News & Commentary

If implemented, SB 1053 (Mitchell), would help protect women’s health by building on existing federal and California state law to eliminate remaining restrictions on access to contraception.

This year the California Legislature can take another step toward ending a shameful chapter in the state’s history—coerced sterilization of its most vulnerable residents.

State programs that otherwise provide support to California’s poorest families include diapers on a list of disallowed items along with alcohol and cigarettes. This means that these families aren’t receiving the help they need to keep their babies in clean diapers.

This week’s unprecedented Hobby Lobby decision deserves the widespread criticism it has attracted: the Supreme Court decreed that corporations, which lack souls, have religious beliefs; even more jaw-dropping, it decreed that those anthropomorphic beliefs trump workers’ health, reproductive choices and equality.

Today, the Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts law creating a 35 foot buffer zone around abortion facilities. The Court balanced two fundamental rights: freedom of speech on public sidewalks and women’s right to access reproductive health care. At the ACLU, we care deeply about both rights, and believe that in balancing rights in conflict the goal is to safeguard both. In our view, the Court gave too little weight to the real world experience of women who have suffered harassment, obstruction and intimidation in seeking care.

Angelica Salceda, an 2013 Equal Justice Works Fellow with the ACLU of Northern California, is helping implement the Pregnant and Parenting Student Project for teen parents to receive the adequate resources they need to succeed in their academics. Read about her important work in the community with Equal Justice Works.

When I was young, my mom was on welfare. She wasn't unlike other moms on our South Los Angeles block: single, working multiple jobs, and doing her best to keep her head above water. My mom braved the stigma that is tethered to receiving state benefits. Braving it is what poor people do...

This Mother’s Day, I want to honor mothers of all ages—the young and old—including myself. As a seventeen year old mother, I know all too well both the joys and struggles of motherhood. When I became pregnant at 14, I knew my life would change dramatically but because of the way teen mothers are stigmatized, I never imagined I could be this happy.

California has long been a leader in ensuring social safety net programs for poor families but the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule is hurting our reputation. The MFG rule says that if a parent or guardian has been receiving aid from CalWORKS for ten months consecutively, any child conceived within that timeframe is blocked for life from receiving the same assistance granted to their siblings.