Strategies & Tools for Gender Equality
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Strategies & Tools for Gender Equality First Edition: Abortion Rights Religious Refusals May 2015 © 2015 Legal Voice COMPILED BY THE ALLIANCE: STATE ADVOCATES FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY OF THE STATES, BY THE STATES, FOR THE STATES Strategies & Tools for Gender Equality TABLE OF CONTENTS • Alliance Organizations Overview ............................................................. 3 • Introduction ............................................................................................. 5 Part 1: Securing and Advancing Abortion Rights • Introduction ............................................................................................. 9 • California Women’s Law Center: California ........................................... 10 • Gender Justice: Minnesota .................................................................... 17 • Legal Voice: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska .................. 19 • Southwest Women’s Law Center: New Mexico ..................................... 30 • Women’s Law Project: Pennsylvania ..................................................... 40 Part 2: Combating Religious Refusals Targeting Women and LGBTQ Individuals • Introduction .......................................................................................... 53 • California Women’s Law Center: California ........................................... 54 • Gender Justice: Minnesota, Nebraska ................................................... 62 • Legal Voice: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska .................. 66 • Southwest Women’s Law Center: New Mexico ..................................... 77 • Women’s Law Project: Pennsylvania ..................................................... 83 Appendix: Alliance Contacts ..................................................................... 85 This publication is sponsored by the National Institute for Reproductive Health Strengthen our States Initiative. The Alliance partners thank our allies at NIRH for their support and collaboration. 2 THE ALLIANCE: STATE ADVOCATES FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS & GENDER EQUALITY is a collaborative of regional law and policy centers working in eleven states across the U.S. – California Women’s Law Center, Gender Justice, Legal Voice, Southwest Women’s Law Center and Women’s Law Project. We have joined forces to strengthen our collective impact, promote pro-active strategies to advance women’s rights, reproductive justice and LGBTQ rights, and to produce clear wins in the states. CURRENT ALLIANCE PARTNERS: CALIFORNIA WOMEN'S LAW CENTER (CWLC) is a nonprofit public interest law and policy center in Los Angeles specializing in the civil rights of women and girls. Founded in 1989, CWLC breaks down barriers and advances the potential of women and girls through transformative litigation, policy advocacy and education. Current CWLC programs focus on reproductive justice, gender discrimination and women’s health, domestic violence, Title IX enforcement, and equal pay. Current initiatives include: California Women Veterans Legal Collaborative, a partnership with Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center of San Francisco to provide statewide legal assistance to female veterans who were victims of sexual assault or violence while in the military; Eliminating Health Barriers Project, a collaborative effort with veteran organizations across CA to work directly with women veterans to develop workable, gender-appropriate and responsive solutions to address obstacles to health care; Just Play Now: STOP Gender Discrimination in High School Sports website and Title IX guide for women and girls; Policy initiatives and training to protect the civil and educational Rights of Pregnant and Parenting Students to stay in school, participate in extra-curricular activities, and receive child care and confidential family planning services; and Reproductive Justice Project, using policy advocacy, community education and collaborations through the Reproductive Justice Coalition of Los Angeles to advance reproductive justice for under-served women in CA, particularly women of color, immigrants and adolescents. GENDER JUSTICE is a nonprofit law firm based in the upper Midwest. Founded in 2010, our mission is to eliminate gender barriers. We pursue our mission through three linked programs: outreach, policy advocacy, and litigation. In each program area, we seek to highlight the central role of cognitive bias – the subtle but pervasive ways that stereotypes affect our perceptions, decision, and preferences – as a cause of inequality. In each program area, we seek to counteract the most harmful consequences of inequality by working to dismantle the gender-based barriers that keep people from full participation in our economy and our society. Gender Justice addresses gender discrimination in all its forms, including discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Gender Justice works on behalf of anyone facing gender discrimination, not only women and girls, but also men and boys and LGBT individuals who challenge gender norms. We focus on those with the least access to justice, such as low-income, immigrant, and rural workers. We address the causes and consequences of gender inequality, both locally and nationally. Current Gender Justice program priorities include co-leading the Women’s Economic Security Agenda coalition, a pro-active legislative campaign addressing the range of legal and policy barriers to women’s economic security in Minnesota; Challenging transgender discrimination in health care, employment and education, and the Pregnancy Without Prejudice Project, raising awareness about pregnant and parenting workers’ rights in MN, strengthening those rights under MN law, and improving enforcement of MN laws prohibiting pregnancy discrimination and supporting pregnant and parenting workers on behalf of women and families statewide. 3 LEGAL VOICE is a regional public interest advocacy organization based in Seattle. Founded in 1978 as Northwest Women’s Law Center, our mission is to pursue justice for all women and girls in the Northwest – Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho, Alaska – through groundbreaking litigation, policy advocacy, and educational tools to help individuals and communities understand their rights and the legal system. We aim to empower women, girls, and sexual minorities who are most marginalized in our communities, and to effect systemic change in the multiple dimensions of women's lives. Legal Voice has forged a long track record of reforms advancing women’s and LGBTQ rights in the Northwest as well as models and precedents used by advocates nationally. In 2009 we adopted the name “Legal Voice” to better convey the multi-issue power of our advocacy to give women a powerful legal voice in our society, and adopted a comprehensive “Women’s Bill of Rights,” which holds that all women have the rights equal treatment and to be free from discrimination; to decide when and how to form and maintain their families; to be safe wherever they are; to economic equality and independence; and to be healthy and active. Current Legal Voice programs are: Advancing Reproductive Rights, Health & Justice in the Northwest; Celebrating Diverse Families; Economic Justice & Workplace Equity for Women; Educational Equity for Women & Girls; Self Help Legal Education; Senior Legal Wellness Program; and Violence Against Women: Response & Prevention. Legal Voice has played a leadership role among our allies in creating The Alliance, and serves as Convening Partner. SOUTHWEST WOMEN’S LAW CENTER (SWLC) is a non-profit legal advocacy organization in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 2005, the SWLC mission is to provide women in New Mexico with the opportunity to achieve their full economic and personal potential by: eliminating gender bias, discrimination and harassment; lifting women and their families out of poverty; and ensuring access to comprehensive reproductive health services and information. SWLC integrates five tools to create social change: legal research; policy analysis; advocacy; community and stakeholder education; and coalition work on local, state and national levels. Current SWLC programs focus on ensuring ACA implementation and Medicaid reform will maximize women’s health care access and advance reproductive justice statewide; strengthening Title IX protections against LGBTQ bullying, athletics discrimination, and discrimination against pregnant and parenting students; securing equal pay and pregnancy accommodations for women workers, and economic security for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. Current SWLC initiatives include partnering with Equality New Mexico to launch the New Mexico Safe Schools Initiative, a multi-year policy and education effort to address bullying and harassment in public schools; partnering with NMWomen.org to help ensure pregnant employees receive appropriate accommodations if they work throughout their pregnancy; partnering with NM Civil Legal Services Commission and Santa Fe Community Foundation to remove barriers to health care for low income and rural women in New Mexico; and collaboration with NM Coalition for Choice allies to advance contraceptive equity and abortion access statewide. WOMEN’S LAW PROJECT (WLP) is a non-profit women’s legal advocacy organization with offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1974, the WLP mission is to create a more just and equitable society by advancing the rights and status of all women throughout their lives.