News & Commentary

Today marks the 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. Instead of honoring that legacy of support for women, the U.S. House of Representatives is planning a throwback Thursday, marking the occasion by rolling back women's health with a vote on a federal abortion ban.

42 years after Roe v. Wade, abortion opponents wave around pictures of fetuses floating through space in bubbles. Erased from these images are the pregnant women who actually carry fetuses. Let's put women back into the picture.

Emily Herx never imagined that she could lose her job for trying to get pregnant. But after working for more than seven years as a literature and language arts teacher at a Catholic school in Indiana, she was shocked to learn that her teaching contract would not be renewed: All because the in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment she was undergoing in an attempt to have a second child made her a "grave, immoral sinner" in the eyes of her religious employers.

A long overdue budget fix will provide Peace Corps volunteers and trainees with abortion coverage in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest – finally bringing their coverage in line with that of all other federal employees.

Late last week, the Arkansas Medical Board initially voted 7-6 not to intrude into the relationship between women and their doctors. They declined to require medical providers to perform an ultrasound exam for a woman seeking abortion care, and then – regardless of the patient's wishes – to inform her if the exam detected a fetal heart tone.

As the 2014 California legislative session came to an end, you may have seen headlines about California passing a “first-in-the-nation law.” While these headlines covered issues such as the statewide plastic-bag ban, they also applied to landmark civil liberties and civil rights legislation sponsored by the ACLU of California.

AB 2350 would prohibit universities from requiring a graduate student to take a leave of absence, withdraw from the graduate program, or limit his or her graduate studies solely due to pregnancy or pregnancy-related issues.

SB 1094, a bill that would strengthen the California Attorney General’s oversight of hospital mergers, will be voted on by the Assembly this Monday, August 18. Please look up and email your Assemblymember to urge them to vote YES on SB 1094.

Even though we live in a state where Medi-Cal dollars can be used for pregnancy care, including abortion, many people cannot take time off work to seek abortion care. That’s because 39% of the US workforce, including seven million Californians, earn no paid sick leave whatsoever. AB 1522 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez addresses this problem in California.