Reproductive Freedom
The most basic right to privacy and liberty is the right to control the health and well being of one’s own body. For that reason, reproductive freedom is one of the most important rights the ACLU works to protect for women and men across the country and here in Wisconsin. Non-discrimination in insurance coverage, access to birth control and abortion, complete and medically accurate information and education about reproduction, and ending the practice of shackling women who carry their pregnancy to term in prison are just a few examples of the ACLU’s reproductive freedom work.
Wisconsin Senators Move to Turn Back the Clock on Sex Ed
Tuesday October 18, 2011
In a fast-moving piece of legislation, Senators are using Governor Walker’s special session on job creation to repeal the progress made after the passage of the 2009 Healthy Youth Act. The Healthy Youth Act raised the state standards for public school human growth and development instruction. This bill requires schools to revert back to the proven failure of abstinence-until-marriage types of instruction. This bill even redefines what “medically accurate” and “age appropriate” means. Read more...
Press Release: 10/18/2011 – Wisconsin Senators Move to Turn Back the Clock on Sex Ed
ACLU of Wisconsin Testifies Against Bill that Would Limit Private Insurance Coverage for Abortion Services
Wednesday May 25, 2011
The Wisconsin Senate Committee on Public Health, Human Resources and Revenue held a hearing on Senate Bill 92, a bill that would ban private insurance companies that provide abortion coverage from participating in future heath care exchanges promised by the Affordable Care Act (recent federal health care reform). The ACLU of Wisconsin was there to testify against the bill because we feel it interferes in women's private medical decisions by taking away insurance coverage for consumers who need comprehensive reproductive care. Read more…
Testimony: 5/25/2011 – ACLU of Wisconsin Urges Senate Public Health Committee to Reject the Proposed Ban on Private Health Insurance for Abortion Services
Merrill School Board Stands Up For Healthy Youth
Friday September 10, 2010
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin would like to send three cheers to the Merrill school board and the Mauston’s school district’s Human Growth and Development Advisory Committee for affirming that fact-based, comprehensive sexuality education should be taught in their local classrooms. The Merrill school board and Mauston’s board committee made decisions that will help young people in their district get the information and life skills they need to make healthy choices throughout their lives. Read more…
Documents: 9/7/2010 – Letter to Juneau County school boards (PDF), legal department memo on purported criminal liability for teaching comprehensive human growth and development under the Healthy Youth Act (PDF)
ACLU of Wisconsin Responds to Juneau County District Attorney’s Attack on New Comprehensive Sexuality Education Law
Tuesday March 4, 2010
The district attorney in Juneau County has made an ill-advised attack on Wisconsin’s newly passed comprehensive sexuality education law. The Healthy Youth Act raises the state standards for human growth and development curricula. But the letter from District Attorney Southworth erroneously compares teaching the facts about reproduction and contraception to the sexual assault of children. “District Attorney Southworth has taken it upon himself to threaten possible prosecution of public school teachers in the county if they implement the new standards that require medically accurate and age-appropriate sex education,” said ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Christopher Ahmuty. Read more…
Press Release: 4/6/2010 - ACLU of Wisconsin Responds to Ill-Advised Attack on New Comprehensive Sex Education Law in Juneau County (PDF)
Juneau County District Attorney letter: 2009 Wisconsin Act 134 – Sex Education Mandates (PDF)
ACLU of Wisconsin Applauds the Passage of the Healthy Youth Act
Friday January 29, 2010
The ACLU of Wisconsin applauds the passage of the Healthy Youth Act, the legislation that will raise state standards for public school human growth and development instruction. The Healthy Youth Act will give Wisconsin teens the tools they need to make healthy and responsible life decisions by providing comprehensive sexuality education that is age appropriate and medically accurate. Read more…
Most recently, the ACLU of Wisconsin supported state budget policy provisions that included contraceptive equity (requiring all insurance plans to provide contraception in their prescription drug coverage), prescription protection (requiring all pharmacies to have someone on staff to dispense FDA-approved contraception in a timely manner for any customer with a valid prescription), and including men among those eligible for federal family planning. The ACLU of Wisconsin supported these provisions which advance equal access to important reproductive health care for men and women in Wisconsin.
We blogged on why mandating insurance companies to cover contraception isn’t discrimination against faith-based employers. Learn more about the ACLU of Wisconsin Foundation’s victory in a lawsuit to guarantee female Marathon County workers the right to contraceptive coverage. You can also read more about our involvement in a Wisconsin case in which a pharmacist refused to fill a woman’s birth control prescription.
For more resources and information on the ACLU’s work on reproductive freedom across the nation, please visit the ACLU’s reproductive freedom webpage.
Milwaukee, WI 53202