While choice advocates were busy focused on the amendments flying around at the national level to prohibit abortion coverage in health insurance, a similar anti-choice discussion had begun right here in Wake County. On January 19th, the town council of Apex unanimously approved a change to the health insurance policies of its employees that would remove coverage for elective abortion procedures from the Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage their employees receive from the town. The new policy took effect on February 1st.

On Tuesday, the ACLU-NC participated in a press conference announcing the release of NC Stop Torture Now's Scorecard ranking the work of the Obama Administration addressing torture and extraordinary rendition. While the press conference was unfortunately not widely covered, the issues addressed and the scorecard itself should still weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of civil libertarians and all Americans. The prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment found in the Eighth Amendment of the U.S.

Reserve your tickets for the ACLU-NC Legal Foundation's Frank Porter Graham Awards Ceremony today! Our annual awards ceremony honors North Carolinians who have strived to defend civil rights and civil liberties. The event is on February 13. Reserve your tickets today and join us in honoring:

Frank Porter Graham Award - Jimmy Creech
ACLU of North Carolina Award - Juvencio Rocha Peralta
Paul Green Award - Jeremy Collins & Charmaine Fuller Cooper

The ACLU-NC will be participating in the Historic Thousands on Jones Street March on the North Carolina General Assembly once again. Join us to support equal access to sound education, racial justice, abolishing the death penalty and a number of other important civil liberties concerns.

What: HK on J 4 March

Where: Shaw University in front of Estey Hall in Raleigh

When: 9:30 a.m., Saturday, February 13th

Who: the HK on J Coalition led by the NC NAACP with over 70 social justice, civil rights, and civil liberties organizations from around the state

On December 24th, the Senate passed its version of health care reform. Like the House bill, the Senate version contained overly burdensome restrictions on insurance that covers abortion while stigmatizing the procedure and women who wish to have abortion coverage.

Send a letter to your members of Congress and ask them not to put politics before the lives and health of women.

The Senate just voted to table the Hatch-Nelson amendment which was virtually identical to the Stupak Amendment passed by the House. Tabling the amendment effectively kills it so it cannot be considered again by the Senate. The amendment, which was an unprecedented restriction of women's access to abortion care, was tabled by a vote of 54-45.

This win is thanks to every person who contacted their Senator or participated in the Stop Stupak Day of Action and stood up for women's rights and reproductive freedom.

Use the ACLU's Action Center to email Senators Burr and Hagan and ask them to vote NO on a Stupak type amendment.

Hundreds of adcovates from all over the country have descended on Capitol Hill today to fight for women's reproductive freedom. Even if you can't be in D.C. today, you can join them by writing a letter to Senators Hagan and Burr asking them to oppose any attempts to put Stupak style language in to the Senate health care reform bill.

Only one more day left to hop on board the Stop Stupak Express to D.C. on December 2nd!

Simply put, the Stupak Amendment to the current health insurance package working its way through Congress bars women from using their own money to buy private health insurance that covers abortion care through the new health insurance exchange.

The recent work on health care reform has added a new spark to the abortion debate. A woman's decision to terminate a pregnancy is perhaps an issue that will never be in danger of burning out because if there is one thing everyone can agree on, it is that everyone cares deeply about the issue. The recent debate is about whether and how a woman should be able to access this constitutionally protected health care procedure.