Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a bill enabling people with certain diseases to legally adopt children who are living with them. Before this bill was signed, a 2013 list of diseases created by the Russian government was used to enforce a ban on all adoption proceedings by disease-positive individuals. This ban prevented individuals [...]
Maine Governor Janet Mills on Wednesday signed a bill prohibiting licensed professionals from administering conversion therapy to minors, becoming the seventeenth state in the US to ban the practice. The bill forbids “advertising, offering and administering of therapy designed to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, also known as conversion therapy, to individuals [...]
The New Hampshire Senate on Thursday approved a bill to amend a controversial 2017 election law that required new voters to turn in documentation before voting. The new legislation was previously approved by the New Hampshire House and now goes to Governor Chris Sununu for final approval. However, Sununu has said that he opposes “any [...]
Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards on Thursday signed a bill banning abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detected by an ultrasound. The exceptions to the abortion ban include situations to prevent the pregnant women’s death or a serious risk of impairment of major bodily function, or when the pregnancy is medically futile, but do [...]
Colorado governor Jared Polis on Tuesday signed two new drug laws, one which lowers penalties for single-use possession of Schedule I and II substances and another that allows businesses to apply for licenses for social marijuana use. Under the new House Bill 19-1263, possession of flunitrazepam, ketamine, cathinones, or a controlled substance listed in schedule [...]
An Iowa judge on Wednesday granted a temporary injunction blocking the enforcement of a law (Sections 99 and 100) that would cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood applied for the injunction on the basis of irreparable harm, as well as deprivation of constitutional rights. The court granted the injunction after applying rational review, [...]
A group of technology companies and organizations have sent an open letter condemning the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) proposal to secretly add law enforcement to encrypted chats. The letter from the Open Technology Institute—along with 47 signatories including Google, Apple and WhatsApp—details concerns about threats to cybersecurity and human rights that this proposed action [...]
The California state Assembly on Wednesday approved a police use-of-force bill that could give the state one of the strictest standards for justifying the use of deadly force by police officers. However, days before the passage of the bill, key concessions were made to appease law enforcement, which have caused some of the bill’s original [...]
A group of transgender women on Wednesday challenged a Pennsylvania law that prevents them from legally changing their names because they have been convicted of felonies. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF), together with Pro Bono partner Reed Smith, filed a constitutional challenge to Pennsylvania statute 54 PaCS § 702(c)(1)–(2). The challenge argues [...]
Canada’s Senate voted 55-33 Tuesday to approve strict gun legislation. The bill enhances background checks, requires firearms retailers to keep records of sales for 20 years, and requires police-licensed handgun owners to get permission from police to transport their police registered firearms to police approved gunsmiths or face criminal charges. It also would be a [...]
