American Civil Liberties Union

You did it! Yesterday, we told you that the House of Representatives would be voting today on the Patriot Act. We asked you to get angry, to show Congress that you care about this nearly-10-year old law, and to tell your representatives that you want the Patriot reformed so that the government can no longer use it to violate the rights of everyday people who have nothing to do with terrorism. Well, Congress heard you loud and clear. Tonight, around 7 pm, the House failed to get enough votes to extend the Patriot Act until Dec. 8, 2011. You can see how your representative voted here.

On Veterans' Day, we told you that Congress had the historic opportunity to overturn the ban on privately-funded abortions on military bases.

Overturning the ban would have had a real impact on our servicewomen's lives. Because of the ban, women who are stationed overseas who need abortions are forced either to attempt to obtain care in a local medical facility in the country in which they are stationed or to travel to a medical facility in the United States or in another country. Even in countries where abortion is legal, local health facilities are sometimes inadequate, unsafe or lack trained medical personnel. Servicewomen who must travel to obtain abortion care are required to clear the leave time with their superiors, forcing them to disclose information about private medical decisions. Their superior officers may delay or refuse to grant leave even though each week of delay increases the potential health risks.

I can’t believe we’re still talking about abstinence-only programs. You remember those black holes for taxpayer dollars that censor vital healthcare information, promote gender stereotypes, provide inaccurate information, stigmatize lesbian and gay teens, and, in some cases, promote religion in violation of the Constitution? We thought they were gone for good last December when President Obama signed an appropriations bill that killed funding for the Community-Based Abstinence Education program. The Title V abstinence-only program, named for its place in the code — Title V of Welfare Reform — had already expired in June 2009.

As a colleague recently reminded me, our system of government was developed not to pass laws, but to make change slowly. Take, for example, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the international treaty dedicated to gender equality. Although the U.S. played a major role in drafting the treaty and signed it in 1980, it still has not been ratified by the Senate. We're hoping to change that this year.