United States

The U.S. Legal Department strives to protect and advance reproductive liberty and access to reproductive health care in the United States by employing diverse strategies grounded in CRR's legal expertise.

To learn more about the different areas of our work, please check out our U.S. litigation, advocacy work in Washington, D.C. and the states, U.S.-based human rights work, and our Law School Initiative.

The Center's litigation work in the United States seeks to broadly promote reproductive rights. Our goals include:

  • Securing recognition that reproductive freedom is both a fundamental constitutional right and a human right that the government is obligated to respect, protect and fulfill;
  • Ensuring that all women have access to safe and affordable contraception;
  • Protecting women’s access to safe, legal and affordable abortion services;
  • Ensuring that adolescents have access to reproductive health services; that adolescents’ confidentiality is protected in their pursuit of those services; and that adolescents have access to age-appropriate, comprehensive sexuality education;
  • Defending abortion providers against unreasonable government actions

In The Spotlight

ACS Reproductive Rights and Justice Award

06.17.13 -  On June 13, 2013, the Center for Reproductive Rights, in partnership with the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS), presented the first annual ACS Reproductive Rights and Justice Award to board members Jim…

MSNBC: TX Women’s Health Under Attack

06.17.13 - The Center’s state advocacy counsel, Jordan Goldberg, appeared on MSNBC on Saturday with Amy Hagstrom Miller, one of the providers we have represented in Texas, to discuss an outrageous bill gaining steam in that state’s legislature, one that could shutter all but five abortion clinics in the…

Texas Legislature Must Reject Dangerous Package of Bills to Restrict Women's Reproductive Health Care

06.13.13 - (PRESS RELEASE) The Texas Legislature’s special session—originally scheduled to focus on redistricting and highway funding—is now considering a host of anti-choice measures at the direction of Governor Rick Perry.
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Our Work in Focus

2011 at the Midpoint: The State of Reproductive Rights
What’s the worst thing about bad ideas? They’re catching…
A First Look Back at the 2010 State Legislative Session
Every year, anti-choice state legislators propose measures intended to restrict women's access to abortion, including mandatory delays, biased counseling provisions and other burdensome and unnecessary requirements. On average, more than six hundred bills are proposed annually and dozens are passed, making it increasingly difficult for women in many states to access abortion…
A Year In Review: 2009 Legislative Wrap Up
In the United States, state legislatures wield enormous power to control women's access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare services…
Racial Disparities in U.S. Reproductive Healthcare
The U.S. spends at least twice as much per capita on healthcare than almost every other western industrialized country.  Yet, the U.S. has some of the widest disparities in health outcomes…
Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers (TRAP)
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Recognizing Abortion Providers as Human Rights Defenders
Human Rights defenders are the activists, including journalists, lawyers, judges, and healthcare providers, whose work allows others to exercise their human rights…
Adolescents' Access to Reproductive Health Services and Information
Young women face particular obstacles to accessing reproductive health services and information…
Ensuring U.S. accountability to human rights standards
An important component of the Center's work is ensuring that the United States lives up to its human rights commitments related to reproductive rights. The U.S…
Contraceptive Access in the United States
The right to obtain and use contraceptives is part of the fundamental right to privacy guaranteed by the United States Constitution…
Parental Involvement Laws
In their efforts to make abortion inaccessible to as many women as possible, anti-choice forces have focused on burdening minors' access to abortion…