Women's Issues: Health, Retirement and Legislation

According to the CDC, tens of thousands of people die each year from breast or cervical cancer. Early screening and detection, followed by prompt treatment, can improve outcomes and, ultimately, save lives. Chapter 1 provides information on the number of people who were 1) screened through the Early Detection Program and 2) enrolled in Medicaid under the Treatment Act. Chapter 2 provides an overview of laws protecting pregnant workers, including their substantive provisions, legislative history, practical considerations, judicial interpretation, and limitations. Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 examines 1) trends in prosthetics provided by VHA to female veterans; 2) characteristics of the female veteran population with limb loss and how VHA provides prosthetic services to these veterans through its Amputation System of Care; and 3) VHA's research efforts and the challenges that exist in studying prosthetics for female veterans with limb loss. Chapter 5 reports on the financial security of older women. Chapter 6 provides a brief legal background of the Selective Service System, including legal consequences of failing to register. It next describes judicial challenges to the male-only draft and legislative efforts to require women to register. Gender-responsive criminal justice approaches acknowledge women's unique pathways into and out of the criminal justice system as examined in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 discusses the policy issues commonly associated with Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as well as several provisions of H.R. 1620.