Reproductive Rights

The California Constitution explicitly protects reproductive privacy, making the state a relative safe haven for women who make the difficult choice to end a pregnancy. The ACLU of Northern California worked hard to secure this right. We continue to use litigation, legislative advocacy, public education, and grassroots organizing to protect and advance the rights of all California women to make informed personal decisions about childbearing.

Roe v. Wade 35th Anniversary
Roe v. Wade turns 35 this month. With this anniversary, we mark over three decades of reproductive freedom and progress towards women’s equality. The ability to control whether and when to have children is critical to women’s ability to participate in the social, economic and political life of the country. Access to contraception and abortion have allowed so many women to make important life decisions. But we still have a long way to go in achieving freedom and fairness.
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U.S. Supreme Court Decision Undermines Roe v. Wade
The U.S. Supreme Court decision issued on April 18, 2007 upholding a federal law banning certain abortions will endanger women’s health and is a set back for all Americans who believe politicians should not legislate medical decision-making. The decision disregards the opinion of leading doctors and medical organizations that oppose the ban because it is harmful to women’s health.
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Your Health, Your Rights
If you're a teen in California, you have rights. And that’s what this booklet is about-your right to privacy and reproductive health care. It has lots of information about different things that may come up in your life.

To order more, click here.

ALSO:
In Spanish
Bilingual Wallet Card
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Sex Education in California Public Schools: Are Students Learning What They Need To Know?
Despite recent improvements, California teenagers continue to have rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections (STI) that would be considered a crisis in many countries. In fact, teen birth rates for California are higher than those for every other Western democracy in the world.1 This raises the question of whether the state’s public schools are adequately educating young people about their sexual health. This survey of middle and high schools indicates that parents want quality sex education, but that schools’ efforts to provide it face many obstacles.
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