NEWS & LETTERS, August - September 2009
Women World Wide
by Mary Jo Grey
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) condemned a decision by the Hamas-run judiciary in Gaza to force so-called modest dress--traditional robes and veils covering their hair--on women lawyers. It is scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 1. PCHR called this decision a "form of discrimination against women that undermines personal freedoms ensured by the constitution."
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At least 15 HIV-positive women in Namibia are suing their government because they were forcibly sterilized. They are part of a group of at least 40 Namibian women who had been sterilized against their will. They were coerced into signing consent documents when they were undergoing HIV treatment and did not have sterilization explained to them.
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Three Irish women are challenging Ireland's abortion ban in the European Court of Human Rights, saying their health and well-being were threatened by the law. More than 7,000 women yearly travel from Ireland to obtain safe, legal abortions. The Irish Family Planning Association calls this direct discrimination based on sex and financial status.
--Feminist News
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A Federal Appeals Court in Illinois ruled in July that a law requiring parental notification, though not consent, before abortions for teenage girls is constitutional. Originally passed in 1984, the law's enforcement was banned by a federal judge in 2007.
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