News & Commentary

A new study by the Annie E. Casey Foundation reports the very disturbing information that only 31 percent of all Michigan students and only 19 percent of low-income students are reading proficiently in fourth grade in 2013.Unfortunately, this data was not very surprising to us. At the ACLU of Michigan, we've heard it before as we've worked in school districts across the state.In Highland Park, where 90% of eleventh graders are not reading proficient, we are trying to enforce a little known state law that requires that school districts provide special assistance to children who are not reading at grade level in the 4th and 7th grades.As Governor Snyder and the legislature work to determine how best to spend this year’s $1 billion surplus in Michigan, it’s time that they looked hard at what it will take to ensure that there is high quality literacy intervention in every school. We must be strategic, rather than continue a hit-or-miss approach that falls desperately short of what is needed to help these children.Part of the problem rests with the State. Michigan has no literacy intervention programs in place to meet the compelling need for highly qualified teachers, particularly in literacy and mathematics instruction at the lower grades, and in disciplinary literacy instruction at the upper grades.It is time for the State to begin working with the tremendous experts we have in our public universities to develop the best possible models. Part of the problem is that the lack of expert voices who can accurately evaluate high quality literacy intervention programs and the cost of an adequate education.It is time that the State convene a blue-ribbon commission to identify the most important elements of such a program and then for an impartial expert to determine what it will cost. Part of the problem is that the scheme for funding public education is broken. Between 2002 and 2011, real per-pupil funding fell by 24.5%. Now over fifty districts in Michigan are classified as in “financial distress,” forced to cut into instruction. In places like Pontiac, the average class size is now regularly at 40 students.In addition, the main reason so many school facilities are in terrible condition is because they depend on local property taxes for their funding. This means that children in affluent districts are assured of state-of-the-art facilities while children in poor districts are compelled to learn in unsafe and uncomfortable conditions.It is time that the State stopped defunding public education and rectify these tremendous inequities. And part of the problem is that education policy is now driven by wishful thinking -- the misguided belief that markets will weed out the bad and reward the good.There is no evidence to support the notion that emphasizing 'school of choice' programs will raise student performance and close gap between the best-performing students and those at the bottom. Instead, research shows that the real effect is to leave the poorest students in the lowest performing schools.Our state must remember that a rising tide may lift all boats, but a sinking ship kills all those on board. We must pull together to ensure all our state's students have an opportunity to succeed. We are in this together.

Another blog. That’s just what the world has been crying out for, right? Yet another blog. Especially one that doesn’t yet have a name, and is still searching for the right voice. A permanent home with a web page of its own also remains in the future. And actual, substantial content … that too is yet to come. Other than that, though, everything is good to go. So, let's begin this experiment in nonprofit journalism by turning to the traditional five Ws -- who, what, when, where, why -- and scrambling their order, going straight to the last one first.

Another blog. That’s just what the world has been crying out for, right? Yet another blog. Especially one that doesn’t yet have a name, and is still searching for the right voice. A permanent home with a web page of its own also remains in the future. And actual, substantial content … that too is yet to come. Other than that, though, everything is good to go. So, let's begin this experiment in nonprofit journalism by turning to the traditional five Ws — who, what, when, where, why — and scrambling their order, going straight to the last one first.

Asia Myers is expecting a baby girl in less than a month, but has a stack of bills courtesy of an employer that forced her to make an unthinkable choice between a healthy pregnancy and her paycheck. Early in her pregnancy, Asia suffered from complications serious enough for her doctor to put her on bed rest. After she improved, her doctor cleared her to return to work as a nursing assistant at a long-term care facility, as long as she did not do any lifting. Despite the fact that Asia's employer routinely grants this kind of accommodation to workers with similar lifting restrictions, her employer refused to give her an accommodation to avoid jeopardizing the health of her pregnancy. Instead, her employer told her that she could either take unpaid leave or continue working without considerations for the health of her pregnancy. "I was without work for more than 30 days, unable to make ends meet. I felt like I had to choose between my health and my finances," Asia told us. "My employer seemed to care nothing about my safety or the safety of my child. It's not right!"

Yesterday, the Michigan Legislature voted and passed an initiative that effectively bans any health care policy issued in Michigan from providing abortion coverage, making comprehensive health care near impossible to obtain for a woman in our state. The initiative, approved 62-47 by the House and 27-11 in the Senate will become law in March without the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder, who vetoed similar legislation a year ago. Did your representative represent you? Check our list of legislators that voted to take health coverage away from women across our state. This dangerous policy takes insurance coverage away from victims of rape and incest and puts the lives of women facing unexpected pregnancy complications at risk. It is beyond us how anyone could support this initiative after the personal stories that were told in Lansing. Brave female legislators shared highly personal and painful stories in a plea to their colleagues to reject the initiative and allow voters across the state to decide to issue. Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, in an emotional speech, disclosed that she was raped 20 years ago: “If this were law then and I had become pregnant, I would not be able to have coverage because of this. How extreme does this measure need to be? I’m not the only woman in our state that has faced that horrible circumstance…. I think you need to see the face of the women you are impacting by this vote today.”

Today, the Michigan Legislature could vote on a proposal that would ban any health care policy issued in Michigan from providing abortion coverage, making comprehensive health care near impossible to obtain for a woman in our state. We need every voice to call your legislator and urge them to do the right thing and let this proposal go to the ballot in 2014.  Find your legislators' phone numbers: House of Representatives | Senate Tell your legislator that this dangerous policy would take insurance coverage away from victims of rape and incest as well as put the lives of women facing unexpected pregnancy complications at risk.  Not only does this proposal endanger women's lives, but voters overwhelmingly oppose it. Polls suggest that opposition is over 60% in both strong Republican and Democratic districts. Your voice truly matters in this fight. Voters deserve to make choices about our healthcare, not special interests.

This week, the Michigan Legislature will have the opportunity to vote on a proposal that will endanger women’s access to comprehensive healthcare throughout the state. As physicians and members of the Michigan Section of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), we know how essential having access to safe, comprehensive healthcare is to the lives of Michigan women and their families. We strongly oppose any proposal that would prevent insurance companies from covering medically-necessary abortion services that save women’s lives. This is not merely a political issue: pregnancy-related complications are within the top ten causes of death for women under 35. It is extremely disturbing that excluding coverage for one of the leading causes of death in the country is even being considered in our state. That’s why the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a committee opinion supporting the availability of comprehensive reproductive health services for all women, including:

When you show up at a hospital in need of medical aid, you expect that the doctors and nurses will figure out what's wrong, explain to you the options for treating it, and give you the best medical care possible. That's what Tamesha Means thought, until she showed up at Mercy Health hospital. Tamesha was only 18 weeks pregnant when her water broke prematurely. She rushed to Mercy Health—the only hospital within half an hour of where she lived. The hospital did not tell her then that she had little chance of a successful pregnancy, that she was at risk if she tried to continue the pregnancy, and that the safest course of care in her case was to end it. They didn't tell her these things: the hospital simply sent her home. She came back the next day, bleeding and in pain, and again was turned away. Again, she was not told of the risks of trying to continue the pregnancy, or what her treatment options were. Tamesha returned yet a third time—by now suffering a significant infection. The hospital was prepared to send her away once more, when she started to deliver. Tamesha's baby died within hours of being born—at 18 weeks, it never had a chance. How could something like this happen? Because Mercy Health is Catholic-sponsored, it is required to adhere to the "Ethical and Religious Directives," a set of rules created by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) to govern the provision of medical care at Catholic-run hospitals. At hospitals like Mercy Health, these religious directives are put above medical standards of care.

As early as next week, the Michigan Legislature could vote on a proposal that would ban Michigan health care policies from covering abortion care, making comprehensive health care near impossible to obtain for a woman in our state. Unlike past attacks on reproductive rights, this one isn’t even pretending to care about “protecting women’s health.” Instead, this proposal blatantly singles out women and denies them coverage for life-saving healthcare services, with no exception for rape, incest or the life and health of a mother. Defend Women's Health Care in Michigan  These provisions are an unwarranted government intrusion into a private marketplace and would force women to do the impossible — predict an unplanned pregnancy, rape or a future medical crisis in order to purchase expensive additional insurance in advance. Michigan doesn’t want this legislation. For years, interest groups that are out of touch with the majority of Michiganders have been fighting to push this policy through our democratic system. Former Governor Engler rejected similar legislation as being wrong for Michigan, and Governor Snyder vetoed almost identical bills just last year. Since they have failed to convince voters, our legislature, and our governor, this small group of activists is now circumventing the traditional legislative process in order to push their agenda through with approval from only three percent of Michigan voters. There is still hope: Our legislators have the option to do the right thing by not taking a vote and letting this proposal go to the ballot in 2014 to let voters decide what is best for our state. Stand up for what's right: ask the Legislature to sit this one out and let Michigan voters decide.