The State Senate early today passed legislation that enhances penalties for those who attack reproductive health care providers. The New York Civil Liberties Union called on senators to further demonstrate their commitment to reproductive freedom by passing the Reproductive Health Act, a bill that would strengthen and modernize New York’s abortion laws.

Tomorrow, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the Correctional Association of New York and Women on the Rise Telling HerStory (WORTH) will hold a rally and press conference outside Gov. David Paterson’s Manhattan office urging the governor to sign legislation that would restrict the use of shackles on pregnant inmates during labor and after delivery.

The New York Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Rights Project (RRP) today released a 10-minute video to educate New Yorkers about the need to pass the Reproductive Health Act, legislation that would strengthen and modernize New York's abortion laws.

In anticipation of its passage later today, the New York Civil Liberties Union applauded the City Council for legislation that will close perceived loopholes in current law and safeguard women’s access to reproductive health care clinics while protecting the protest rights of abortion opponents.

The Brooklyn Public Library has apologized to a Brooklyn woman who on two occasions was harassed by a security guard while attempting to breastfeed her infant daughter at the library’s Flatlands Branch. The woman, Danielle Glanvill, contacted the New York Civil Liberties Union about the harassment.

Under a new policy announced today, women in the New York National Guard serving on a state active duty task force will no longer be required to take mandatory pregnancy tests or face dismissal from the force if they become pregnant. Instead, they will be treated the same as men who become injured or disabled during a state active duty mission. The change occurred in response to objections raised by the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU’s New York State affiliate.

In an agreement announced today with the New York Civil Liberties Union, the New York City Department of Education will move the high school girls’ soccer season from spring to fall starting next school year. The change gives girls’ soccer players opportunities for athletic development and college recruitment already provided to boys, who play soccer in the fall along with the city’s private schools and the public schools in all of the state’s other counties.

The New York Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Rights Project (RRP) today released a report calling on New York City lawmakers to maintain and expand support services for pregnant and parenting teens in the city’s public schools.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today strongly condemned regulations proposed by the Bush administration that could jeopardize access to contraception and other basic health care services for millions of women in New York and across the country. The regulations were issued despite 200,000 comments that were filed in opposition by the ACLU and its state affiliates, medical associations, women’s health organizations, members of Congress, state governors and attorneys general, religious advocates and the general public.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today testified before a City Council committee in support of a bill that would safeguard women’s access to reproductive health care clinics while protecting abortion opponents’ free speech rights.