News & Commentary

'Family values' is one of those terms whose meaning largely depends on who's using it. My family values may be different from your family values.  But if the term has any consistent meaning at all, it surely includes the idea that family members, not politicians, should decide what is and isn't in their own best interests.

I can’t believe that five years have passed since Hurricane Katrina devastated Gulf Coast communities in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.   And although groups and advocates who were experienced in disaster recovery told us that it would take at least ten years to rebuild, I never imagined that five years later, we’d still face the same challenges. The fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Are we celebrating growth and recovery, commemorating a tragedy, or both? As I viewed Trouble The Water this week, I was mixed up inside. The ACLU of Mississippi partnered with

Couples who share responsibility for making healthy decisions about their birth control methods should be supported. That’s why we were deeply concerned when men who sought to purchase emergency contraception for their female partners were turned away by pharmacists at Walgreens in Texas and Mississippi. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has approved emergency contraception for sale behind the pharmacy counter for men and women ages 17 and older. Time is of the essence when accessing emergency contraception. Experts stress that emergency contraception is most effective the sooner a woman takes it, and its effectiveness decreases every 12 hours. It is therefore crucial that a customer can get access to emergency contraception as soon as it is needed. A couple who is trying to quickly access emergency contraception to prevent an unintended pregnancy should be supported by the pharmacy, not shunned.

July 1st , 2010 was a very interesting day in the life of the so called ‘War on Drugs’ in Mississippi. Over-the-counter drugs containing ephedrine or pseudophedrine were put behind the counter, requiring a prescription to purchase.

Religious freedom is an integral part of how we think of ourselves as citizens of the United States. We are a secular country. Our history lessons teach us that we were founded on strong principles of religious freedom by people fleeing religious persecution. Our founders placed these fundamental concepts in Article One of the Bill of Rights.

My brother, Devon, and I trekked down to Lucedale, Mississippi a couple of days ago. It was storming as if Storm herself from X-men had orchestrated a mass attack against southeast Mississippi. To put the icing on the cake, 30 minutes from our destination, a tornado funnel cloud started forming right in front of us! A virgin to the whole tornado experience, I immediately turned around and high-tailed it in the opposite direction ….kind of like StormChasers, but instead of heading in the direction of the storm, I was running as far away as possible!

[caption id="attachment_32" align="alignright" width="300" caption="ACLU staff table at the MSSC Prom. "][/caption]

Usually when people visit the ACLU-MS website it's to read a press release or maybe review some of our legal docket. But we do so much more every day at the ACLU-MS that doesn't rise to the level of sending a press release (yet) or doesn't involve litigation, but is no less important to our fight to defend constitutional rights across the state. This blog is a way to write about all of our work, from Know Your Rights educational forums in rural communities to meetings with legislators at the State Capitol. It's an informal way for us to tell you what's going on with the ACLU-MS, and a way for you to tell us what you think about our work and our mission.