Blog of Rights
Lorraine
Kenny
05/13/2013
Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Tale of Two Marriages

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 11:53am

This is the story of two couples; two couples who come out of the same post-war generation, and who built their lives around the same emotional core of love, commitment, and devotion to one another. And yet, their relationships were marked very differently by history and by the laws that governed their lives.

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04/08/2011
Abstinence-Only Education

Let’s Talk About Sex

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 6:50pm

This Saturday at 10 pm/9pm Central, The Learning Channel, the network that brings us Toddlers & Tiaras, Cake Boss, and 19 and Counting, will air Let’s Talk About Sex, a documentary about what we are teaching – or failing to teach – our kids about sex. At its core, I found the film more disturbing than watching parents traffic their toddlers in tiaras through the junior pageant circuit – a show I admittedly find pretty hard to watch. The first time I saw Let’s Talk About Sex, I sobbed: ashamed of how poorly we are educating our children and fearful that I am not fully up to the task of helping my own daughters lead healthy, happy, and yes, sexual lives. But I also left the film inspired to make a difference.

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11/20/2009

Promoting the Sexual Health of Youth

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 12:25pm

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the most comprehensive treaty on children's rights. The convention has been ratified by nearly every country in the world, except for the United States. The convention would fill current gaps in U.S. laws, and provide all children in America with the same robust protections that children in 193 countries are already entitled to.

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02/26/2009

Win One for Sexuality Education

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 12:37pm

We had some exciting news this week. After two years of organizing, parents and teens in Pittsburgh are celebrating a victory for comprehensive sexuality education. On Tuesday night the Pittsburgh school board voted 8-1 to drop the district’s abstinence-only-until marriage approach and to put in its place a curriculum that gives students the information they need to make healthy and responsible decisions about sex.

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10/09/2008

ACLU Freedom Alert: Roe v. Wade Under Fire

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 2:35pm
On November 4, voters in South Dakota must decide once again whether to ban virtually all abortions in their state. Two years ago, South Dakotans acted to protect private health care decisions when they voted against a sweeping abortion ban. Today, these same voters need your help to stop yet another intrusive attack on reproductive freedom: the 2008 abortion ban ballot initiative, Measure 11. The outcome of South Dakota's election could affect us all. As Louise Melling, Director of the ACLU
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09/14/2009

Restore Reproductive Health Care in Kentucky

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 4:47pm

(Originally posted at RH Reality Check.)

Candice Rich knew that she wanted a tubal ligation after she gave birth. From July 2008 through February 2009, Candice had gone to St. Luke Hospitals in northern Kentucky for all her prenatal care. From the beginning, she had told her doctors that she wanted a postpartum tubal ligation. There are medical benefits to having the procedure immediately after childbirth, and it's generally less expensive to do so. Everything seemed to be on track. Her doctor repeatedly assured her that she could have the procedure at St. Luke immediately after delivery.

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06/03/2009

Keep Abortion Providers Safe Now

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 7:13pm

On Sunday, May 31, Dr. George Tiller, a doctor in Wichita, Kansas, who for decades provided abortions for women even in the face of harassment and violence, was murdered at his place of worship. Sondra Goldschein and Allie Bohm attended events in New York City and Washington, D.C., honoring Dr. Tiller's life.

Sondra Goldschein writes:

When I heard about the murder of Dr. Tiller on Sunday evening, I went from shock to tears to fear to loss. I could feel those emotions but I couldn't put into words what a tragedy his death is. I finally found the words from Dr. Tiller himself.

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04/07/2009

Time's Running Out! Submit Comments to Rescind Health Care Denial Rule

By Lorraine Kenny, Center for Liberty at 4:49pm

What are you waiting for?

If you haven't already, be sure to submit your comments supporting President Obama's proposed rescission of the Heath Care Denial Rule by Thursday, April 9. The rule, finalized in the waning hours of the Bush administration, severely limits access to medical care and information by allowing heath care providers to deny care to anyone who needs services the provider objects to.

Now, we at the ACLU are all about protecting religious freedom. But that isn’t what this rule is about. This rule doesn’t just apply to protect individual religious belief. It allows corporations like insurance companies and hospitals to deny patients care. Individuals’ religious beliefs are already protected by a federal law that carefully balances religious liberty with the need for patients to access health care. But this Bush rule takes patients’ needs completely out of the equation.

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