Canada’s House of Commons approved a bill Monday known as the “Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act.” While the short title of the bill includes whales and dolphins, the Act defines cetacean as “any member of the cetacean order, including a whale, dolphin or porpoise.” The Act amends the Criminal Code to ban [...]
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed separate lawsuits against the Department of Health and Human Services Tuesday to challenge their recent Final Conscience Rule that protects health workers from providing abortions if they have religious objections. In Planned Parenthood’s complaint, the plaintiffs allege that the Department’s rule is a violation of [...]
The governor of Maine signed a bill Monday that seeks to improve access to abortions for women in the state. The bill, LD 1261, is also known as “An Act To Authorize Certain Health Care Professionals To Perform Abortions.” The Act allows certain healthcare practitioners, including physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses, to perform [...]
New York lawmakers introduced a bill in the state assembly Monday that would make it the first state the fully decriminalize sex work. Introduced by Senators Julia Salazar and Jessica Ramos, the bill would make it legal under certain circumstances to both buy and sell sex. The hope is that more regulation of sex work [...]
Lawyers for US President Donald Trump filed an appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Monday seeking to overturn a recent ruling allowing the House Oversight Committee to subpoena the president’s financial records. The brief outlined how the subpoena of his finances dating back to before his campaign and term [...]
Amnesty International warned Tuesday that war crimes and human rights violations have been ongoing in Sudan’s Darfur region. Following the ouster of former president Omar al-Bashir in April, Sudan has been rocked by political turmoil. Amnesty warned against the proposed plan to withdraw United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) peacekeepers from the region by [...]
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled unanimously Monday that qualified immunity does not protect officers from a suit for excessive force merely because the victim cannot identify them. The court affirmed summary judgement for the plaintiff, holding that a reasonable jury could find that the defendants had “violated Fazica’s constitutional rights [...]
The High Court in Botswana unanimously revoked colonial-era laws criminalizing gay sex Tuesday. The court held that sections 164(a), 164(c), 165 and 167 of the penal code, which criminalize same-sex relations, are discriminatory and in conflict with the constitution. This section of the penal code includes as an offense “carnal knowledge of any person against [...]
Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau arrested Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party and former president Asif Ali Zardari Monday following an Islamabad High Court ruling rejecting his bail petition. Zardari is accused of creating and feeding money into fake bank accounts in a corruption scandal involving a number of Pakistani companies and other individuals. Prior to [...]
A Missouri judge on Monday issued a preliminary injunction allowing the state’s only abortion clinic to keep operating before the court makes an official decision on the facility’s license. Planned Parenthood sued Missouri two weeks ago after state health officials refused to renew the license of the Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood clinic in [...]
