Released on August 14, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Blueprint for Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice released First Priorities, a detailed punch list of executive and agency actions for the opening days of an incoming administration. “Women have lost so much ground under the Trump administration to the essential health services they depend
Released on July 18, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – At Congressman John Lewis’s last appearance in Selma, Alabama to commemorate the historic 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge—where state troopers launched a vicious attack on peaceful demonstrators that left him with a fractured skull,–– he returned to a message that he advocated for throughout his life, the power of the right to vote. Already diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer, John Lewis looked back on that day
Released on July 17, 2020 WASHINGTON – One of the cruelest initiatives yet proposed by the Trump Administration threatens to send victims of violence applying for asylum in the U.S. back home to face even more violence or perhaps death. The National Organization for Women (NOW) and our allies in the domestic violence and sexual assault prevention communities have worked for
Released on July 17, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Washington Post’s extensive reporting on years of sexual harassment and verbal abuse directed at female employees, and ignored or condoned by top executives within Washington’s football organization is shocking, but not surprising. The culture of contempt for women, violence against women, and disregard for women’s safety has long been a blight on the NFL. Team owner Daniel Snyder
Released on July 9, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a joint statement this week, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Ultraviolet Action, National Organization for Women (NOW), National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, Population Connection Action Fund, and All* Above All Action Fund called on the Democratic Party to deepen its advocacy for reproductive freedom. Together, the
Released on July 8, 2020 WASHINGTON ,D.C. – Religion is no excuse for bigotry—but the Supreme Court has carved out a new exemption for employers who want to impose their personal beliefs over the health and rights of their workers. By allowing virtually any employer or university to opt-out of the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that contraception be covered by
Released on July 1, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – NOW and over 50 women’s rights and civil rights organizations filed a joint amicus curiae brief (with the assistance of Winston & Strawn LLP) urging the enshrinement of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in the Constitution. The brief was submitted in support of a lawsuit brought by the Attorneys General of Virginia, Illinois, and Nevada – all three states having recently passed ratification measures. Their lawsuit argues that the
Released on June 29, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Supreme Court’s decision today in June Medical Services v. Russo struck down a Louisiana law imposing targeted restrictions on abortion providers (TRAP laws) that the Court had previously found unconstitutional in Texas. TRAP laws are not designed to protect women’s health, but rather to expand the power of patriarchal church leaders and conservative Republicans and
Released on June 26, 2020 WAHSINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives took a step toward justice by passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020, but Mitch McConnell has already signaled he has no intention of taking up this measure in the Senate. Senators who want to squarely address racism and violence in law enforcement disagree. NOW joined the Leadership Conference on
Released on June 24, 2020 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Moments ago, the Senate voted to confirm Judge Cory Wilson to the already conservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. This court has jurisdiction over courts across Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas – three states with severely limited abortion access. By adding Wilson to the bench, the Trump administration and Senate Republicans have made this court a monumental threat to women’s rights and reproductive freedom
