Texas Clinics Remain Open; Afghan Ruling Reversed

(WOMENSENEWS)–

Cheers

The Supreme Court allowed nine Texas abortion clinics to remain open, the New York Times reported June 29. The court granted a request by women’s health providers, which had asked the court to temporarily put on hold a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from June 9. The groups asked the high court to put the provisions on hold until it can file a formal petition asking the justices to take the case. The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. voting to deny the stay.

Meanwhile in Florida, a state court judge issued an order to stop the enforcement of an abortion delay law, a June 30 ACLU press release said. The recently passed Florida law mandated that women seeking abortions were required to wait 24 hours and make multiple visits to a clinic before the procedure could take place. HB 633 was set to go into effect July 1.

More News to Cheer This Week:

Women gained two out of the three new jobs in June, according to an analysis from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Women gained 150,000 jobs and men gained 73,000 for a total of 223,000 jobs added in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The overall unemployment rate decreased to 5.3 percent in June from 5.5 percent in May.

The Girls Scouts of Western Washington returned a gift of $100,000 after the donor stipulated it could not be used to support transgender girls, The Christian Science Monitor reported July 1.

Cuba has become the first country to eliminate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from mother to baby, according to the World Health Organization. The director general of WHO, Margaret Chan, says this is a huge achievement and a critical step towards an AIDS-free generation, The Guardian reported June 30.

Misty Copeland has been named American Ballet Theater’s principal ballerina, making her the first African American to hold the title in the company’s 75-year history, The New York Times reported June 30. Her promotion comes after 14 years of dancing with the ballet company.

U.S. immigration officials announced June 29 that transgender detainees will now be able to be housed with the population that matches their own gender identity, Buzzfeed News reported June 26. The move is aimed at better protecting a population more vulnerable to sex abuse while in detention.

The pro-choice group Women on Waves flew a small drone across a border river from Germany to Poland on June 27 to deliver abortion medication to women there. Abortions are severely restricted by Polish law. The drop was successful, according to the group, Mashable reported. Two women took the abortion-inducing pills, which the group said were prescribed by doctors.

Thousands of people from India are taking to Twitter to post pictures of themselves with their daughters under the hashtag #SelfieWithDaughter, The Telegraph reported June 29. The hashtag emerged after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a social media campaign urging fathers to take pictures with their daughters. The campaign aims to improve welfare of girls and combat female feticide in India.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani appointed a second woman as a provincial governor, the New York Times reported June 28. Ghani also vowed to improve women’s rights, News Fulton County reported June 30. While announcing a plan to implement a U.N. resolution to protect women during conflict and ensuring representation, he acknowledged that Afghanistan was still lagging in women’s rights and that violence against women is still rampant in some areas.

The Confederation of British Industry, Britain’s leading business lobby group, announced the appointment of its first female director general, economist and former media executive Carolyn Fairbairn, Agence France-Presse reported June 29.

Jeers

An Afghan appeals court quashed death sentences imposed on four men for their part in the mob killing of Farkhunda Malikzada in Kabul in March, BBC News reported June 2. The young woman was attacked at an Islamic shrine after being falsely accused of burning a copy of the Quran. She was stoned to death, her body was run over by a car and set on fire. The court also acquitted the keeper of the shrine. Family members and rights activists have expressed outrage at the decision, which was taken in secret.

More News to Jeer This Week:

The Islamic State beheaded two female civilians for the first time for "witchcraft and sorcery," The Washington Post reported June 30. Both women were executed with their husbands. The group has also killed many women, reportedly burning some Yazidi women alive and stoning others to death.

Some of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped in Nigeria have been forced to join the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, BBC reported June 29. Witnesses say some are now being used to terrorize other captives and are even carrying out killings themselves.