Using Religion to Discriminate

With increasing frequency, individuals and institutions are attempting to claim a right to refuse to provide services or care based on religious objections. For instance, religiously affiliated hospitals could refuse to perform medically necessary abortions for pregnant women in life-threatening situations, or a landlord could refuse to rent to a family simply because they are Muslim. Through litigation, advocacy and public education, the ACLU works to defend religious liberty and protect people of all faiths from religious discrimination. Learn more >>

08/31/2011

Abortion Insurance Ban

Contraceptive Coverage Should Be the Rule, Not the Exception

By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 12:53pm

Far too often, government policies tend to be at odds with reality when it comes to women's reproductive health by ignoring the services that women need most. Which is why guidelines recently issued by the Department of Human Services requiring insurance coverage for contraception and other preventive services were so welcome. After all, virtually every woman of childbearing age practices some sort of contraception at some point.

01/13/2011

Using Religion to Discriminate

Birth Control: Who Decides? The Bishops or You?

By Ian S. Thompson, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:09am

Yesterday I spoke before the Committee on Prevention Services for Women at the Institute of Medicine on the critical importance of covering birth control as a preventive service in health care. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will soon be issuing guidelines on what constitutes preventive care for women. Groups like the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Family Research Council and Alliance Defense Fund are trying to stop HHS from including birth control on the list of covered preventive services. They claim that insurance coverage of birth control is a religious matter. The ACLU strongly believes that birth control should be included among these important services and that first and foremost birth control is a personal, private decision that should be made by a woman in consultation with her doctor.

04/27/2010

Using Religion to Discriminate

Standing Up for Trafficking Victims

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 2:29pm

Yesterday, Change.org's Amanda Koer published an interview with the ACLU's Brigitte Amiri about our lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

A: Why do you think it is important for human trafficking victims to have access to reproductive healthcare?

B: Most women who have been trafficked have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their traffickers. As the government itself has recognized, denying reproductive health care services to women who have been trafficked further victimizes these women. For example, some traffickers prohibit women from accessing contraception, including condoms, and force trafficked women to carry a pregnancy to term or to have an abortion. Allowing these women to make their own decisions about reproductive health care is important so that they can become self sufficient. Also, people who are trafficked and forced to work in the sex trade have higher incidence of HIV. It is therefore crucial that they are provided information about, and have access to, condoms.

Read the full interview here, and you can learn more about the lawsuit, ACLU of Massachusetts v. Sebelius, here.

04/01/2010

Using Religion to Discriminate

Keeping the Courthouse Doors Open to Protect Reproductive Health Care and Religious Liberty

By Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 3:48pm

(Originally posted at ACSblog.)

Last week, a federal district court in Massachusetts ruled that an ACLU challenge to the government's use of taxpayer dollars to impose religious doctrine on victims of human trafficking may go forward. The decision is a victory for women's health and for the basic constitutional principle that federal dollars cannot be used to favor one religious perspective over all others.

03/25/2010

Using Religion to Discriminate

Human Trafficking Is Modern-Day Slavery

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:09pm

Today is the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Susan Rice, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said in a statement today:

The scourge of modern slavery, including human trafficking, continues to tear at our common humanity and to rip the social fabric of communities around the world.

The international community must redouble its efforts to combat modern slavery and human trafficking by fully implementing existing trafficking laws and prosecuting its perpetrators.

We couldn't agree more, which is why the ACLU is battling human trafficking in the United States on a few different fronts.

03/24/2010

Using Religion to Discriminate

A Victorious Step Toward Ensuring Reproductive Health Care for Trafficking Victims

By Brigitte Amiri, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 11:27am

On Monday, a federal district court in Massachusetts ruled that an ACLU challenge to the government's use of taxpayer dollars to impose religious doctrine on victims of human trafficking may go forward. The decision is a victory for women's health and for the basic constitutional principle that federal dollars cannot be used to favor one religious perspective over all others.

American Civil Liberties Union