News & Commentary

There is plenty of disturbing news these days about the attempts to roll back the right to abortion. There is no question about it — we are living in a country where politicians are as determined as ever to obstruct access to basic reproductive rights. But there have been recent bright spots. I can’t live up to the hilarity of my colleague’s “Anyone Can Legally Say ‘Eat Shit, Bob’” blog, but I can promise good news.For starters, federal district court judges in Alabama and Arkansas blocked outrageous restrictions on abortion access. The Alabama law was extreme: It amended the state’s law related to parental consent for an abortion. If a teen is unable to obtain parental consent — or fears doing so — she may seek a court order allowing her to proceed with an abortion without her parents’ consent. This is already a daunting obstacle to abortion access. But Alabama decided to add insult to injury by forcing the teen to stand trial, including allowing the court to appoint a lawyer for the fetus. The law was so absurd that Jessica Williams was all over it on The Daily Show.

Black Womens Equal Pay Day represents how long it would take for a black woman to make the same amount of money that the average white man made in 2016. Comparatively, black women make 63 cents on the dollar.

The ACLU joined privacy groups from across the political spectrum, including Freedom Works and Demand Progress, to deliver the public’s petitions for surveillance reform directly in the halls of Congress. We delivered over 100,000 petitions to members of the House of Representatives urging them to reform the government’s warrantless surveillance powers under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of this year.

This weekend marks the beginning of a statewide voting rights restoration campaign that the ACLU of Alabama and Legal Services Alabama are partnering on. Historically, anyone who commits a crime of moral turpitude loses their right to vote in Alabama; however, it has never been clear what specifically was a crime of moral turpitude, which has resulted in inconsistency and confusion across the state.

In case you missed it, here are a few highlights and headlines regarding the ACLU and ACLU related issues. 

Last week, the ACLU caught up with physician Yashica Robinson, an abortion provider from Alabama and recipient of the 2017 George Tiller, M.D. Award from Physicians for Reproductive Health.

In a guest blog post, the Rosa Parks Museum reflects on the significance of Juneteenth, which commemorates the official, final abolishment of slavery in the United States. This date celebrates freedom, equality, and African American culture.

The 2017 legislative session ended May 19, and to many, it seemed to be among the most contentious of recent years. In addition to the removal of Chief Justice Roy Moore and the resignation of Governor Robert Bentley, there were heated debates over many issues such as the federal court-ordered reapportionment, prison construction, confederate monuments, and a racist joke about monkeys.

Here are a few of the basics on what public schools can and can’t do when it comes to dress codes.