By Ariela Migdal, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 11:03am
This week, the Supreme Court ruled, by the all-too-familiar 5-4 margin, that a provision of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) giving workers time off to care for their own serious health conditions — including pregnancy and childbirth — can't be enforced by state employees in damages lawsuits against their public employers. The decision in Coleman v. Court of Appeals of Maryland effectively stripped many public employees — the majority of whom are women — of the right to job protection when they need to take time off while pregnant. The ACLU had joined an amicus brief arguing that the law was written in a gender-neutral way to provide women workers with the time they needed to go through childbirth and pregnancy-related complications, while ensuring that employers wouldn't discriminate based on the assumption that only women will need to take health-related leave from their jobs. While no opinion garnered five votes, a majority of the Court agreed that the law was not justified as a remedy for a pattern of unconstitutional discrimination against women or pregnant workers.
By Tiseme Zegeye, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Elayne Weiss, Washington Legislative Office at 9:53am
The combat exclusion rule ignores the reality of modern warfare. Women are already serving in combat, and at present, 139 women have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Last month, we filed a complaint on behalf of Jennifer Maudlin, a single mother who was fired for becoming pregnant while unmarried. Jennifer's case is one of a growing number of challenges to employers who fire unmarried workers for becoming pregnant or for using reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization. Marital status discrimination against pregnant women and parents is widespread, and the number of Americans who may at some point be its targets is huge. According to the Census Bureau, about a third of pregnant women are unmarried, and the number of unmarried parents is over 13 million. Of unmarried parents who live with their children, women outnumber men by a factor of nearly 6. In addition, many parents, about 2 million, choose to raise their children together while unmarried.
By Christina Brandt-Young, Attorney, ACLU Women's Rights Project & Jenny Lee, Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union at 5:49pm
Across the country teachers at religiously affiliated schools are being fired for their reproductive choices. What’s worse, the schools are unapologetic, claiming they have the right to discriminate because of their religious beliefs.
Emily Herx, a former Language Arts and Literature teacher at St. Vincent de Paul, a Catholic School in Indiana, was fired after she requested time off to receive in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment. She is suing the school for sex and disability discrimination in federal court, and today we filed a friend-of-the court brief to support her legal arguments. A few states over, Jane Doe (a pseudonym), an employee at a Catholic school in Missouri, was fired for becoming pregnant outside of wedlock. Today the ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri filed a complaint on Jane’s behalf with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for sex discrimination.
By Sue Friedman, Executive Director, Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE)
As part of the ACLU's Taking Back Our Genes campaign , guest blogger Sue Friedman, the Executive Director of FORCE, describes the adverse impact the exclusive patents on BRCA1 and BRCA2 have on the cancer community.
Earlier this year, I wrote about being pushed out of my job because I was pregnant. It’s still hard for me to believe that I was put in the position of choosing between staying on the job while pregnant, and the health of my baby.
I have a good job at United Parcel Service (UPS) and had worked there for almost 10 years. I am a full time driver, and that work can be very demanding and strenuous. I often work up to 14 hours a day, and during the rush seasons, like Mother’s Day, the size and weight of the packages explodes. Despite that, I like my job and am glad to be able to support myself and my family.
By James Evans, Bryson Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Medicine, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill School of Medicine at 10:44am
James Evans, MD, PhD is the Bryson Distinguished Professor of Genetics and Medicine at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine. He was a member of the advisory committee to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services on Genetics, Health and Society and spearheaded that committee's task force investigating gene patenting and its effect on patient care. He also filed an amicus brief in the ACLU's challenge to gene patents.
In January 1917, Alison Turnbull Hopkins pickets for suffrage outside the White House gate.
During the winter of 1916–1917, suffragists took their long-fought battle for women's right to vote to the nation's capital. Picketing outside of the White House, they urged President Woodrow Wilson to take a stand and support their cause. During a time when the United States was fighting to uphold the ideals of democracy abroad during World War I, these women dared to ask of their democratic rights at home: "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?"
Oh, we were suffering until suffrage,
Not a woman here could vote, no matter what age,
Then the 19th Amendment struck down that restrictive rule. (Oh yeah!)
It was 88 years ago today that the 19th Amendment of the Constitution was certified, guaranteeing women the right to vote in this country. And this day brings cause to celebrate a huge step towards universal suffrage — or, put more simply, expanding the right to vote to every man and woman in America.
