[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
December 21, 2022
From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.
#MeToo Victory: Biden Signs Law Limiting NDAs and Protecting the Right to Speak Out About Sexual Abuse [[link removed]]
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A one-two punch of new laws empower survivors to speak out and tell their stories: the Speak Out Act, and the Ending Forced Arbitration for Sexual Assault and Harassment Act. Here, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and former Fox News broadcaster Gretchen Carlson announce the latter on July 14, 2021. Both bills aim to stop sexual abuse and hold abusers accountable. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
BY CARRIE N. BAKER | Since #MeToo went viral five years ago, 16 states have passed laws blocking employers from requiring employees to sign agreements prohibiting them from speaking out about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault on the job. Now, Congress has created a new national standard prohibiting this behavior.
On Dec. 7, President Biden signed the Speak Out Act, limiting the enforceability of non-disclosure agreements and non-disparagement agreements (NDAs) for sexual harassment and sexual assault disputes.
“Going forward, pre-dispute NDA’s will no longer be able to silence survivors of sexual assault or harassment,” said Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), who led the effort to pass the law, along with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Reps. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) and Cheri Bustos (D-Ill). (Hear directly from Frankel and Bustos in their joint Ms. op-ed on the victory.)
The Speak Out Act will prohibit the use of pre-dispute NDAs between employers and current, former and prospective employees, as well as independent contractors. The law also prohibits the use of pre-dispute NDAs between businesses and customers.
The act preserves the option for survivors to enter into an NDA as part of a settlement of a dispute if they choose and allows states to enact additional protections beyond the Speak Out Act.
“Forced NDAs punish the survivor and protect the perpetrator who is set free to abuse others again and again,” said a bipartisan group of Congress members after President Biden signed the act.
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Independent Abortion Clinics Are Critical to the Healthcare Ecosystem—And Must Be Protected [[link removed]] Texas Ruling on Second Amendment Puts Domestic Abuse Victims at Greater Risk [[link removed]]
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Going Undercover at a Crisis Pregnancy Center [[link removed]] Dobbs’ Effect on Military Women: ‘Our Fighting Force Is Hindered and Our Security Is at Risk’ [[link removed]]
What we're reading
Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:
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"Taliban
bans
Afghan
women
from
attending
universities"
—
NPR
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"A
notorious
Trump
judge
just
fired
the
first
shot
against
birth
control”
—
Vox
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
Before Roe v. Wade , if you were in need of an abortion in Chicago, there was a number you could call, run by young women who called themselves Jane. They’d provide abortions to women who had nowhere else to turn. It was started by Heather Booth when she was 19 years old. In this episode, Booth joins Dr. Goodwin to discuss the history of the Jane Collective and the connections between our pre-Roe past and post-Roe future. Where do we go from here?
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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