Schroeder's liberal Social Democratic party succeeded the conservative Christian Democrats, led by Helmut Kohl. The Catholic Church harshly condemned Schroeder's action to allow the distribution of mifepristone and invited Christine Bergmann, minister for women's affairs, to discuss the issue with Church officials. AP Worldstream reported that the drug's patent holder, Edouard Sakiz, plans to file will seek permission from European Union officials to market the drug in Germany and other European countires next month.
Mifepristone is currently available in France, Britain and Sweden.
Twenty years of civil war and Taliban decrees prohibiting women from working and attending school have drastically reduced the number of teachers and prompted the decline of Afghan schools. Livermore National Laboratory is operated together by the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of California and produces research on global security, global ecology, and biological science. They further charged that this blatant pay inequity is typical in the Lab. They also charge that Lab director Bruce Tarter and other officials were unresponsive to their complaints and disinterested in their charges of discrimination. The pending lawsuit seeks the repayment of all lost wages and new hiring and promotion policies which will ensure gender equity.