Tara Murtha is a writer and also serves as associate director of strategic communications at the Women’s Law Project, Pennsylvania’s only public-interest law center devoted to the rights of women and girls.
If HB 726—the bill designed to redefine child abuse in Pennsylvania—is signed, it will be the first of more than a dozen bills expected to be signed into law that came out of the evaluation following the arrest of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of 45 charges of abusing ten boys.
Philadelphia’s dire performance can be attributed to the collision of two major factors: widespread, profound poverty and a sharp reduction in the number of hospitals providing maternity care.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health issued an order Monday against Philadelphia reproductive health clinic Integrity Family Health for failing to disclose its affiliations with rogue abortion provider Dr. Steven Brigham and an umbrella group that includes Brigham-affiliated clinics.
Galvanized by a recent ruling regarding Texas' omnibus anti-abortion law, Pennsylvania lawmakers are seeking support to re-introduce an admitting privileges bill.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health is investigating a new abortion clinic in Philadelphia that is suspected to be associated with rogue abortion provider Dr. Steven Brigham, according to a spokesperson.
On Tuesday night, Pussy Division, an anonymous collective of Philadelphia-based feminist activists, started tweeting logos and posted a meme urging voters to vote no on retention of Judge Teresa Carr Deni, who six years ago reduced charges of an alleged gang rape of a sex worker to theft of services.
Beyond the mainstream breast cancer awareness movement, with its pink billboards and merchandise, a lower-profile campaign focused on raising awareness about breast density has been building steadily.
The accidental overdose of a 26-year-old man who accused a former Philadelphia priest of raping him as a child underscores Pennsylvania's battle over the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse.
While new mothers and babies can rely on two more weeks of formula and support through WIC, the shutdown may force the most vulnerable members of this population to remain in, or reenter into, abusive situations, as domestic violence shelters are next on the chopping block.
One of the many services and programs to be shuttered during the shutdown is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which helps low-income pregnant women and parents with young children facing nutritional risk by providing vouchers for healthy foods and infant formula.
