Equal Pay for Equal Work - Pass the Paycheck Fairness Act                ACT NOW

Equal Pay Day — this year, April 12^th — marks how far women, on average, have to work into 2011 to be paid the same as men were paid in 2010. Women who work full time still earn, on average, 77 cents for every dollar men earn. For women of color, the numbers are worse. In 2009, African American women made only 62 cents and Latinas only 53 cents for every dollar earned by white men. 

In the 111th Congress, this important legislation passed overwhelmingly in the House of Representatives and fell just two votes short of moving forward in the Senate.  On Equal Pay Day, April 12, 2011, Senator Barbara Mikulski and Representative Rosa DeLauro will reintroduce this much-needed update to the Equal Pay Act of 1963, a law that has not been able to achieve its promise of closing the wage gap because of limited enforcement tools and inadequate remedies.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would make critical changes to the law, including:

• requiring employers to demonstrate that wage differentials are based on factors other than sex;
• prohibiting retaliation against workers who inquire about their employers’ wage practices or disclose their own wages;
• permitting reasonable comparisons between employees within clearly defined geographical areas to determine fair wages;
• strengthening penalties for equal pay violations;
• directing the Department of Labor to assist employers and collect wage-related data; and
• authorizing additional training for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission staff to better identify and handle wage disputes.

The time has come to make equal pay a reality. During this climate of unprecedented economic uncertainty, nothing could be more important than ensuring all workers receive equal pay for equal work. 

We hope you will let your Members of Congress know that we need them to support and co-sponsor the Paycheck Fairness Act now in order to make “celebrating” Equal Pay Day obsolete.

It's come down to this: A final showdown in Congress to determine the future of women's health in our country

The opponents of reproductive rights in Congress will stop at nothing — including shutting down the government as soon as Friday — to forward their own narrow social agenda. Their goal? To end all federal funding to Planned Parenthood and put excessive and undue roadblocks in the way of women trying to protect their health and that of their families.

This assault is unprecedented, and it must stop. That's why thousands of Americans will descend on Washington, DC tomorrow to defend women's health from an extremist Congress determined to roll back access to reproductive health care. It's part of a National Lobby Day to make sure Congress protects women.

I'm doing everything I can to make sure my voice and the voices of thousands of ACLU supporters are heard. I hope you'll join me by taking action right now.

Stand up for women's health. Call and email your members of Congress right now.    Facebook and Twitter.

Calling All Men & Women Who Care

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade recognizing a woman's right to made decisions about her own health care.  That was thirty-eight years ago. 

 Those of us, now mothers of grown daughters or grandmothers of growing granddaughters, know the many stories of women who died from illegal abortions or severely damaged themselves in efforts to end an unwanted pregnancy. Our daughters and granddaughters haven't heard the stories.  For them, as 22 year old Jill Ackerman wrote in nj.com, the case "settled in as part of American history".  She goes on to say that most women of her generation take the rights for granted and don't realize that fear of losing them is not hypothetical.  In the last decade, state lawmakers have introduced more than 5000 anti-choice measures.

Currently in the Indiana State Legislature, there are twenty bills dealing with reproductive rights; fifteen of which are anti-choice and opposed by the ACLU-IN.

The following list provides insight into the breadth and nature of the assault on women’s reproductive rights:

Prohibits state agencies from contracts with Planned Parenthood (SB 20), from funding any entity providing abortions (HB 1205)

• Requires prior to abortion, ultrasound (SB 50), information about other options, risks (SB 328), oral and written information regarding risks, available assistance, existing law (SB 457), possibility that fetus feels pain (HB 1210)
• Disallows abortion coverage in health plans (SB 116/SB 241)
• Prohibits abortion except to save the life of the mother (SB 290)
• Permits pharmacists to refuse to dispense an abortion inducing drug (SB 488/ HB 1228)
• Requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges in the county or adjacent county where abortion is performed (SB 328/HB 1204/HB 1210)
• Declares that a fetus of 20 weeks to have attained viability (HB 1227)

 To assist the ACLU-IN in its efforts to oppose any legislation restricting women’s rights, contact your State legislators.  Email addresses can be found at www.in.gov/legislative/contact/

Roberta Schonemann

VP-Communications Committee