What’s Current: Man acquitted for sexual assault of wife because he thought he could have sex with her anytime

  • Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Smith acquitted an Ottawa man charged with sexually assaulting his wife. The judge ruled that, although he found the victim’s testimony credible, the prosecution failed to prove the accused knew his behaviour was criminal.
  • A joint Toronto Star/CBC investigation looks at the fallout from mistakes made by the Motherisk lab at the Hospital for Sick Children. Child protection agencies across Canada used results from the hair tests performed by the lab to justify removing women’s children from their care — sometimes permanently.
  • The Thompson Reuters Foundation has published their list of the most dangerous megacities for women. It’s the first international experts’ poll on how females fare in cities with over 10 million people.
  • On Wednesday, a federal judge in Texas ruled that a pregnant, undocumented teenage girl who is in immigration detention has the right to access an abortion. This morning, lawyers for the Trump administration asked an appeals court to stay the decision, arguing that “the government is not required to facilitate her abortion.”
Lisa Steacy

Lisa Steacy is an Assistant Editor at Feminist Current. She has a B.A. in Women & Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. However, the women she met in her five years as a frontline worker and collective member with Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter deserve almost all of the credit for her feminist education. She lives in Vancouver with her partner and their cats.