- South Dakota’s House Judiciary Committee passed a bill outlawing commercial surrogacy last Wednesday. Rep. John Hansen, the bill’s sponsor, said:
- “There are some things money can’t buy. My heart goes out to anyone struggling with infertility, as I said before, I don’t have the answers for everybody. I do pray that adoption is the answer for some of these individuals. I do know that making a for-profit business and commodity out of mothers and children is wrong.”
- African nations must not ignore the rising burden placed on women due to conflict and lack of security, stressed Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA). Her remarks were addressed to a panel in Addis Ababa:
“Every time guns go off in Africa it is the girl child who suffers and stops going to school. Women die in their numbers and conflict-related sexual abuses go up. Across the continent, high-pitched volumes of guns consistently continue to silence women’s voices, depriving them of human dignity on unprecedented levels.”
- Women in the UK are being denied pain medication while birthing, according to an investigation by The Telegraph. Women say doctors ignored their pleas for epidurals, and were met with dismissive comments. In response, NHS regulators ordered an investigation.
- Jamaican feminist activists are withholding sex to protest violence against women.