Earlier this year, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a worldwide moratorium on the practice, and developments in the country serve as a regrettable, if minor, setback for that effort. Read more here.

Kaitlyn Hunt was arrested at the behest of her 15-year-old girlfriend’s parents and charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery of a child 12 to 16 years old. Read more at http://www.opposingviews.com/i/society/gay-issues/florida-teen-kaitlyn-hunt-arrested-expelled-over-same-sex-relationship?utm_source=OV+Newsletter+List+2&utm_campaign=c32ac7c891-OV_Newsletter_May_205_20_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5f6757bd76-c32ac7c891-10941009.

The Food and Drug Administration has lowered the age for girls as young as 15 to buy emergency contraception including the morning-after pill. Studies revealed that women 15 years of age and older were able to understand how the Plan B One-Step and other generic brands work, how to use it properly, and that it does not prevent the transmission of a sexually transmitted disease. The decision was based in part on science that shows access to emergency contraception has the potential to decrease the rate of unintended pregnancies in the United States.

The pill will be made available for sale to all teens  15 and over who can provide proof of  their age. It will be placed on store shelves near women’s health or family planning aisles. The pill does not end a pregnancy but instead reduces the possibility of pregnancy if taken within so many days following unprotected sex. The pill prevents or delays ovulation, fertilization or, in some cases, implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine lining. Discussion with a parent, counselor, doctor or pharmacist is highly recommended before using the pill.

For more information about contraceptives take a look at this post.

By LOIS BECKETT
ProPublica

As we detailed yesterday, dozens of states are considering bills that attempt to nullify federal gun laws. One such bill became a lawlast month in Kansas. It exempts “Made in Kansas” guns from federal regulation and makes it a crime for federal agents to enforce federal law.

Attorney General Eric Holder recently wroteto Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, saying the law is “unconstitutional,” and that the U.S. is prepared to sue Kansas to prevent the state from “interfering with the activities of federal officials.”

Armstrong spills his guts to Oprah on OWN

The Justice Department has  filed a complaint against Lance Armstrong that details several years of lying, cheating and manipulating by the former cyclist. The complaint says Armstrong earned a $17.9 million salary as a cyclist from 1998-2004, much of it by the U.S. Postal Service’s $40 million agreement to sponsor Armstrong’s team.

The suit says Armstrong was “unjustly enriched” in cheating to win seven consecutive Tour de France titles, which were stripped last year. Under the False Claims Act, the government could receive triple the damages it proves at trial .

The suit isn’t going to hinge on proving Armstrong used banned drugs and blood transfusions. Rather the case will focus on legal questions such as whether his doping violated USPS contract agreements and whether the USPS suffered damages because of Armstrong’s doping.

Armstrong’s attorneys say USPS “benefited tremendously from its sponsorship of the cycling team,” and “Lance Armstrong rode his heart out for the USPS team.” The government disagrees, saying Armstrong misled USPS and violated his sponsorship agreement by doping.

Public and press access to the military justice system has suffered a serious blow  as the military’s highest appeals court narrowly ruled that it has no power to consider media challenges to military judges’ rulings on access to courts martial. The decision came on a bid by journalists to gain access to legal filings and court orders in the court martial of Army PFC Bradley Manning, who’s accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of military reports and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks.