1. They emphasized the universal ideals of the Enlightenment such as the equality of all men including equal justice under law by disinterested courts as opposed to particular justice handed down at the whim of a local noble.
2. In recent years policies affecting women's reproductive rights in the United States have substantially changed at both the federal and state levels. Between the publication of the 2004 Status Of Women in the States report and this report, states overall made nominal progress on two indicators and declined or stayed the same on five others.
