Take Action

Yesterday, there was an agreement to vitiate the cloture petition on the nomination of Jesse Furman to the Southern District of New York. In plain English, that means that the Senate minority decided that it was a bad idea to filibuster a district court nominee who was unanimously voted out of committee, especially after faux-filibustering Adalberto Jordan, a Cuban-American nominee to the Eleventh Circuit, a few days earlier. Read more »

Call your Senators NOW!

Call 1-888-838-5169 to tell your Senators to oppose the Blunt Amendment because it would eliminate access to no-cost birth control and other critical health care services.

Last week, President Obama announced that he would continue to protect women's access to birth control without co-pays or deductibles regardless of where they work, including at certain religiously-affiliated employers, while accommodating religious institutions' opposition to contraception.

Despite this accommodation, opponents of birth control in Congress are continuing their attacks on the contraceptive coverage requirement and the Affordable Care Act and they're going to vote VERY SOON on the dangerous and harmful Blunt Amendment. Call 1-888-838-5169 now to tell your Senators to reject the Blunt Amendment. 

The Blunt Amendment would, among other things, allow any corporation whose CEO opposes contraception based on his "moral convictions" to deny all coverage of contraception or any other health care service to the company's employees.

We need your help! Call 1-888-838-5169 TODAY to tell your Senators that you support the President's decision on birth control and oppose the Blunt Amendment because it would eliminate your access to no-cost birth control and other critical health care services. Read more »

We are starting 2012 much as we ended 2011 -- with a minority of U.S. Senators blocking confirmation votes on federal judicial nominees. Most recently, Senator Mike Lee of Utah announced his intention to block votes on all judicial and executive branch nominees. Even though a nominee to a Utah court -- whom Senator Lee supports -- is waiting for a vote, Senator Lee won't back down.

If this sounds familiar, it's because we've seen the same story play out over and over. Enough is enough: tell your Senators to vote on ALL judicial nominees.

There are 18 nominees ready for a Senate vote, eight of whom are women. If these eight women are confirmed, the gender diversity of two circuit courts and numerous district courts around the country would increase significantly. While President Obama's nominees have been more diverse than any prior President's, the Senate has to confirm them in order for people needing justice to actually benefit from a more diverse bench. Read more »

Yesterday, President Obama made an announcement that took the responsibility from certain religiously-affiliated employers and gave it to insurance companies for covering contraception with no co-pays or deductibles. This accommodation will protect women's access to birth control and without extra cost, regardless of where they work. We will closely monitor the implementation of this new rule and work to make sure that all women have access to this essential health benefit.

However, opponents of birth control in Congress are still focused on taking away access to contraception introducing extreme legislation that threatens health across the board. The pieces of legislation range from allowing any employer, regardless of whether it is a religious entity, to deny coverage of contraception to giving employers the right to refuse coverage of any health care service they find religiously or morally objectionable.

They are playing politics with women's health – and it would hurt everyone. Tell your Senators to reject all extreme legislation that would take away women's access to birth control without a co-pay, and other needed health care. Read more »

Last week, together we secured a victory against efforts that would have harmed women's health. After hearing from women and men across the country, Susan G. Komen for the Cure reversed its decision to stop funding breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health clinics. When people come together to protect access to critical women's health services, we're a force to be reckoned with.

But opponents of women's health are at it again. They're attacking the recent Obama administration decision to make contraception widely available to women without co-pays. Help us push back on these attacks on affordable access to birth control — tell the Obama administration you support no-cost birth control by signing the petition on the White House website. Read more »

They're at it again. I'm sure you remember the feverish news cycle — federal unemployment insurance (UI) benefits were set to expire right before the holidays in December. House Republicans passed a bill that would slash the UI safety net (and more). At the last minute, Congress agreed to continue federal UI benefits for two months. But that extension expires in less than a month. We need your help to prevent millions of unemployed workers from losing the lifeline of UI benefits.

Tell Congress: Fully Renew Unemployment Insurance for 2012 — no cuts, no barriers to benefits!

The House Republican leadership is still pushing to dismantle UI, with drastic benefit cuts and new barriers that would prevent many jobless workers from accessing these vital benefits. Read more »

It's not easy to be an unemployed worker in South Carolina. Unemployment is sky-high, jobs are scarce, and last year the legislature cut state unemployment insurance (UI) benefits down to just 20 weeks — the lowest level in the country.

But while workers and families struggle in this tough economy, the state Senate will soon vote on two bills that would block access to critical UI benefits for many South Carolinians:

• S. 1026 would deny benefits to steady part-time workers — mostly women — who lose their jobs and cannot take on full-time employment due to child care responsibilities or other family obligations.
• S. 1069 would cut benefits for seasonal workers who have lost their jobs by making them ineligible for any benefits during the off-season.

We need your help to stop these bills from moving forward! Click here to look up your state Senator's phone number. Then, call and ask him to vote NO on S. 1026 and S. 1069! Read more »

We have all seen tragic headlines like this: Student Commits Suicide over Homophobic Slurs. School Cancels Prom over Lesbian Couple. Parents of Gay Teen Say Bullying Caused Death.

Students who are or are perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) are especially at risk for bullying and harassment at school. Every day, students across the country endure the devastating impacts of this kind of bullying; sinking academic performance, health risks, and dropping out.

Title IX prohibits discrimination based on sex, but did you know there is no federal law prohibiting LGBT discrimination in schools? You can help provide a safe learning environment for all students.

Make a call today and ask your Senators to co-sponsor an important piece of legislation, the Student Non-Discrimination Act, to prevent LGBT discrimination in K-12 public schools. It's easy. Dial (202) 224-3121 TODAY and ask to be connected to your Senators' offices. Read more »

As the old adage goes, you can't solve a problem unless you're able to define it.

We know that girls who play sports reap benefits both on and off the field. But we also know that girls across the country are still not getting equal opportunities to play sports or equal treatment when they do play. To make matters worse, when parents and students try to find out how their schools are allocating valuable athletic opportunities and resources, they are not able to get information.

High schools, like colleges, should be required to make information about their sports programs publicly available. Please ask your Members of Congress to support the High School Athletics Accountability Act, H.R. 458, and the High School Data Transparency Act, S. 1269. These two bills would require high schools to report information, broken down by gender, on sports participation and expenditures. Schools are already collecting this information, but since it is not public, parents and students cannot evaluate their athletics programs to make sure that girls are being treated fairly. Read more »

Because of you, many women will not lose access to no-cost birth control under the health care law.

For months now, we've been updating you on a new "interim" rule that would provide women across the country access to birth control with no co-pays. This morning, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it was issuing a final rule providing contraceptives without co-pays and refused to expand the religious employer exemption.

Over the summer in its temporary rules, HHS deemed birth control a necessary preventive health service for women, thus requiring coverage without co-pays by the Affordable Care Act. It also would allow a narrow set of religious employers to deny this critical coverage to their employees. But that didn't satisfy opponents of contraception. They wanted the coverage to be dropped, or at least to expand the exception to nearly 1.5 million employees and the women in their families. HHS stood firm, taking a giant step forward in protecting women's health.

Join us in thanking Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for standing firm and issuing a final rule providing women access to birth control with no co-pays.  Read more »