Home : Reproductive Freedom : Abortion

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Federal Abortion Restriction
The ACLU sharply criticized a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a federal law banning certain abortions. It is the first abortion decision from the Supreme Court since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired. The ACLU said that the Court's decision will endanger women's health. Read more
ABOUT THE DECISION
> Frequently Asked Questions NEW!
> Legal Challenges to the Federal Abortion Ban
> Reproductive Rights Timeline
IN THE SUPREME COURT
> Justice Ginsburg's Dissenting Opinion
> ACLU Brief: Gonzales v. Carhart:
> ACLU Brief: Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood:
> Oral Argument: Gonzales v. Carhart
> Oral Argument: Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood

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
> 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

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.

ACLU Reminds "America's Toughest Sheriff" That He's Not Above The Law (08/07/2008)
PHOENIX - The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion yesterday to hold Maricopa County Sheriff Joseph Arpaio in contempt for disobeying a court order that would allow women prisoners in Maricopa County to obtain timely, safe, and legal abortions. In addition, today's motion asks the court to provide additional safeguards for women prisoners seeking abortion care.

Tennessee Organizations Call On Fowler To Stop Misleading The Public On SJR127 (04/29/2008)
Five Tennessee organizations joined forces today to declare that state legislators should look beyond the election year rhetoric of the promoters of SJR127, including former State Senator-turned-lobbyist David Fowler. "Just say NO is our message," according to Judy Poulson, President of the League of Women Voters of Tennessee.

High Court Refuses to Review Arizona Prison’s Abortion Policy (03/24/2008)
Washington, DC - The United States Supreme Court announced today that it would not review a lower court decision preventing prison officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, from interfering with women prisoners’ access to timely, safe, and legal abortion care.

ACLU Online Video Examines Roe v. Wade's Importance for Civil Liberties, 35 Years Later (01/22/2008)
NEW YORK - On today's 35^th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark abortion rights decision, the American Civil Liberties Union announced the release of an online video examining the role of reproductive freedom in ensuring the full-range of civil liberties.

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 Contempt (08/06/2008)

Arpaio v. Doe - Respondents' Brief in Opposition (02/20/2008)
Whether the Arizona Court of Appeals properly held that Maricopa County’s unwritten policy prohibiting the transportation of inmates for the purpose of obtaining non-therapeutic abortions violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

Doe v. Arpaio - Appellee's Answering Brief (05/12/2006)
The ACLU's Appellee's Answering Brief in Doe v. Arpaio.

ACLU Complaint in Weyhrich v. Wasden (04/18/2005)

Memorandum of Law in Support of Plaintiffs' Motion for a Temporary Injunction in ACLU of Florida v. Hood (08/02/2004)

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)

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

The Equality Factor (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: Discussion Guide (01/22/2007)

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