American Civil Liberties Union

This post is part of Mom's Rising's Blog Carnival on women's health and economic rights, held this week to commemorate the anniversaries of the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment and the 1963 March on Washington.

When you hear about patents on human genes, women's rights might not immediately come to mind. Yet, a woman's right to access medical care, make informed medical decisions, and benefit from scientific research is at the core of this issue.

(Also posted on Daily Kos and Feministing.)

Are restraining orders just pieces of paper, or must the police take action when they are violated? This is the question raised by Valdez v. City of New York, a case challenging the failure of New York City police to enforce a domestic violence order of protection.

In 2005, Congress declared: “Women and families across the country are being discriminated against, denied access to, and even evicted from public and subsidized housing because of their status as victims of domestic violence.” This was the experience of our clients Tiffani Alvera, Aaronica Warren, Quinn Bouley, “T. J.,” and Tanica Lewis, all of whom faced eviction in private, public, and subsidized housing because they had been subjected to domestic violence. Some were punished by “zero tolerance for crime” policies, even though they were the victims, and not the perpetrators, of violence. Others were blamed for the property damage caused by their abusers. In effect, these women were doubly victimized: first by the violence, then by housing discrimination.