News & Commentary

At the ACLU, we frequently see historic civil liberties battles recurring in new guises. The cases on contraceptive coverage in employee health plans argued before the Supreme Court last week present a familiar scenario: in times of rapid social progress, those resisting equality claim a religious right to discriminate.

From all over California, people in need of abortion care travel for hours leaving behind children, partners, and dependent parents. Abortion still remains one of the safest and most sought-out medical procedures.

If there is a common theme running through the hundreds of bills restricting access to abortion passed throughout the country, it’s that women cannot be trusted to decide whether to have a baby.
But California, happily, recognizes that women are fully capable of making moral decisions about pregnancy.

Youth advocates hosted a community forum in Fresno, launching their campaign for better sexual health education in Fresno Unified schools.

A recent report titled California’s Most Vulnerable Parents: A Population-Based Examination of Youth Involved with Child Protective Services captures the existing need to provide services and resources to a vulnerable and often forgotten population—pregnant and parenting foster youth.

The ACLU of California took a position on over 118 bills before the legislature. This year stands as one of the most robust in advancing our civil liberties: the governor signed into law 12 of our priority bills.

Yesterday, Governor Brown signed AB 154 to expand access to abortion in California. The legislation addresses a current shortage in the state—52% of California counties don’t have an accessible abortion provider—and allows women to receive care in their own communities from providers they already know and trust. At a time when reproductive health, rights, and justice are under attack in so much of our country, the success of AB 154 is not just a California victory, it’s a national one.

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, which in 1976 stripped poor women of Medicaid coverage for abortion, turning a legal right into something that is out of reach for many.

Abstinence-only-until-marriage instruction is still taught in a surprising number of Northern California school districts, despite a state law that prohibits it in public schools. Reproductive Justice Policy Director Phyllida Burlingame discusses the challenges of enforcing the law and what the ACLU is doing to help young people get the information they need to protect their sexual and reproductive health.