Welcome back to Woman Crush Wednesday, our weekly roundup of badass women in the news. Should free birth control (no — really free), a big ol’ blow to sexism in science, and a pollution warrior strike your fancy, we’ve got you covered this week.

Meet the women on our radar:

  • Anne Hilborn, Danielle Spitzer, and the other #distractinglysexy female scientists posting photos of their work in response to Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt’s recent comments that “girls” in laboratories “fall in love with you and when you criticize them, they cry.” Hunt has since resigned from his position as honorary professor at University College London. (TIME)

  • Patty Murray (D, Wash.), who introduced the Affordability Is Access Act. The proposed bill would make birth control pills not only available on an over-the-counter basis, but also fully covered by private and public health insurance plans. (ThinkProgress)
  • DeVona Lahrman, a resident of Seattle’s South Park neighborhood, one of the city’s most polluted, impoverished, and crime-ridden areas. As director of the South Park Neighborhood Association, Lahrman is on a one-woman crusade to make her home a safer place for children and to help rid the area of industrial pollution. (Grist)
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Grist / Amelia Bates
  • Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who just returned to Earth after 199 days in space — the longest mission ever conducted by a woman. (ABC News)
  • Elizabeth Iorns, CEO and Cofounder of Science Exchange; Mary Grove, Director of Google for Entrepreneurs; and the other women in tech who just made ELLE magazine’s annual list. (ELLE)

Stay tuned for next week’s roundup!

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