Abortion Legislation

12/07/2012

War on Women

This is What Democracy Looks Like? The War on Women Moves Behind Closed Doors in Michigan

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.

12/06/2012

War on Women

Michigan Capitol LOCKDOWN! In the Last Days of Legislative Session, Michigan Politicians Take Extreme Measures to Attack Women’s Heath

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.

11/10/2012

Abortion Legislation

State Legislators Double Down on Most Restrictive Abortion Law in Nation

By Mike Brickner, ACLU of Ohio at 5:56pm

Yesterday, retiring Ohio GOP Congressman Steve LaTourette made national headlines while discussing the recent presidential election. He said:

My wife’s a Democrat, and she was so close to voting for Mitt Romney. But then, you know, Mourdock and Akin opened their mouth, and we sent [voters] running back to the Democratic Party, because they think we’re nutty […] We have to get out of people’s lives, get out of people’s bedrooms, and we have to be a national party…or else we’re going to lose.

10/19/2012

Abortion Legislation

Enough Is Enough: War on Women Back in Virginia

By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 4:48pm

Good medicine cannot co-exist with the extreme, ideological attacks on access to abortion. The latest evidence of this comes from the state of Virginia, which has already served as a key battleground for the war on women.

For example, it was Virginia that sparked a huge outcry from women across the state and the country around legislation REQUIRING mandatory transvaginal ultrasounds.

And it is Virginia that is home to an Attorney General who twisted the law and threatened members of the Board of Health, so that they would vote for unnecessary and unprecedented regulations on doctors and facilities that provide abortion.

09/13/2012

Abortion Legislation

A Reminder We Didn't Need from Missouri: Women's Health is Under Attack

By Elissa Berger, Advocacy and Policy Counsel, ACLU at 2:35pm

Do we need another reminder about how state legislatures are a key battleground for women's health? Or about how so many politicians are out of touch? We do not. But we got one anyway.

Yesterday, the Missouri legislature voted to override Governor Jay Nixon's veto of SB 749, a bill that aims to undermine a woman's access to comprehensive health care. SB 749 attempts to allow employers to refuse to provide contraception coverage to their employees, despite the new federal rule that prevents such discrimination against women and the health care benefits they need.

08/02/2012

War on Women

War Against Women Rages On in the Federal Courts

By Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 2:00pm

It’s been an interesting few weeks for women’s rights and health in the courts. First, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state can force a doctor to tell a patient that women who have abortions are more likely to commit suicide than those who continue the pregnancy even

07/03/2012

War on Women

Michigan's War on Women by the Numbers

By Rana Elmir, ACLU of Michigan at 10:41am

In June, Michigan vaulted to the top of the list of states with outrageous, regressive legislation on women's health, placing a monster omnibus package on the fast-track to becoming law. If successful, the bills would effectively make safe abortion services inaccessible in the state. One major part of the legislation, the War on Women Mega Bill, has already passed the State House and is pending in the Senate.

We first sounded the alarm bells when this dangerous legislation came before the Michigan House Health Policy Committee. The bills were quickly approved in committee leaving those waiting to be heard angry, and in some cases in tears.

American Civil Liberties Union