Undercovered News: Women in Politics, NH Cares About Reducing Teen Pregnancies

Politics

*Droves of women are running for state and national office in the mid-term elections, a signal that the glass ceiling in Washington is starting to crack. Some female Democrats are hoping to exploit voter disapproval of the administration.
Source: Women's eNews


Reproductive Rights

*Young women will not need their parents' permission before getting emergency contraception, the [New Hampshire] state Senate voted Thursday. The topic was debated hotly before the bill failed, 14-10. "Every young woman in the state should have a right to make a decision that's not abortion or childbirth," Cornish Sen. Peter Burling, a Democrat, said.
Source: AP

*Lawmakers in nearly a dozen states are working to copy South Dakota's ban on most abortions. Republican Gov. Mike Rounds signed the ban into law earlier this month, making South Dakota the first state to outlaw abortion. It's too early to tell how many bills in other states will become law, but even some abortion rights supporters say the right to abortion has been weakened, whether or not the bans are upheld by the courts.
Source: Minnesota Public Radio

*Girls younger than 18 will need a parent's permission before they can have an abortion under a bill signed Thursday by Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. The old law required notification of at least one parent, but not permission.
Source: NewsMax

*In the five years that George Bush has been president, the Food and Drug Administration has been led by a confirmed commissioner for just one year. One reason is that Senate Democrats have balked at confirming a leader for the agency as long as it rejects the advice of its staff and a panel of outside advisers and refuses to allow over-the-counter sales of a morning-after contraceptive. Wednesday, Bush nominated the acting commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, to lead the FDA, but his confirmation will also be delayed because of this triumph of politics over the judgment of physicians. It is regrettable that the agency does not have a confirmed leader, but it is more regrettable that women continue to be denied this option.
Source: Boston Globe


International

*The incessant civil wars in Sudan have touched virtually every creature and has made life uneasy not only for humans, however; the species have paid respectively in that improvised country. With the advent of wars our women in particular, have suffered a great deal and the magnitude of their agonies can only be termed as indescribable.
Source: Sudan Tribune

*The British government has launched a fresh campaign to curb forced marriages. The new campaign follows the setting up of a special unit last year to prevent forced marriages. The unit was set up after several reports of Pakistani girls particularly being taken from Britain to Pakistan and forced into marriages against their will.
Source: IPS