By Steven Waddy, Legislative Assistant, ACLU at 4:56pm
As unbelievable as it sounds, some parts of our country are still teaching abstinence-only sex education in 2013. That’s why Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-C.A., recently reintroduced the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act (REHYA), renewing their vow to provide comprehensive sex education to young Americans. This legislation provides grants and guidelines for education that will help young people make healthy, responsible decisions about their own sexual health. New STIs cost our country an estimated $16 billion a year, so this isn’t just smart policy—it’s fiscally sound, too.
By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 4:08pm
Think the war on women is over? Think again.
Some politicians have decided to start the 2013 state legislative session by targeting women's reproductive health.
Yesterday in North Dakota, state senators voted on a measure that could be used to ban abortion, restrict treatment for infertility, and threaten access to contraception. If politicians in North Dakota get their way, women would be prevented from seeking abortion and other reproductive health care in the state.
I am a doctor in North Dakota, and I love my work. One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is helping cancer survivors who are now facing infertility from their lifesaving chemotherapy and radiation treatments achieve their dream of having a family. Some of these patients require in-vitro fertilization to have a baby, but others must rely on donor sperm or donor egg. However, if some of our lawmakers have their way, I will have to turn away cancer survivors and as well as many other couples with infertility.
By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 1:26pm
Isn't it outrageous that we even have to ask that question?
In Arkansas this week, the State Senate passed a bill that would ban almost all abortions. Within a month, women in Arkansas could be prevented from receiving abortion care, no matter what their circumstances.
In North Dakota, the legislature is poised to vote on set of bills that aim to ban abortion, close down women's health centers, and could prevent couples from using in-vitro fertilization to build their family. The Senate is expected to vote on those bills next week.
I've worked at United Parcel Service (UPS) for almost 10 years. Initially I got this job because I needed a part-time job with benefits while attending college and UPS seemed like an ideal place to work. Reality set in nine years later when I became pregnant.
At the time of my pregnancy I was classified as a full-time driver. The work that a driver does is extremely demanding, and many of those hired don’t actually last. Being a driver is strenuous and physically exhausting. During the busy season I work up to 14 hours a day under harsh conditions, and during the summer rush, the size and weight of the packages explode.
By Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 4:31pm
Yesterday the ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the first challenge to the federal contraceptive rule to reach an appeals court on the merits. The federal contraceptive rule requires health plans to cover contraception without a co-pay, and despite the plethora of lawsuits, the rule is clearly constitutional.
By Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 4:20pm
Sheer repetition of an incorrect argument does not make that argument correct. This holds true for the lawsuits challenging the federal contraception rule, which ensures that millions of women will have access to contraception without a co-pay. Those who are trying to eliminate the rule in the courts have now filed almost 45 lawsuits. They can file 100 lawsuits, but it won’t change the legal analysis. As we’ve said before, the contraception rule is constitutional. For the last five decades, courts have held that rules designed to eradicate discrimination – like the contraception rule – cannot be trumped by a business owner’s religious beliefs.
