On 18 – 19 April the Dail will discuss the Medical Treatment (Termination of Pregnancy in Case of Risk to Life of Pregnant Woman) Bill 2012. This is the first time that a positive proposal to legalise abortion in Ireland has been initiated and in that sense it is a truly historic step forward. Of course it is long overdue and we fully recognise that it is merely a very tiny first step, but it is important nonetheless.

To build momentum for the April 28th National Day of Action, the Bellingham branch of Socialist Alternative held an informational forum to "Stop the War on Women!" on April the 3rd.

With each passing week, the right-wing fundamentalists tighten their grip over the Republican Party. Their latest frenzied attempt to limit women’s access to contraception will likely backfire on Republicans electorally. Yet as Obama responds with concessions, this right-wing ideological offensive dominates the public debate.

For more than a century, 8 March has been the day to commemorate and celebrate the fight of working class and revolutionary women for a better deal and a socialist society.

In October, the District Attorney of Shawnee County, which encompasses Topeka, Kansas, announced that he would cease to prosecute domestic violence cases within the city of Topeka. He argued that with recent budget cuts he no longer had sufficient resources and that the city should take on the burden of these prosecutions. The city council responded by repealing their ordinance against domestic violence!

Obama recently defended the decision of his Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, to continue limiting the over-counter availability of Plan B, the morning after pill, to women under 17. The Federal Drug Administration approved the over-counter use of the drug for women of all ages last February and says this is the first time the Secretary of Health has overruled an approval of the FDA.

In the last seven months, tens of thousands of women have taken the streets as part of Slutwalk demonstrations across the world, standing up for women’s rights and resisting systemic violence against women. While welcoming this fresh outpouring of protest, within Socialist Alternative there were also many concerns voiced about the Slutwalks. We began to discuss positive solutions to building and strengthening the movement to adequately combat women’s oppression.

The ongoing phone hacking scandal that took down Rupert Murdoch’s long-running tabloid News of the World and has resulted in resignations and criminal charges has been roundly and rightly characterized as a corruption of journalistic ethics and a breach of privacy rights. More importantly, though, the scandal further reveals an insidious, intertwined collaboration - between police, government and media.

This year, tens of thousands of women worldwide have marched and rallied against sexual assault. Ignited by a Toronto Police Officer’s claim that the best way to avoid getting raped is to “avoid dressing like a slut,” the Slutwalks movement is among the most successful feminist actions in the last 20 years, due to its global popularity and ongoing momentum. For the new movement against sexual violence to achieve change, it must move beyond surface level answers and squarely tackle the root of the problem.

The Results of the New Hampshire Republican Executive Council’s cuts to planned parenthood were seen as early as June 22, 2011, when Planned Parenthood was forced to stop providing birth control pills and other contraception to the low-income women in need. Planned Parenthood will also no longer be able to distribute low-cost antibiotics, or perform necessary low-cost pelvic exams.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has wasted little time this year in getting started on attacking women’s reproductive rights. H.R. 1, the first bill passed this session, had an amendment attached to ban funding for Planned Parenthood, and H.R. 3, the so-called “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Bill”, was dedicated to extending the existing ban on the use of federal funding for abortions in as many new and inventive ways as possible.

On January 24, a Toronto police officer told a campus safety information session at Osgoode Hall Law School that one way women can limit the chance of being raped is to “avoid dressing like sluts.” Immediately, staff and students demanded a written apology. A “SlutWalk” demonstration of a thousand people was then organized in Toronto against rape and against the false idea that victims bring it upon themselves.

Margaret, a single parent, unable to work for medical reasons and reliant on Medicaid for part of her medical care, recently discovered her coverage had been terminated.

March 8 marked the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, but the outlook for a woman’s right to choose is bleak and only getting bleaker. Hundreds of bills restricting abortion are making their way through the state legislatures this session, and many of them are expected to become laws.

In recent months, millions of women worldwide have risen up to resist the devastating effect that the economic crisis is having on their lives.