The ACLU works to secure a world that respects everyone’s right to form intimate relationships and to decide whether and when to have children. With reproductive freedom comes opportunity: opportunity to build a secure, productive, and meaningful life. Through litigation, advocacy, and public education, we strive to ensure that the government respects and supports reproductive freedom.
The ability to decide whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term is essential to women’s equality, autonomy, and dignity, with implications for every aspect of her life – her educational aspirations, career goals, economic status, and, more broadly, her ability to live the life she planned. Despite the formal existence of the right to a safe and legal abortion, for many women abortion access is regulated so that it’s almost, or entirely, out of reach. And the struggle is getting worse. The ACLU is working to ensure that women in the U.S. have timely access to abortion care.
The Project also works on a wide range of issues that have a direct impact on reproductive decisions including: access to safe and affordable contraception; supporting age appropriate sex ed programming and fighting pregnancy discrimination.
Additional Resources
ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri v. Praeger (2011 press release)
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri filed a lawsuit challenging a Kansas law that prohibits insurance companies from including coverage for abortion in their comprehensive plans. Since 2010, 13 states have enacted laws that prohibit some or all insurance policies from covering abortion care. This lawsuit is the first challenging one of these laws.
Reflections on a Decade of Reproductive Freedom (2010 blog)
On the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Louise Melling, Director of the Center for Liberty, took a moment to reflect on the beginning of a new decade and took look back at the progress and setbacks of the previous ten years.
The State Strategy: Abortion Foes Undermine Access to Health Care State-by-State (2011 blog)
In a recent New York Times editorial, the Times highlights the mounting trend of efforts at the state level to make access to abortion care as onerous as possible for women. At the heart of the Times' argument is an ACLU case challenging a Kansas law that prohibits insurance companies from including coverage for abortion in their comprehensive plans.