health
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By Brianna Morrison, Equal Justice Society 2026 HBCU Law Summer Intern Would you believe that your health and life expectancy may be shaped not only by your access to doctors or health insurance, but also by where you lay your head at night? Did you know that the same structures put into place to criminalize…
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More than 10,000 women have filed lawsuits against hair relaxer manufacturers and sellers, alleging that chemical hair relaxer products caused gynecological cancers and related injuries. To avoid the burden and expense of each plaintiff litigating the same issues separately across the country, many of these cases have been centralized before a single federal judge, Hon.…
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Class Action for Federal Workers Associated with Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion In January 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14151, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which labeled diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (“DEIA”) programs as “illegal and immoral” and ordered their elimination across the entire federal government. The President also…
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Over 13,000 women have filed claims in federal court against hair relaxer manufacturers and sellers alleging that the use of chemical hair relaxer products caused gynecological cancers and related injuries. These cases have been consolidated before a single federal judge, Judge Mary Rowland, in Chicago, in a proceeding known as a multi-district litigation (or “MDL”).…
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This Women’s History Month, we center the leadership of Black women in the movement for health equity because their history, their bodies, and their lives are at the heart of our most urgent work. That work begins with truth-telling. History credits Dr. J. Marion Sims as the “father of gynecology,” but that narrative erases the…
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In 2026, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the end of the first Reconstruction, the 100th anniversary of the origins of Black History Month, and the 50th anniversary of its official federal recognition. In February 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH) launched the first…
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A recent article in Allure reported that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) again missed its already extended deadline of December 2025 to act on a proposed ban on the use of formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing chemicals as an ingredient in hair-smoothing or hair-straightening products marketed in the United States that are applied to the hair…
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Blavity last month covered the release of the children’s book “A Black Girl and HerBraids” by Philadelphia-based actor, poet, and author Jaylene Clark Owens. Described as a love letter to Black girls, the book celebrates Black culture, beauty, and resilience through the lens of hair. The book is adapted from Owens’s original poem that went…
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Lawsuits by more than 13,000 women who have suffered gynecological cancers caused by use of hair relaxer products continue in federal court in Chicago, while hundreds of similar cases have been filed by women in state courts in Illinois, Georgia, and elsewhere. The MDL cases are completing the evidence collection stage called “discovery” against the…
Health Equity News 