Home : Reproductive Freedom : Abortion

Federal Funding Bans on Abortion
The government has long excluded abortion from a host of federally-funded comprehensive health services. Many women including those receiving Medicaid, Native Americans, federal employees, and military personnel, among others, are denied coverage if they decide to end a pregnancy. Learn more >>
LOW-INCOME WOMEN
> 30 Years is Enough
> Public Funding for Abortion
> The ACLU & Securing Public Funding for Abortion
WOMEN IN THE MILITARY
> Congress Should Protect Military Women's Reproductive Rights
> ACLU letter in Support of the Davis Amendment
> Coalition Letter In Support the Shays Amendment
FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
> Denied Coverage: One Federal Employee's Story

Reproductive Freedom
The World We Want
The world we want respects people's personal private decisions about forming intimate relationships and building secure and healthy families. And it helps ensure that everyone has the resources to make these decisions responsibly: from sex education to birth control to prenatal care to the option of abortion.
> VIDEO: Learn about the role of abortion as a core civil liberty
> BLOG: Read our reproductive rights blog postings
> TIMELINE: Important Reproductive Freedom Cases Decided by the Supreme Court
> TAKE ACTION: Become a Reproductive Rights Freedom Fighter
ROE V. WADE ANNIVERSARY STATEMENTS
> 2009: Common Hopes
> 2008: The Equality Factor
> 2007: The World We Want
> 2006: Critical Times
> 2005: A Question of Whose Moral Values
> 2004: Keeping Abortion Safe & Legal
> 2003: A Right Curtailed

"America's Toughest Sheriff" Agrees To Stop Requiring Court Orders For Abortions But Creates New Obstacle (07/02/2009)
PHOENIX - The American Civil Liberties Union late yesterday asked an Arizona court to prevent Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio from requiring inmates to prepay transportation costs before they can obtain an abortion.

Ohio Supreme Court Protects The Privacy Of Medical Records In Abortion Case (07/01/2009)
COLUMBUS, OH – The Ohio Supreme Court today moved to protect the privacy of minors' medical records when the minor is not a party in a lawsuit. The case involves a lawsuit against an Ohio Planned Parenthood and attempts by a teenager's parents to obtain the medical records not only of their own daughter but of all teenagers seen at that clinic over a ten year period.

ACLU Mourns The Loss Of Dr. George Tiller, Murdered In An Apparent Act Of Anti-Abortion Violence (06/01/2009)
NEW YORK – We are shocked and saddened by the murder yesterday of Dr. George Tiller, a doctor in Wichita, Kansas, who for decades provided abortions for women even in the face of harassment and violence. Dr. Tiller continued to care for women after being shot in 1993 and while experiencing relentless threats and harassment at his home, his place of worship and his clinic. We honor Dr. Tiller's courage and compassion throughout his life and condemn his heinous murder.

ACLU Praises Obama’s Decision To Rescind Global Gag Rule (01/23/2009)
WASHINGTON – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union praised President Barack Obama’s efforts to restore quality reproductive health care for women around the world. President Obama rescinded the “Global Gag Rule,” a federal policy supported by the Bush administration that cut off crucial federal funding for family planning services overseas.

National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association and ACLU Ask Court To Block Health Care Denial Rule (01/15/2009)
HARTFORD – The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, today filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the Bush administration's Health Care Denial Rule.

Ms. Magazine Advertisement: The World We Want (07/31/2007)

After NYCLU Intervention, County Drops Neglect Charges Against Sexually Active Teens' Parents (06/11/2007)
NEW YORK - In an order signed Friday, the Suffolk County Office of Child Protective Services has dismissed neglect charges brought against the families of two teenagers because they had failed to stop their children from having consensual sex. After the New York Civil Liberties Union intervened, the county agreed to drop its charges.

Women Don’t Check Their Reproductive Rights at the Jailhouse Door (04/17/2007)

Doe v. Arpaio - Motion for Summary Judgment and Memorandum of Points and Authorities (07/01/2009)

Doe v. Arpaio - Stipulation of Partial Settlement and Proposed Scheduling Order (06/19/2009)
On August 6, 2008, Plaintiffs filed a Motion for contempt and/or For a Modification of the Injunction. The parties have reached a partial settlement on the motion as described below, and request a scheduling order to present legal arguments on the remaining issue that the parties were unable to resolve, namely that Defendants require inmates to prepay transportation and security cost as a condition of accessing abortion care.

National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, et al. v. Leavitt - Complaint (01/15/2009)

ACLU of Massachusetts v. Michael O. Leavitt, et al. - Complaint (01/12/2009)

Doe v. Arpaio - Motion For Contempt (08/06/2008)

ACLU Comments on Health and Human Service's Proposed Rule Change Regarding Provider Conscience Regulation (09/25/2008)

ACLU Letter Opposing Vitter Amendment to Indian Health Care Improvement Act (02/26/2008)
On behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nonpartisan public interest organization dedicated to protecting the constitutional rights of individuals, and its hundreds of thousands of activists, members, and fiftythree affiliates nationwide, we urge you to oppose Senator Vitter’s amendment to “recodify” the Hyde Amendment in Indian Health Service law. The Vitter amendment is unnecessary because it restates current law. It is also bad policy because the Hyde Amendment marginalizes and stigmatizes abortion care and discriminates against a vulnerable population by undermining low-income women’s ability to access a fundamental reproductive right.

In Congress: The year ahead for reproductive rights (01/22/2008)

On the 34th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: New Year, New Congress, New Possibilities (01/22/2007)

Memo to Interested Persons Outlining the ACLU's Opposition to Senate version of The Teen Endangerment Act (07/25/2006)

Reproductive Rights in the Courts: 2009 (02/02/2009)

The Equality Factor (01/22/2008)

In the Courts: The year ahead for reproductive rights (01/22/2008)

Roe v. Wade: 35 Years (01/18/2008)
January 22, 2008, marks the 35th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark abortion rights decision Roe v. Wade. This video features interviews with ACLU staff from across the organization concerning the role of reproductive freedom in ensuring the full-range of civil liberties.

The World We Want (01/22/2007)

Know Your Rights: Pregnancy-Related Health Care in Prison or Jail (08/01/2008)
Information on inmates' right to pregnancy-related care while incarcerated.

Frequently Asked Questions: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Ban on Abortion Methods (05/23/2007)

Case Summaries: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Ban on Abortion Methods (05/18/2007)

Questions and Answers About the Supreme Court's Decision in Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, et al. (01/19/2006)

Abortion Bans: In the States (10/07/2005)
February 2006 - Abortion bans are a deceptive and unconstitutional attempt to prohibit abortions as early as 13 weeks in pregnancy. These bans dangerously interfere with the doctor patient relationship, banning abortions that doctors say are safe and among the best to protect women's health.

Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Gonzales v. Carhart (09/27/2006)
Challenge to a federal abortion ban, adopted in 2003, that lacks an exception to preserve a woman's health and is so broadly written that it would prohibit abortions performed as early as 13 weeks into the pregnancy. DECIDED

Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood (09/22/2005)
Reviewing the legal standard by which courts consider abortion restrictions and whether laws regulating abortion must protect women's health. DECIDED