- Cyntoia Brown will be released from prison next Wednesday after public outcry resulted in local government officials granting her clemency. Brown, a victim of sex trafficking, had been serving a life sentence for the murder of a 43-year-old man who solicited sex from her when she was 16. Brown was tried as an adult, though laws regarding the trafficking of minors were amended after her conviction. In a statement, Brown said:
“I am committed to live the rest of my life helping others, especially young people. My hope is to help other young girls avoid ending up where I have been.”
- A Google employee has accused the company of discrimination against pregnant women in a memo detailing retaliation an employee faced after bringing up a manager’s derogatory comments towards a pregnant colleague.
- A former judge of the high court in India voiced support for a bill that would ban commercial surrogacy and impose greater restrictions on charitable surrogacy. According to the bill, India has become a surrogacy hub in recent years, resulting in the exploitation of vulnerable women:
“Due to lack of legislation to regulate surrogacy, the practice of surrogacy has been misused by surrogacy clinics, which leads to rampant commercial surrogacy and unethical practices.”
- New research suggests that gay men who have children through surrogacy are sex-selecting for sons over daughters. The study, published by the University of Cambridge, questions the ethics of social sex selection (SSS), providing evidence which suggests that in Europe and the US, SSS is used most often to produce boys. The study explains:
“The issue, then, is not sex selection, but male selection. The Gallup polls indicate male preference is predominant among would-be American fathers and has changed very little over the past 78 years. In 2018, 43 per cent of the men surveyed said they would want a son compared to 24 per cent who opted for a daughter. Women responding to the Gallup poll have consistently shown no preference.”
- The Post Millennial reports that Royal Canadian Mounted Police have searched the home of Jessica (formerly Jonathan) Yaniv. The raid comes after Yaniv’s heated live appearance on Blaire White’s YouTube channel in which he brandished a taser, claiming to be aware of its illegality.