Tag: civil rights

Sen. John Hoffman (SD36) Update: March 31, 2020

March 28, 2020

BULLETIN: Civil Rights, HIPAA, and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

In light of the Public Health Emergency concerning the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is providing this bulletin to ensure that entities covered by civil rights authorities keep in mind their obligations under laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability, age, sex, and exercise of conscience and religion in HHS-funded programs.1

In this time of emergency, the laudable goal of providing care quickly and efficiently must be guided by the fundamental principles of fairness, equality, and compassion that animate our civil rights laws. This is particularly true with respect to the treatment of persons with disabilities during medical emergencies as they possess the same dignity and worth as everyone else.

The Office for Civil Rights enforces Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act which prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability in HHS funded health programs or activities. These laws, like other civil rights statutes OCR enforces, remain in effect. As such, persons with disabilities should not be denied medical care on the basis of stereotypes, assessments of quality of life, or judgments about a person’s relative “worth” based on the presence or absence of disabilities. Continue reading “Sen. John Hoffman (SD36) Update: March 31, 2020”

June Medical Services v. Gee

Center for American Progress logoThe Potential Impact on Abortion, Civil, and Human Rights

Introduction and summary

As a result of unrelenting attacks on abortion access, the promise of Roe v. Wade has never been fulfilled in the United States. Now, June Medical Services LLC v. Gee threatens to undermine this promise once again. In taking up June Medical, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on its first major abortion case since the appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh—the latter of whom has penned opinions hostile to abortion rights—solidified the conservative leaning of the court. Even in the current era of deep division and partisanship, both nominations were notable for their contentiousness. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) subverted long-standing procedures to push their nominations through—both by blocking the process for former President Barack Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland and by changing the rules to make it easier to appoint ideologically extreme judges.1 President Donald Trump, prior to his election, promised his supporters that he would appoint anti-choice justices to the Supreme Court, raising serious concerns about whether his nominees would advance an ideological agenda that would undermine the integrity of the judiciary, rather than uphold the rule of law.2

Now, the Supreme Court will consider a legal challenge involving a law intended to eviscerate the availability of abortion care. Its decision could significantly undermine abortion access—particularly for those who already have limited access—as well as patients’ ability to enforce in court the right to have an abortion. The case could also have broad implications beyond abortion access, affecting the enforcement of civil and human rights. Continue reading.

The Danger Private School Voucher Programs Pose to Civil Rights

Since Betsy DeVos became the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education, she has continued to push for a federally funded private school voucher program. These programs currently exist in 29 states and provide state support—through direct payments or tax credits—for students to attend private schools. (see text box) Voucher supporters such as Secretary DeVos describe vouchers as providing parents with freedom of choice in education. However, some states have historically used private school voucher programs as a means to avoid racially integrating schools, as occurred during the 1950s and 1960s.1 More recently, evidence has shown that these programs are not effective at improving educational achievement.2 Recent evaluations of certain voucher programs have shown no improvement in achievement or a decline in achievement for students who use them. For example, a Center for American Progress analysis found that the overall effect of the D.C. voucher program on students’ math achievement is equivalent to missing 68 days of school.3 Voucher programs are also not a viable solution in many rural areas of the country because these programs can strain funding resources in communities that already have lower densities of students and schools.4 Public funding should be used to ensure that all students have access to a quality public education, but voucher programs divert funding away from public schools. There have been a number of reports detailing how voucher programs provide public funding to schools that can legally remove or refuse to serve certain students altogether.5 This issue brief provides a comprehensive analysis of the various ways that voucher programs fail to provide the civil rights protections that students have in public schools. Continue reading “The Danger Private School Voucher Programs Pose to Civil Rights”