Editing American Civil Liberties Union (section)

==== Reproductive Freedom Project ====
The ACLU founded the Reproductive Freedom Project in 1974 to defend individuals the government obstructs in cases involving access to abortions, birth control, or sexual education. According to its mission statement, the project works to provide access to reproductive health care for individuals.<ref>{{Cite book|jstor=j.ctt32bqj0.7|title=The Other Feminists|chapter=Litigating Feminist Principles|date=January 1, 1998|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300074642|editor-last=Hartmann|editor-first=Susan M.|series=Activists in the Liberal Establishment|pages=[https://archive.org/details/otherfeministsac0000hart/page/53 53–91]|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/otherfeministsac0000hart/page/53|last1=Hartmann|first1=Susan M.}}</ref> The project also opposes [[abstinence-only sex education]], arguing that it promotes an unwillingness to use contraceptives.<ref name=":02">{{cite web|url=https://www.reproductiverights.org/press-room/center-planned-parenthood-aclu-file-challenges-to-abortion-restrictions-in-three-states|title=Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood, ACLU File Challenges to Abortion Restrictions in Three States|date=September 27, 2013|website=[[Center for Reproductive Rights]]|language=en|access-date=May 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709115230/https://www.reproductiverights.org/press-room/center-planned-parenthood-aclu-file-challenges-to-abortion-restrictions-in-three-states|archive-date=July 9, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://prospect.org/article/women%E2%80%99s-reproductive-freedom-chill-wind-blows|title=For Women's Reproductive Freedom, a Chill Wind Blows|work=The American Prospect|access-date=May 1, 2017|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170502005651/http://prospect.org/article/women%E2%80%99s-reproductive-freedom-chill-wind-blows|archive-date=May 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/b2e15d5d2875ce26854147fecd6f12f1/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=35312|title=Abstinence-Only Education in the Courts |via=ProQuest |language=en|access-date=May 2, 2017}}</ref>

In 1980, the Project filed ''[[Poe v. Lynchburg Training School & Hospital]]'' which attempted to overturn ''[[Buck v. Bell]]'', the 1927 US Supreme Court decision which had allowed the Commonwealth of Virginia to legally sterilize persons it deemed to be mentally defective without their permission. Though the Court did not overturn ''Buck v.Bell'', in 1985, the state agreed to provide counseling and medical treatment to the survivors among the 7,200 to 8,300 people sterilized between 1927 and 1979.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wong |first1=Elizabeth |title=A Shameful History: Eugenics in Virginia |url=https://acluva.org/en/news/shameful-history-eugenics-virginia |website=ACLUVA |access-date=August 16, 2021 |date=January 11, 2013}}</ref> In 1977, the ACLU took part in and litigated ''[[Walker v. Pierce]]'', the [[United States courts of appeals|federal circuit court case]] that led to federal regulations to prevent [[Medicaid]] patients from being sterilized without their knowledge or consent.<ref>{{cite web |title=About the ACLU reproductive freedom project |url=https://www.aclu.org/other/about-aclu-reproductive-freedom-project |access-date=August 23, 2021}}</ref> In 1981–1990, the Project litigated ''[[Hodgson v. Minnesota]]'', which resulted in the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] overturning a state law requiring both parents to be notified before a minor could legally have an abortion.<ref>{{cite news |title=Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U.S. 417 (1990) |url=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/497/417/ |newspaper=Justia Law |access-date=August 23, 2021}}</ref> In the 1990s, the Project provided legal assistance and resource kits to those who were being challenged for educating about sexuality and [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]]. In 1995, the Project filed an [[Amicus curiae|amicus brief]] in ''[[Curtis v. School Committee of Falmouth]]'', which allowed for the distribution of condoms in a public school.<ref>{{cite web|author-link=Joan Biskupic |first= Joan |last= Biskupic |title= Court Spurns Challenge to Condom Policy |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1996/01/09/court-spurns-challenge-to-condom-policy/f6f037d2-79b4-4291-9f31-980aab2db152/ |website= washingtonpost.com |access-date= August 21, 2021 |date= January 9, 1996}}</ref>

The Reproductive Freedom Project focuses on three ideas: (1) to "reverse the shortage of trained abortion providers throughout the country" (2) to "block state and federal welfare "reform" proposals that cut off benefits for children who are born to women already receiving welfare, unmarried women, or teenagers"<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dejanikus|first=Tacie|date=January 1, 1982|title=spousal notification upheld in florida suit|jstor=25774248|journal=Off Our Backs|volume=12|issue=2|page=9}}</ref> and (3) to "stop the elimination of vital reproductive health services as a result of hospital mergers and health care networks".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://philadelphia.pa.networkofcare.org/ps/services/agency.aspx?pid=ACLUofPAClaraBellDuvallReproductiveFreedomProject_1147_12_0|title=ACLU of PA: Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project – Philadelphia|website=Philadelphia.pa|access-date=May 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228161542/http://philadelphia.pa.networkofcare.org/ps/services/agency.aspx?pid=ACLUofPAClaraBellDuvallReproductiveFreedomProject_1147_12_0|archive-date=February 28, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Project proposes to achieve these goals through legal action and litigation.