Blog of Rights
Sarah
Lipton-Lubet

Sarah Lipton-Lubet is a policy counsel in the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, where her work focuses on reproductive freedom and women’s rights. Sarah came to the ACLU from the Center for Reproductive Rights, and previously clerked for the Honorable Richard Paez of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the Honorable Nancy Gertner of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Sarah earned a J.D. from Yale Law School, where she was Symposium Editor of the Yale Law Journal, and a B.A. summa cum laude from Northwestern University in American Studies.

01/25/2013
Abortion Legislation

On 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Why Talk about Birth Control?

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:01am

It’s been 40 years since the Supreme Court protected a woman’s right to make a decision about whether to have an abortion...

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07/10/2012
Abortion Legislation

Abortion Ban Plays Politics with Women’s Health

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:03am

The House Judiciary Committee has held eight anti-abortion or anti-family planning votes or hearings so far this Congress.  This morning, they’re scheduled to make it nine.  The Committee will be considering the so-called “District of Columbia Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act,” which would ban abortion in the District of Columbia at 20 weeks.   

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02/16/2012
Birth Control Coverage

Contraception Mandate Doesn't Break New Ground

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:55pm

In the past several weeks, as a nation, we’ve been hit by an endless barrage of commentary on the new rule requiring insurance companies to cover contraception with no co-pay. Who would have thought that in 2012, contraception — something 98 percent of women use at some point in their lives — could set off such a firestorm?

Last week, the Obama administration offered a solution that we hope calms the embers.

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01/20/2012
Using Religion to Discriminate

Score One for Women's Health! Obama Administration Stands Up For Birth Control

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:39pm

Today, the Obama administration announced that it would keep in place a proposed rule that ensures that new insurance plans include contraception coverage.

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09/30/2011
Using Religion to Discriminate

Keep Your Beliefs Out of My Birth Control

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:56pm

It's a big week for birth control. This Monday marked World Contraception Day — a day that raises awareness about contraception access around the globe. Today is the deadline for weighing in with the Department of Health and Human Services on important new guidelines that ensure coverage of contraception in health plans without extra out-of-pocket costs — along with a narrow exception that allows certain religious institutions like churches, synagogues, and mosques, to exclude birth control from their health plans.

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05/03/2011

If You Get Raped, You Better Keep a Receipt

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 1:49pm

This week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) returned from April recess with a spring in his step and a gleam in his eye. At the top of his agenda? A far-reaching attack on abortion access, misleadingly titled the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," or as we like to say in the beltway, H.R. 3, which is scheduled for a vote tomorrow.

You might have thought that the anti-choice leaders in the House would be worn out from trying — and failing — to hold up the entire federal budget over cervical cancer screenings (which, contrary to assertions made on Fox & Friends, you can't get at Walgreens). But these days they appear to have limitless energy for attacking women's health and well-being. This week's target is insurance coverage that includes abortion care.

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07/19/2012
Contraception

Another One Bites the Dust: Second Challenge to Birth Control Rule Rejected in One Week

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:01pm

Courts are making fast work this week of the lawsuits challenging the Obama administration’s rule requiring insurance plans to cover contraception and stop discriminating against women.

Just one day after a federal court in Nebraska threw out a lawsuit brought by seven anti-Affordable Care Act attorneys general, a federal court in D.C. did the same in a case filed by a religiously affiliated college.  On Wednesday, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by Belmont Abbey College (the first of the two dozen challenges to the birth control rule). 

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05/23/2011

Defending the Rights of the Women Who Defend Us

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 6:41pm

On Monday, a group of representatives stood up for U.S. servicewomen, and submitted an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would end the unconscionable policy of denying rape survivors serving in the military health coverage for abortion care.

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10/25/2012
Birth Control Court Cases

Another Challenge to the Federal Contraception Rule, Another Friend-of-the-Court Brief

By Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project & Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 2:26pm

There are now over 35 lawsuits challenging a federal rule that requires employers to provide insurance coverage for contraception without a co-pay.

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07/18/2012
Contraception

One Down and 23 to Go: Judge Tosses Baseless Challenge to Birth Control Coverage

By Sarah Lipton-Lubet, ACLU Washington Legislative Office & Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 4:53pm

Tuesday, a Nebraska federal court rejected a lawsuit challenging the Obama administration’s rule requiring insurance plans to cover contraception. This was the first of two dozen challenges to be decided.   We applaud the court’s decision and hope that the judges in the other cases follow the Nebraska federal judge’s lead.

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