Sally Steenland

Religion and reproductive rights are usually pitted against each other in public debates and the media. But in real life, they are not on opposite sides. According to the Guttmacher Institute, nearly 8-in-10 women who have abortions are religious, as are many of the doctors and nurses who provide abortion...

Religious liberty got a little stronger today. So did the health of women and their families.

The Obama administration issued a decision today that requires most employers to provide no-cost contraceptive coverage as part of the Affordable Care Act. The decision provides a conscience exemption for houses of worship and...

When you're running at the back of the pack, you're tempted to do bad things. Sadly, Rick Perry has succumbed to temptation. In a despicable new campaign ad, he tells lies, advocates discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans, gets history upside down, whines like a victim -- and does it...

When does religious liberty shift from the freedom to practice one's faith to the imposition of that faith on a diverse public? Or to put it another way, when does liberty for some become discrimination against others?

This is more than a theoretical question. It's one that is playing out...

When does a legal right become theoretical instead of real? If you want to know the answer, take a look at what's happening to reproductive rights. States across the country are denying women what they need to protect their health and plan their families. And they're often doing so in...

Now that the midterm congressional elections are over and a sizable number of conservatives--including Tea Party members--have won office based on promises to slash federal spending and shrink the government, you might think that economic issues have trumped social-cultural issues in the public mind. You might also think that that...

Here's a new item to add to the growing list of fake facts dominating the news over the past year. Already on the list are death panels, a foreign-born president, the hoax of global warming, and rampant discrimination against white people. Now we can add a new fake...

Protesters have recently been rallying against a proposed Islamic educational center containing a mosque near Ground Zero, claiming that the proximity of anything Muslim to Ground Zero would contaminate a hallowed place. Protesters claim they aren't anti-Muslim; they merely want the center and mosque to be built someplace else.

It's been a while since we made women stitch scarlet A's to their clothes as one of their many punishments for having babies out of wedlock. That kind of public shaming--being shunned and branded as a harlot, slut, sinner, whore--went out of style a few hundred years ago. But a...

Let's imagine that this year's Democratic nominee for Vice President is not Joe Biden, but a mother of five with a four-month-old baby. Let's say she is the governor of a sparsely populated state, and is virtually unknown on the national stage. She is also a liberal feminist. Now imagine...