War on Women

The "War on Women" describes the legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation. In includes a wide-range of policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women's health care and erode protections for women and their families. Examples at the state and federal level have included restricting contraception; cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies.

Women Don't Care About Contraception?

By Jennifer Dalven, Reproductive Freedom Project at 12:31pm

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said on The View that women don't care about contraception. That's news to me.

Ultrasound Bill Won't Fly, Even in the "Reddest" of States

By Monica Hopkins, ACLU of Idaho at 12:26pm

I've been repeatedly asked, "What happened? How did you do it?" I can only come up with this answer. Women were watching — and Idahoans got engaged.

This Week in Civil Liberties (3/30/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 7:01pm

In which state did doctors try to force a pregnant woman to have a c-section against her wishes?

What group can no longer be held in solitary confinement in Mississippi?

How many cells compose a person according to Personhood USA's definition?

How many states oppose a national ID card?

Which federal agency illegally gathers intelligence on innocent American Muslims?

Your Body, Your Decisions — This Means You, Moms!
Recently, a mother in South Carolina reached out to the ACLU for help. She was pregnant, and although she had had two prior cesarean surgeries, she wished to attempt a "trial of labor," that is, to give birth naturally, rather than having a scheduled cesarean surgery. The mother's wish made sense in light of her medical history, and according to professional standards set by obstetricians.

Eggs Are People. Really?

By Talcott Camp, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project at 5:36pm

A ballot initiative in Oklahoma would redefine a "person" to exist from the moment of "fusion of a female egg with a human male sperm to form a new cell."

Victory! Court to Bishops: Federal Help for the Most Vulnerable Should Have No Strings Attached

By Andrew Beck, Reproductive Freedom Project at 12:27pm

Once again the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has attempted to impose its religious beliefs on those who don't share them. This time, they did so in an attempt to deny victims of human trafficking access to reproductive health services in a federally funded program.

Fortunately, late Friday night, a federal judge ruled that religion isn't a license to discriminate and that the government cannot award a contract to an organization that denies services to trafficking victims based on the organization's religious beliefs.

Your Body, Your Decisions – This Means You, Moms!

By Mie Lewis, Women's Rights Project at 1:57pm

Recently, a mother in South Carolina reached out to the ACLU for help. She was pregnant, and although she had had two prior cesarean surgeries, she wished to attempt a “trial of labor,” that is, to give birth naturally, rather than having a scheduled cesarean surgery. The mother’s wish made sense in light of her medical history, and according to professional standards set by obstetricians.

This Week in Civil Liberties (3/23/2012)

By Rekha Arulanantham, ACLU at 5:39pm

Some employers are asking job applicants for their passwords to which social networking site?

Which court ruled that a law that protects pregnant workers is unenforceable?

Which country is the only one in the world that sentences children to life without parole?

What government agency continues to defend warrantless wiretapping?

How could a shooter claim self-defense after killing an unarmed teenager in Florida?

You Have a Right to an Education: Breaking Down the Barriers Facing Pregnant and Parenting Teens in School

Teenage moms and moms-to-be are treated with shocking hostility when they are just trying get an education.

The (Not-So-Secret) War on Moms : How the Supreme Court Took Protections Away from Pregnant Workers

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.

New Doonesbury Strip Illustrates "Lunacy" of Humiliating Anti-Abortion Laws

By Danielle Aronson, ACLU at 3:15pm

It seems that some newspaper editors think that a "10-inch ultrasound wand" does not belong in the funnies section of their papers — and their reluctance is getting national attention. The comic that is causing the uproar is Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury. Several newspapers around the country have decided not to publish the popular satirical comic this week because of a storyline dealing with those now-infamous ultrasounds.

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