California’s budget crisis has resulted in reduced services available from the two major programs designed to help pregnant and parenting teens graduate from high school — Cal-SAFE and Cal-LEARN. Cal-SAFE is a voluntary program that provides school and community-based services for pregnant and parenting teens and child care and development services for their children. Cal-SAFE funds have dwindled since 2009... [Read More]
In 2012, getting pregnant can still cost you your job. Thanks to a gap courts have opened between discrimination and disability laws, employers in other states are refusing to accommodate even simple requests that help workers maintain a healthy pregnancy. For example, thanks to the pregnancy loophole, a retail sales associate in Salina, Kansas was fired for drinking water while working because it violated store policy. ... [Read More]
Recent budget cuts to state health and human services programs such as Medi-Cal and CalWORKS will disproportionately affect women. Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid program and CalWORKs is the state’s welfare-to-work program. About two-thirds of adult Medi-Cal beneficiaries are women and about 78% of adult CalWORKs beneficiaries are women. In 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the state’s... [Read More]
California voters may face another measure on the ballot concerning parental notification for minors seeking abortions. Two initiatives have been certified to circulate for signatures. To qualify for the ballot, the proponent must collect 807,615 signatures of registered voters by June 11, 2012. One measure proposes to amend the California Constitution to prohibit abortion for an unemancipated minor until a physician... [Read More]
Senator Christine Kehoe, (D-San Diego) introduced legislation to ensure women have safe and early access to comprehensive reproductive health care from trained local providers. Introduced February 24, 2012, SB 1338 (formerly S.B. 1501) would allow nurse practitioners, certified nurse midwives and physician assistants to obtain training and then to provide early safe abortion under the terms of their licenses. The procedure,... [Read More]
In October 2011, San Francisco passed an ordinance prohibiting “pregnancy crisis centers” from engaging in misleading advertising. The ordinance allows courts to fine these centers, which counsel pregnant women against abortions, up to $500 every time they falsely advertise or imply that they offer abortion services. First Resort, Inc., one of the centers targeted by the ordinance, filed suit in the United States... [Read More]
In July 2011, the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Hoye, II v. City of Oakland, in which the California Women’s Law Center filed an amicus brief in support of the city. The case involved a challenge to Oakland’s “bubble” ordinance, which creates a 100-foot zone around entrances to reproductive health clinics. The ordinance makes it unlawful to “willfully and knowingly approach within eight feet of any... [Read More]
CWLC is thrilled to announce the 2012 recipients of the Abby J. Leibman Pursuit of Justice Awards. Julia R. Wilson serves as the Executive Director of OneJustice and the Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC). As Executive Director of the sister organizations, she is responsible for leading statewide advocacy efforts on behalf of the legal services delivery system, undertaking multiple statewide strategic... [Read More]
California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation intended to afford pregnant women more employment and insurance protection. Effective January 1, 2012, two sets of legislation, SB 299 and AB 592, along with SB 222 and AB 210, attempt to ensure that pregnant women in California are able to maintain health insurance benefits while on a pregnancy-related leave. Previously, California’s Pregnancy Disability... [Read More]
In 2011, despite record unemployment and the rise of extreme poverty across the country, politicians and lawmakers paid unprecedented attention to women’s reproductive health and rights. According to a study by the Guttmacher Institute, legislators in all 50 states introduced more than 1,100 reproductive health and rights-related provisions. By the end of 2011, 135 of these provisions had been enacted in 36 states. ... [Read More]