Americans United filed a friend-of-the-court brief yesterday in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in California v. Azar—a challenge to the Trump-Pence administration’s new rules that would allow employers and universities to use religion to deny their employees and students health insurance coverage for birth control.
California Judge Rules Bakery Can Refuse To Serve Same-Sex Couples
This week, a California judge ruled that Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California, can violate the state’s nondiscrimination law and refuse to serve same-sex couples. The bakery had used religion as an excuse to turn away Mireya and Eileen Rodriguez-Del Rio when they tried to buy a cake for their upcoming wedding reception—the judge ruled the bakery had a constitutional right to do so.
Accommodating Transgender Students In Public Schools Is Nothing New
What happens when a school district allows a transgender student to use the bathroom consistent with his or her gender identity? According to a recent article in The Miami Herald, not much.
Transgender Man Denied Haircut At Barbershop Due To Owner's Religious Beliefs
Shrinking Support: Mormon Leader Says Kim Davis Is Wrong
It is becoming increasingly clear that apart from fundamentalist zealots and opportunistic politicians thirsty for attention, Rowan County, Ky., Clerk Kim Davis doesn’t have much support.
California Churches Sue State Over Mandated Abortion Coverage
Americans United Supports Employees of Catholic Hospital System Dignity Health In Their Fight For Retirement Security
Last week, Americans United, the ACLU, and the ACLU of Northern California submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of a lawsuit by employees against Dignity Health, a Catholic hospital system and one of the largest not-for-profit provider hospital providers in the United States.
Catholic Hospital Retracts Contraceptive Refusal Decision After ACLU Delivers Smackdown
Rachel Miller and her husband had made up their minds: with one small child at home and another on the way, they decided that their soon-to-be family of four didn't need any further additions. So when scheduling her C-section with her doctor at Mercy Medical Center in California, Rachel asked that her doctor perform a post-partum tubal ligation as a contraceptive measure. The doctor agreed. That should have been the end of the discussion. Unfortunately, Mercy Medical Center had other ideas.
Ca. Gov. Signs Vaccination Law Barring Religious Exemptions for Schoolchildren
From The Los Angeles Times:
"Adopting one of the most far-reaching vaccination laws in the nation, California on Tuesday barred religious and other personal-belief exemptions for schoolchildren, a move that could affect tens of thousands of students and sets up a potential court battle with opponents of immunization."