News & Commentary

In approximately 40 days, Illinois voters will go to the polls. There are many highly-contested races across the State, with many issues driving those races. On that same ballot, you and other voters will have an opportunity to speak out on a matter that the ACLU of Illinois cares about deeply -- unfettered access to birth control.

Pregnancy shouldn’t be a firing offense, but time and time again, when pregnant women ask their employers for reasonable accommodations, they are shown the door.Guadalupe, a pregnant fast food worker in I

Religious refusals are a growing threat in Illinois and across the nation. Each of us has the right to our individual religious beliefs, but the exercise of religious freedom does not include the right to impose our beliefs on others. The Supreme Court’s decision in Hobby Lobby – allowing employers to use their religious beliefs to justify denying employees birth control under their insurance – is just the most recent, public example of this threat; and, the Supreme Court GOT IT WRONG!

Last Friday, ACLU of Illinois Executive Director participated on a panel reviewing the implications of civil liberties for the recently-completed term of the Supreme Court of the United States. (Spoiler alert: not a lot of good news!)

This Letter to the Editor appeared on the Chicago Tribune website on Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Sometime today or tomorrow, the Illinois General Assembly ends the 2014 Spring session. We can report to you that a number of priorities advanced by the ACLU of Illinois during this session are on their way to Governor Pat Quinn. Among those measures moving forward:

A survey by the Journal of American Medical Association, released this week, reveals that seven out of ten Americans support the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that employer sponsored health care packages include contraceptive coverage. Seven out of ten Americans clearly understand that contraceptive coverage is a critical health care issue for women.Yet, for the next few months, the country is debating a very real questio

Writing in the Sun-Times, Cristal Thomas, deputy governor of Illinois, called on the Illinois Senate to pass House Bill 8. The bill would require employers in Illinois to provide reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers, similar to those provided for workers with temporary disabilities. The ACLU of Illinois supports the legislation, sponsored by Representative Mary Flowers, which passed out of the Illinois House on April 10th.Thomas writes:

The Illinois House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation to protect the health and well-being of pregnant workers, recognizing that current state and federal laws fail to guarantee reasonable workplace accommodations for being pregnant. Sponsored by Rep. Mary Flowers and supported by the ACLU of Illinois, the bill would assure pregnant employees are granted simple, but health-protecting, accommodations that do not pose undue burdens on employers: more frequent bathroom and water breaks, the ability to have a place to sit, manual labor assistance, light duty assignments and schedule adjustments, post-partum time off, and access to a private breast-feeding area upon returning to work. None of these types of accommodations are legally available to pregnant workers under existing laws creating the need for legislative action.