.3 billion, people who live in urban areas are generally allowed one child, while rural families can have two if the first is a girl.

This has put a premium on baby boys, while baby girls are often sold off, abandoned or put up for adoption.

Official penalties for violating the policy vary based on location, but usually include a fine. Rights groups however allege that much more draconian measures are often taken.

In a report released in December, the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) cited widespread abuse including forced abortions, sterilisations, insertions of intrauterine devices and coerced testing for pregnancy.

Both men and women found to have violated the policy have been beaten, detained, or fined. Others have lost their jobs, or been denied household registration permits for their children, CHRD alleged.

China is battling a severe gender imbalance. A census recently completed in the country found 118.06 males were born in China to every 100 baby girls over the past 10 years.

Up to 80,000 Chinese children have reportedly been adopted by overseas families in recent decades, with most finding homes in the United States.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/11/3213686.htm

Born in the USA: Illinois women act as surrogates for foreign couples

With a flag hanging outside her house, a crate of Girl Scout cookies in her living room and a dog named for Disney sensation Miley Cyrus at her feet, Laurie Thompson is about as American as it gets.

The same cannot be said for the 14-week-old twins in her gently protruding belly.

Conceived with a donor’s eggs, they are the children of a same-sex couple from Spain who turned to Thompson because paid surrogacy is illegal in their country.

“There’s such pride in knowing that I did this for somebody,” Thompson says of her experience as a surrogate, which has also included a pregnancy for a married couple from Serbia.

“This is something that is probably hard for most people to do — with the emotional connection and everything — and I was able to do it.”

She laughs: “And do it again, obviously.”

Thompson, who lives in McHenry, five miles from another woman who recently carried a child for a European couple, represents a new twist in global fertility tourism.

In the last five years, would-be parents from as far as Istanbul and Uruguay have turned to healthy young mothers from Illinois to carry their children.

The babies are born U.S. citizens, surrogacy agency officials say, but that’s not a primary motivation for the parents, who typically come from European and Latin American countries where surrogacy is illegal or unavailable. The parents have exhausted other options and are willing to pay about $50,000 to $100,000 — part of which goes to the surrogate — to have biological children.

No one tracks how many of the estimated 1,400 babies via surrogacy in the U.S. each year are carried for international parents, but one of the larger U.S. agencies, the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, Calif., estimates that about half of its 104 births in 2010 were for international parents.

In Illinois, which has had one of the most surrogacy-friendly laws in the nation, at least two dozen international babies were born to surrogates in 2010, according to a Tribune survey of major agencies. The only other states that explicitly allow contracts for paid surrogacy are Arkansas, California and Massachusetts.

“We’re getting inquires from international parents constantly. Because of the referral process, it’s skyrocketed,” said Zara Griswold, director of Family Source Consultants in Hinsdale. “We recently got an inquiry from somebody in China.”

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-13/health/ct-news-surrogate-mom-20110413_1_surrogacy-center-for-surrogate-parenting-international-parents

Iman al-Obaidi, alleged rape victim, flees to Tunisia

Iman al-Obaidi, the Libyan woman who grabbed the world’s attention after she told a room of international journalists she was raped by military forces, was finally able to leave Libya last week, fleeing to Tunisia.

Obaidi was detained and later released by Moammar Gaddafi’s regime after she told journalists assembled in a Tripoli hotel that she was gang-raped by government troops. “I was tied up. They defecated on me. They urinated on me. They violated my honor,” she said to the reporters in March.

She described her recent escape from Libya to CNN, saying she was driven by two defecting military officers to the Tunisian border cloaked in a traditional head covering, leaving just one eye visible. Although the journey went off without disruption, she said it was “very tiring.” She was taken from a safehouse on the border to the French embassy in Tunis by European diplomats. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has reportedly taken an interest in her safety.

For obvious reasons, Obaidi seemed more relaxed than she had previously appeared, but she’s still concerned about being followed by government forces. She also wonders whether she can return to Libya to see her family again.

In an April interview with CNN, Obeidi said she had received death threats and was afraid for her life.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/iman-al-obaidi-alleged-rape-victim-flees-to-tunisia/2011/05/09/AFBtywXG_blog.html

Texas Legislation Adds Conditions on Abortion

DALLAS—Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to sign a law soon requiring a woman seeking an abortion to have a sonogram and hear a description of the fetus, including whether it has developed fingers, toes or internal organs.

The goal, supporters say, is to improve medical care for women and encourage them to reconsider having abortions.

“We believe that when they see the miracle of life some will change their minds,” said Dan Patrick, a Republican state senator who represents part of Houston and who sponsored the legislation, which passed both houses of the state legislature last week.

Abortion-rights supporters say there is no evidence that sonograms, also known as ultrasounds, affect a woman’s decision on abortion, and say laws requiring doctors to perform the procedures and describe the results violate patients’ rights.

“It discounts women’s ability to make health decisions and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, a New York non-profit that opposes restrictions on legal abortion.

The group filed a suit challenging a similar law adopted last year in Oklahoma, contending that it violates state constitutional guarantees of privacy for patients and free speech for doctors. A state judge blocked enforcement of the law until the suit is resolved. The group plans to mount a legal challenge to the Texas legislation, if Gov. Perry signs it.

The Texas bill also calls for a 24-hour waiting period between the sonogram and the abortion, except for women who live more than 100 miles from a clinic. Opponents say that waiting period places more burdens on women.

Associated PressGovernor Rick Perry is expected to sign the measure soon.

Big Decision

Among provisions in Texas’s proposed measure on abortion:

Any woman seeking an abortion is required to have a sonogram and to hear a developmental description of the fetus.

Rape victims, minors or women carrying fetuses with abnormalities are exempt from hearing the description.

Women may sign waivers opting not to see the sonogram image or hear the heartbeat.

Required 24-hour waiting period between sonogram and abortion, except for patients more than 100 miles from clinic.

In the past decade, more than 20 states have passed laws involving sonograms for women seeking abortions. Most simply require that ultrasounds be performed. But the Texas and Oklahoma laws, as well as legislation under consideration in Alabama, go further by requiring a woman who wants an abortion to be told in detail about her fetus’s development.

Under the Texas law, all women seeking an abortion must have a sonogram but those who have been raped, are minors or who are carrying a fetus with abnormalities are exempt from hearing the description of the image. All women seeking abortions can sign a waiver and choose not to view the image or hear the fetus’s heartbeat.

Groups that oppose abortion say ultrasound can be a powerful tool in persuading a woman considering an abortion to continue her pregnancy.

“Ultrasound is literally a window into the womb,” said Kelly Rosati, vice-president of Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs, Co., ministry. “She actually connects with that child inside of her.”

Focus on the Family has supplied grants to install 520 sonogram machines in pregnancy centers run by abortion opponents around the country. Ms. Rosati calculates that the ultrasound images have prevented 90,000 abortions since 2004. The figure is based on patients’ stated plans after their sonograms; the centers have no way of determining whether the patients gave birth or had abortions, she added.

Many abortion clinics already routinely perform sonograms to determine a pregnancy’s length, said Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a New York group that researches reproductive health and favors abortion rights.

At Whole Woman’s Health, a network of clinics in Texas, women seeking abortions can see their sonograms and discuss them with doctors, said Terry Sallas Merritt, a clinic executive. Some women ask for a printout of the image to take home.

“The difference is that it’s up to her,” said Ms. Sallas Merritt. “It’s not the legislators telling her what she must hear before she’s allowed to exercise her right to have an abortion or have a child.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704681904576315350526209130.html?mod=googlenews_wsj