open to all two women

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We can be pretty sure that each new day will bring two things: new threats to our civil liberties, and new stories of people standing up for their rights and winning. Behind every court ruling is a person. Behind every landmark law is a movement. Read the stories and hear the voices that ground our work.

Graphic with yellow and red colors. To the left of the image is a Black woman holding a megaphone, in the middle there is a cropped image of a person holding a rally sign reading "No justice, No peace" and on the left is a Black man with his fist raised in the air.
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To Achieve True Reproductive Justice in California, We Must Look Beyond Roe v. Wade

Jun 24, 2022
The ACLU of Northern California fights for Californians’ bodily autonomy and the right to have children, not have children, and parent the children we have with dignity and safety. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has dealt a devastating step back by [dismantling/overturning] Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion, we know that Roe was never e... Read More
Sherman Indian Boarding School
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Confronting the Tragic Legacy of Forced Boarding

Jun 22, 2022
In May 2022, the United States Department of the Interior released Volume 1 of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Report, investigating the centuries-long project that forcibly separated hundreds of thousands of Native American children from their families and tribes. In addition to documenting abuses at these schools, the investigation located 408 schools across 37 states and identifie... Read More
Four people holding signs outside of the Supreme Court that read "Abortion is a right" and "Abortion access for all"
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The Fight to Defend all Californians’ Access to Abortion Continues—No Matter What SCOTUS Decides

May 05, 2022
Californians’ right to bodily autonomy—to make decisions over one’s own life and future—is a deeply held value in our diverse state. This includes the right to abortion. A leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion recently revealed the Court’s intention to explicitly overturn Roe v. Wade and nearly 50 years of precedent guaranteeing the constitutional right to abortion. Read More
Hip hop artist is on stage from the view of the audience
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Prosecutors Used Rap Lyrics as Evidence in a Murder Trial; that’s Racial Bias

Sep 28, 2021
Rap lyrics are protected free speech under the First Amendment. But all too often in trial after trial of Black men, prosecutors introduce this form of artistic expression to secure convictions for serious crimes carrying long prison sentences. Simply put, rap is unfairly seen in the courts, not as an art form, but as inherently incriminating evidence. Read More
Archive graphic
Blog

Exploring the ACLU News Archive: The Fight Against Housing Discrimination in California is a Story of Progress and Backlash

Jul 13, 2021
The ACLU News archive, dating back to 1945, documents the various forms of legalized housing discrimination leveled at Black people in Northern California, and also charts severe backlash to progress, whenever it was made. It provides a snapshot of the ways that businesses, the state, and individuals partnered to exclude Black people from the accumulation of wealth through dispossession and the de... Read More