Just months after Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl made false and misleading statements about Planned Parenthood's prenatal services, Arizona is once again attacking groups that provide abortion information or services. The latest scheme: A law to rewrite the tax code to exclude any nonprofit organization that provides abortion referrals or counseling from receiving donations through the state's Working Poor Tax Credit Program. This law is so broad that it could prevent groups from even discussing abortion or other reproductive health services with women in crisis. Today, we filed a lawsuit challenging that law.
By Hayley Smith, Advocacy and Policy Associate, ACLU at 2:17pm
Today we filed litigation challenging a new law in Arkansas that bans abortion starting at 12 weeks – a law that is a clear violation of state legislators' duties to preserve, protect and defend the state and federal constitutions. Our lawsuit asks the court to block this blatantly unconstitutional ban, which violates numerous Supreme Court decisions dating back 40 years. A stubborn group of legislators insisted on rushing the bill through the legislature, refusing to listen to admonitions by doctors and even the Governor himself.
By Becca Cadoff, Reproductive Freedom Project at 12:11pm
In the latest affront to women's health, Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law a bill that could force health centers in the state to close their doors if they provide abortion care. We may not all see eye-to-eye about abortion, but most people agree that we all need access to health care without politicians getting in the way.
Isn't it time we are allowed to make our own decisions about our health care?
This bill is just another example of political attacks on women's health, following on the heels of North Dakota, Arkansas, and other state efforts to block access to abortion care. The trend of attacking women is snowballing out of control, and we need to stop it.
By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 5:31pm
Update: The North Dakota legislature passed a bill today that bans most abortions in the state. Should this bill be signed into law by the governor, North Dakota will become the first state in the nation to ban most abortions.
Some politicians in North Dakota are so intent on taking away a woman’s ability to make personal, private decisions they are pushing a package of bills that, together, would ban abortion, prevent women’s health centers from providing comprehensive care, and block many people’s attempts at even starting a family.
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 5:16pm
Yesterday, Michiganders were illegally blocked from entering the State Capitol as their legislature passed controversial bills. Hundreds of people came to the Capitol to have their voices heard, but they were kept out of the political process by the very folks whose job it is to represent them.
Not only did they pass the so-called “right to work” legislation, but with the public locked outside, these politicians also advanced bills that will interfere with a woman’s ability to make her own reproductive health decisions. Politicians pushed a bill designed to shut down women’s health clinics in the state that provide abortion care. They passed a measure that would prohibit insurance plans from offering comprehensive health care coverage that includes abortion. And, a little more than a month after news broke that woman died in a hospital in Ireland because doctors refused to provide a life-saving abortion, the state senate passed a bill that could allow hospitals to use religion to discriminate in providing health care services, even in the case of an emergency.
By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 3:20pm
Some politicians in Michigan are at it again – they are pushing a revised version of the sweeping anti-abortion bill that could threaten to close women’s health care centers. We beat back this bill before and now it is urgent these state lawmakers hear from us once more.
It’s unbelievable that extremists would keep trying to pass HB 5711. People in Michigan, tired of politicians interfering with a woman’s ability to make personal health decisions have been sending their message to Michigan legislators loud and clear. But it seems some politicians in Michigan have been working overtime to ignore their voices.
By Talcott Camp, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 6:20pm
Today, Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli strong-armed the VA Board of Health into reversing previous decisions based on medical evidence and patient safety in favor of unprecedented regulations on doctors and facilities that provide abortion care. This political move will endanger women by shutting down good, safe providers of abortion care. In a year when we have seen numerous politicians show utter disregard for women’s health, the story of today’s vote illustrates just how far some politicians will go to interfere in a woman’s personal, private decision making.
