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Three grassroots women's organizations in the town of Balad Hawa were closed yesterday to prevent women from going to work. Someone "recognized" that women need to stay at home. Also banned: Movies, ringtones, dancing at weddings, playing soccer. [NY Post] More »
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A part-time model who was caught drinking beer will become the first woman caned in Malaysia. The prosecutor in the case says, "It is a good punishment because under Islamic law a person who drinks commits a serious offense." [AP] More »
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The UN estimates that 1 in 10 pregnancies in the Arab world ends in abortion, despite the fact that in most countries it is illegal except for cases in which harm to the mother is imminent. Between Western Asia and North Africa, one study estimates that up to 1.2 million unsafe abortions are performed every year, given the lack of access to legal abortion services, lack of knowledge of birth control and, some people claim, shifting social mores about pre-marital sex and abortion. As in America before Roe v. Wade, women in the Arab world are caught between (in some cases) relaxed expectations of virginity, economic realities, the religious implications of abortion, a lack of information about and access to birth control and a dearth of safe abortion services. (Wait, did I say pre-Roe America? This sounds suspiciously like 2008!) More »
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