If at First You Don’t Convict, Try, Try Again

Staff / Truthdig May 17, 2007 A federal appeals court is looking into the legitimacy of "do-overs" for detainee tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. Critics say the practice is unfair because it effectively allows the government to retry cases until it gets the results it wants, but there may not be much the high court can do under current legislation. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

New Jersey Considers Mandatory HIV Test

Staff / Truthdig May 12, 2007 A new proposal would make New Jersey the first state to require HIV testing for pregnant women and their babies, unless the women decline the test in writing. Currently four states test just mothers, and two others only newborns. The bill is opposed by the D.C.-based Center for Women Policy Studies on the grounds that it limits health rights. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Secret Execution Chamber

Staff / Truthdig May 9, 2007 Democratic legislators in California are upset over a new execution chamber to be built in San Quentin Prison. Some lawmakers have accused Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of trying to "bypass the Legislature" by concealing details of the project. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush: Hate Crime Bill ‘Unnecessary’

Staff / Truthdig May 5, 2007 The House has passed an expansion of hate crimes legislation to include discrimination against gender, sexual orientation and disability. Though the measure succeeded with bipartisan support and is expected to make it through the Senate, President Bush has vowed to veto the bill, calling it unnecessary. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Oregon Will Have Civil Unions

Staff / Truthdig May 4, 2007 Oregon is about to become the seventh state to offer civil unions to gay couples, including all the rights and privileges of marriage except one -- the title. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Supremes Know Best

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Apr 26, 2007 Justice Kennedy's opinion that a woman's right to have an abortion should be limited because, in some cases, that decision is regretted harkens to a more primitive time and the Supreme Court's sometimes ugly legacy on women's rights. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Mexico City to Decriminalize Abortion

Staff / Truthdig Apr 25, 2007 If a Mexican woman has an abortion, she could find herself in jail unless she had been raped, her life was at risk or there was a likelihood of severe birth defects. But that's about to change in the capital city, home to one-fifth of Mexico's population, where the legislature has voted by a wide margin to decriminalize abortion. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Life, Death and Politics

Marie Cocco / Truthdig Apr 24, 2007 Make no mistake, the Supreme Court's recent abortion ruling stands between a woman, her doctor and the choices that could save her life. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Unsafe, Barely Legal and Rare

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig Apr 20, 2007 Dig deeper

Governing the Womb

Ellen Goodman / Truthdig Apr 19, 2007 The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected decades of precedent and the rights of women to satisfy an ideological agenda. Is it any wonder that those most eager to legislate the womb are the lawmakers and judges without one? Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Dreary Prospects For Iraq’s Women

Staff / Truthdig Dec 17, 2006 For years Iraqi women enjoyed access to education and professional careers. After the U.S. invasion, President Bush promised to expand those freedoms, but the prevalence of sectarian violence and religious fundamentalism has stripped Iraq's women of many of the rights they had been accustomed to. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Human Rights Watch: Israel Has Committed War Crimes

Staff / Truthdig Aug 5, 2006 The watchdog group released a 50-page report detailing Israel's failure to distinguish between combatants and civilians in Lebanon, in one case wiping out an entire 12-person family because one member was merely suspected of being sympathetic to Hezbollah. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )