Morocco May Allow Abortion; Political Gap Persists

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Jeers Despite the fact that women perform as well as men when they run for office, a significant gender gap in political ambition persists, a report released by the Women and Politics Institute found. The report attributes the gap to factors such as the fact that women are less likely to believe they are qualified to run and women are less likely to receive a suggestion to run for office from either men or women. In 2012, less than a third of Senate races will include a female candidate. More News to Jeer This Week: The U.S. stated its opposition to new provisions in the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction that would allow courts to better respond to cases in which a parent and child travel internationally to escape domestic violence, according to a Jan. 12 press release from the Domestic Violence Empowerment and Appeals Project. A Texas abortion law passed last year that requires doctors to show sonograms to patients can be enforced while opponents challenge the measure in court, a federal appeals court ruled Jan. 9, reported the Associated Press Jan. 10. The Dr. Pepper/Snapple group is targeting its new drink, Dr. Pepper TEN, at a male-only market with slogans such as "It's not for women" and "No girls allowed." A spokesperson has refused to issue an apology, calling the ads "a humorous take on the many men who are worried about their waistlines but are too 'manly' to drink a diet soda." Rick Santorum's views on contraception have been drawing scrutiny. The former Pennsylvania senator clarified his stance on birth control, Taylor-Hampton Wade Patch reported Jan. 8. He explained "I've never said I wanted to ban birth control," but that he is firmly against federal subsidies for medical care that provides contraception. "The Supreme Court in a variety of different cases, Roe v. Wade being the principal one most people know, has created rights in the Constitution that don't exist, and has no basis." Noted: Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has ordered the country's public health system and health insurance companies to pay for the replacement of ruptured breast implants made in France, even if they were done for aesthetic reasons, reported the Chicago Tribune Jan. 12. Rousseff, Brazil's first female president, reversed the government's previous stance. Meanwhile Dutch health authorities said on Jan. 11 that women who had breast implants made by the same French company, PIP, should have them removed because of the high risk of rupture, reversing an earlier recommendation, reported Reuters. A suit contending that a lacrosse league's behavior violated the Title IX prohibition of sex discrimination in education, a law normally applied to address imbalances in high school and college athletics, was filed in Connecticut Superior Court in Stamford, The New York Times reported Jan. 12. A watchdog group on Jan. 12 urged the Food and Drug Administration to hold a new vote about blood clot risks from popular birth control pills, after advisers to the agency were shown to have ties to the pillmakers, reported Reuters Jan. 12. Democrat Elizabeth Warren, who is challenging Republican Scott Brown for the Senate seat in Massachusetts, raised $5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, reported Politico Jan. 11. Incumbent Sen. Brown only raised $3.2 million, though he still has a total of $12.8 million on hand in comparison to Warren's $6 million. A Facebook campaign that aims to convince Mattel to mass produce a bald Barbie doll for girls that suffer from hair loss is growing, Digital Journal reported Jan. 11. The White House named Cecilia Munoz, currently the director of intergovernmental affairs, as director of the Domestic Policy Council, the Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 11. In her new position, she will oversee a range of domestic issues as well as continue to work on immigration policy. A study, released by 4autoinsurancequote.org, indicates women are better drivers than men, reported PRWeb Jan. 11. The study claims that 80 percent of all car accidents that are either fatal or produce serious injuries are caused by male drivers. The 15-year-old Afghan who was tortured by her husband and in-laws and hospitalized in December has spoken out for the first time since her ordeal, the Associated Press reported Jan. 7. "I want them to be in jail," said Sahar Gul. "They gave me electric shock . . . They beat me with cables and tortured me." .