WLP Releases Major New Report
Through the Lens of EQUALITY:
Eliminating Sex Bias to Improve the Health of Pennsylvania's Women
Inspired by the public debate on health care, WLP embarked on an examination of the relationship between the sex bias that women experience and their health. “As familiar as we were with ongoing bias and discrimination against women and with data on critical health measures for women, our in-depth examination of the linkage between the two truly shocked us,” said Carol Tracy, Executive Director of the Women’s Law Project. “The focus is on Pennsylvania, however, the finding and recommendations have nationwide application” she added. See full press release. Go to the report.
"For all of the years that I have been involved in women’s rights and women’s health care, I have never seen the connections between health and equality more dramatically demonstrated than it is in this report,” said Kate Michelman, former President of NARAL Pro-Choice America and long-time Pennsylvania resident.
New Hope-Solebury School District Fails to Achieve Title IX Compliance
The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) on April 5, 2012 informed the New Hope-Solebury School District (NHSSD), which is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, that it has “not fulfilled any of the provisions” of its agreement to bring its athletic program into compliance with Title IX. In a strongly worded letter, OCR detailed the District’s failings:
- A 10.5 percent gap in the 2010-11 school year between girls’ enrollment and athletic participation, which translates into 87 missing participation opportunities for female students;
- Greater expansion of athletic opportunities for boys than for girls between 2007-08 and 2010-11;
- Non-responsiveness to existing interests of girls’ in particular sports;
- No plan for expansion of athletic opportunities for girls.
- Failure to provide female athletes access to facilities of equivalent quality.
OCR’s letter requires NHSSD to respond by July 1, 2012 with additional information and plans to bring the District into compliance. WLP filed the complaint against NHSSD in 2008 and has urged OCR to hold NHSSD accountable. The time is past due for NHSSD to take swift action to address its obligations under Title IX.
Third Circuit Hears Arguments in “i ♥ boobies” First Amendment Case:
Women’s Law Project Filed an Amicus Brief
On April 10, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit heard oral arguments in B.H., et al. v. Easton Area School District, a civil rights lawsuit stemming from a Pennsylvania middle school’s ban of breast cancer awareness bracelets. In support of two students who were suspended from school for wearing the bracelets, Terry L. Fromson and Carol E. Tracy of the Women’s Law Project and David Cohen of the Earle Mack School of Law at Drexel University filed an amicus brief (“friend of the court” brief) on behalf of more than a dozen organizations dedicated to gender equality. Amici request that the Third Circuit affirm the district court’s decision because the ban reinforces discriminatory and harmful notions about women’s bodies, perpetuates stereotypes about boys and girls, and silences young women from expressing themselves on issues of considerable importance to them, without contributing to a superior educational environment, such as by preventing sexual harassment. (also see WLP Blog)
Pregnant Prisoner Shackled During Childbirth Settles Civil Rights Suit Against PA Department of Corrections
On March 14th, WLP's Western PA office announced that a settlement was reached in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by Amanda Blades, a former prisoner who alleged that she was forced to give birth to her baby son en route to a hospital while her wrists and legs were shackled. WLP joined with the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project in litigating Ms. Blades’ civil rights action, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. The settlement, occurring approximately a year after the commencement of the lawsuit in February 2011, was achieved as a result of mediation with U.S. Magistrate Judge Maureen Kelly. (see full press release here.)
SB209: High School Athletics Reporting Bill Passes in Senate and Moves to PA House
On March 14th, SB 209, the high school athletics reporting bill sponsored by PA Senator Mary Jo White (R-Franklin County), unanimously passed in the Pennsylvania Senate by a vote of 47-0 and it now moves to the PA House for consideration. Known as the Disclosure of Interscholastic Athletics Opportunities, if passed SB 209 would require Pennsylvania secondary schools to publicly disclose information about student athletic participation by gender, race, and ethnicity, and information about athletic facilities, equipment, coaching, and athletic expenditures by gender. Learn more here and please call your representative in the Pennsylvania House today to urge their support of SB 209.
Decades after Reforms Erased Sexual Assault Myths from the Letter of the Law, Pennsylvania’s Criminal Justice System Remains Infected
In an Amicus (“friend of the court”) brief filed with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on March 2, 2012 in Commonwealth v. Claybrook, the Women's Law Project and forty-two Pennsylvania and national organizations dedicated to justice for victims of sexual assault argue that the Superior Court overturned the convictions of three men for sexual assault and indecent assault in reliance on sexual assault myths, including the myths that primarily strangers perpetrate sexual assault and that social interaction, absence of physical resistance, absence of severe physical injuries, and certain post-assault victim behaviors imply consent. As explained in the amicus brief, these myths have been discredited by social science research and eliminated by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. (See blog post.)
WLP Stands with Pennsylvanians for Choice in Opposition to HB 1077
Many of our readers may have heard that the Pennsylvania House of Representatives introduced an ultrasound bill, HB 1077, which goes even further than a similar measure introduced in Virginia. Pennsylvania's HB 1077 requires all women seeking an abortion to have an ultrasound 24 hours before undergoing the procedure. While ultrasounds are routine before an abortion, doctors have the discretion to decide if and when to perform them. “Today a doctor and a patient make decisions together about the patient’s healthcare needs,” said Sue Frietsche, senior staff attorney at WLP. “With this bill, the House is meddling where it doesn’t belong, inside a healthcare facility making decisions that are best left to patients and doctors,” Frietsche added.
Along with its 24 hour rule, HB 1077 includes other directives. It requires doctors to position the screen that shows the ultrasound in the patient’s line of sight and mandates delivery of the pictures from the procedure to the patient, who then must deliver them to the doctor performing the abortion procedure. (More about HB 1077 )
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