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Reproductive Freedom
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What You Can Do!
The fight to protect reproductive freedom needs you! Become an ACLU member, join the ACLU Action Network, and learn more about how you can protect reproductive rights in your community.
TAKE ACTION
> Read the Take Issue Take Charge blog
> Refused at the Pharmacy?
> Back Up Your Birth Control
> Keep on Marching
In the U.S. Supreme Court
Since its founding in 1920, the ACLU has recognized that personal privacy and reproductive rights are among our most important constitutional liberties. The ACLU has been involved, in one way or another, with virtually all of the major U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with reproductive freedom. View the timeline
RECENT U.S. SUPREME COURT CASES
> Carhart II: Frequently Asked Questions (2007)
> Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood: Q&A (2006)
> Ferguson: Social and Legal Contexts (2001)
> Carhart I: Legal Analysis (2000)
On the Ground
With the help of its 53 affiliates, the ACLU works to protect reproductive rights across the country. Most recently, grassroots initiatives have been used to repeal a ban on abortion in South Dakota and to defeat ballot initiatives in California and Colorado. Learn more below about the work of the ACLU and its affiliates to defend reproductive rights in the states.
DISPATCHES FROM THE FIELD
> Decisive Victories for Reproductive Freedom
> South Dakota: V-day in SD for Women and Families
> South Dakota: South Dakota Abortion Ban, Here We Go Again
> South Dakota: South Dakota Abortion Ban The Sequel
> Colorado: Protect Private Medical Decisions
AFFILIATE LINKS >
Florida: Providing access for teen health
> Pennsylvania: Sexual assault survivors speak out
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Reproductive Freedom
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General
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Press Releases
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Women's Health Organizations Urge Oversight Agency To Hold Bush Administration Accountable (11/17/2008) Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget urging OIRA to take its responsibilities seriously with respect to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is moving forward with a final regulation that will allow health care providers to withhold vital health care information and services from patients.
ACLU Calls Again for Withdrawal of Regulations Jeopardizing Women’s Health (09/26/2008) WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and all its state affiliates, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the administration to rescind regulations that could seriously undermine access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion.
Proposed Bush Regulations Jeopardize Women’s Health (07/16/2008) Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed its outrage at draft regulations proposed by the Bush administration that could jeopardize access to basic health care for millions of American women, and possibly compel women’s health clinics to hire individuals unwilling to perform everyday job duties.
NYCLU Study Finds Lack of Standards Impedes Access to Women's Health Care in New York Jails; Prompts State Action (03/04/2008) NEW YORK - Women incarcerated in New York State are legally entitled to reproductive health care, but few county jails have policies ensuring access to such care, according to a report released today by the Reproductive Rights Project of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Community Groups Set Deadline for St. Vincent Response (02/29/2008) In a letter sent to the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors on Wednesday, a coalition of community groups called on board members to tell the public by March 4th whether the hospital will share details of its proposed partnership agreement with Catholic-run CHRISTUS Health and how that partnership would affect the provision of family planning, reproductive health services, and end-of-life care at the hospital.
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Reproductive Freedom
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General
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Publications
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Protecting Minors' Health Information Under The Federal Medical Privacy Regulations (03/14/2003)
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Reproductive Freedom
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Legal Documents
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ACLU of Tennessee v. Bredesen Petition for a Writ of Certiorari (05/01/2006) ACLU of Tennessee v. Bredesen Petition for a Writ of Certiorari
Motion Of Plaintiffs-Appellees For Stay of Mandate Pending Filing of Petition For Certiorari (04/07/2006)
Ward v. State of Texas - Amicus Brief (03/30/2006) This case is the result of a prosecutor's decision to put a novel, sweeping, and impermissible construction on a statute. Looking to Senate Bill ("S.B.") 319, which amended the definition of "individual" in the Penal Code, the Potter County District Attorney maintains that Texas Health & Safety Code § 481.122, the statute prohibiting
the delivery of a controlled substance to children, applies to the conduct of pregnant women towards their fetuses. But neither the statute nor the legislative history contains any hint of such an intention. The prosecution of the Appellants here violates the United States and Texas Constitutions in at least three fundamental ways.
ACLU of Massachusetts v. Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (05/16/2005) Defendants have provided more than one million dollars of public funds to an organization called the "Silver Ring Thing" (or "SRT"). The Silver Ring Thing is a ministry that uses abstinence education as a means to bring "unchurched" students to Jesus Christ. Federal dollars support the Silver Ring Thing's religious activities and religious content. Both because the federal funding of the Silver Ring Thing constitutes a direct government grant to a pervasively sectarian institution and because the federal dollars are demonstrably underwriting religious activities and religious content, the funding violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Letter Addressing Settlement Violations in ACLU of Louisiana v. Foster (11/15/2004)
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Reproductive Freedom
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General
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Legislative Documents
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ACLU Comments on Health and Human Service's Proposed Rule Change Regarding Provider Conscience Regulation (09/25/2008)
ACLU Coalition Letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt (07/22/2008) The undersigned medical, public health, religious, advocacy, and research groups committed to
women's health strongly oppose the Department of Health and Human Services’ draft regulations
that could significantly limit women’s access to basic reproductive health services, including
some of the most common forms of birth control. If implemented, these regulations may preempt
state laws that protect women’s access to health care and undermine the nation’s fragile network
of safety net providers that serve low income women. We strongly urge the Department to
immediately abandon its effort to bring about these ill-conceived and harmful policy changes.
Emergency Contraception Education Act Coalition Letter (09/07/2007)
Emergency Contraception Education Act Coalition Letter (09/07/2007)
ACLU Global Gag Rule Letter (09/06/2007)
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Reproductive Freedom
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General
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Resources
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Coalition Letter to Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (11/17/2008) The undersigned groups committed to women’s health are writing to urge OIRA to take its responsibilities seriously with respect to the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) “Provider Conscience Regulation” (RIN 0991-AB48, 73 Fed. Reg. 50274 (Aug. 26, 2008) (to be codified at 45 C.F.R. pt. 88).
ACLU Coalition Letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt (07/22/2008) The undersigned medical, public health, religious, advocacy, and research groups committed to
women's health strongly oppose the Department of Health and Human Services’ draft regulations
that could significantly limit women’s access to basic reproductive health services, including
some of the most common forms of birth control. If implemented, these regulations may preempt
state laws that protect women’s access to health care and undermine the nation’s fragile network
of safety net providers that serve low income women. We strongly urge the Department to
immediately abandon its effort to bring about these ill-conceived and harmful policy changes.
We Stand on Moral Ground (04/25/2005)
Keep on Marching: What You Can Do To Protect Reproductive Freedom (09/09/2004)
Righting Centuries of Reproductive Wrongs at the MARCH FOR WOMEN'S LIVES (04/22/2004)
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Reproductive Freedom
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General
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Fact Sheets
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Coercive and Punitive Governmental Responses to Women's Conduct During Pregnancy (09/30/1997) Arresting the Pregnancy Police
Child Exclusion Policies in Welfare Reform (04/01/1997) Promoting Reproductive Freedom for Low-Income Women
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Reproductive Freedom
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General
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Press Releases
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view all |
Women's Health Organizations Urge Oversight Agency To Hold Bush Administration Accountable (11/17/2008) Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), the Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) today sent a letter to the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget urging OIRA to take its responsibilities seriously with respect to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS is moving forward with a final regulation that will allow health care providers to withhold vital health care information and services from patients.
ACLU Calls Again for Withdrawal of Regulations Jeopardizing Women’s Health (09/26/2008) WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union and all its state affiliates, including Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico, submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services asking the administration to rescind regulations that could seriously undermine access to reproductive health services, including birth control and abortion.
Proposed Bush Regulations Jeopardize Women’s Health (07/16/2008) Washington, DC – The American Civil Liberties Union today expressed its outrage at draft regulations proposed by the Bush administration that could jeopardize access to basic health care for millions of American women, and possibly compel women’s health clinics to hire individuals unwilling to perform everyday job duties.
NYCLU Study Finds Lack of Standards Impedes Access to Women's Health Care in New York Jails; Prompts State Action (03/04/2008) NEW YORK - Women incarcerated in New York State are legally entitled to reproductive health care, but few county jails have policies ensuring access to such care, according to a report released today by the Reproductive Rights Project of the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Community Groups Set Deadline for St. Vincent Response (02/29/2008) In a letter sent to the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors on Wednesday, a coalition of community groups called on board members to tell the public by March 4th whether the hospital will share details of its proposed partnership agreement with Catholic-run CHRISTUS Health and how that partnership would affect the provision of family planning, reproductive health services, and end-of-life care at the hospital.
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