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Pros and Cons by Issue
Issue: Right to Privacy
| Q: | Does the Hyde Amendment, prohibiting the use of federal funds for abortions and allowing health care professionals to refuse to perform abortions, conflict with women's reproductive rights? |
| Q: | Do mandatory parental involvement laws infringe on minors' rights and endanger their health? |
| Q: | Should "partial-birth" (third trimester) be banned? |
| Q: | Does the "Unborn Victims of Violence Act" (UVVA), protecting fetal rights, threaten abortion rights? |
| Q: | Does the ACLU protect the First Amendment rights of abortion protesters? |
| Q: | Should employers be required to provide health insurance coverage for contraceptive services and supplies? |
| Q: | Would mandatory parental notification laws regarding contraceptive prescriptions negatively affect teenage girls' health? |
| Q: | Should health care workers be required to offer emergency contraceptives (aka Plan B or the "morning after pill") to victims of sexual assault? |
| Q: | Does abstinence-only education work? |
| Q: | Should employers and insurance companies be allowed to gain access to our genetic information? |
| Q: | Should the government be allowed to collect DNA samples from non-violent and non-convicted offenders? |
Issue: Religion
| Q: | Is the ACLU anti-religion? |
| Q: | Is the ACLU anti-Christian? |
| Q: | Is the ACLU against Christmas or other religious holidays? |
| Q: | Is the principle of "separation of church and state" mandated by the Constitution? |
| Q: | Do religious displays on public property violate the Constitution? |
| Q: | Do school vouchers violate the prohibition on government funding of religion by making public money available to private religious schools? |
| Q: | Should the ACLU challenge government sponsorship of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)? |
| Q: | Should school-sponsored prayer be allowed in public schools? |
| Q: | Would amending the US Constitution to allow for a moment of silence or voluntary prayer in public school undermine the First Amendment? |
| Q: | Should Intelligent Design be taught as science in public schools? |
Issue: Discrimination
| Q: | Does the US need affirmative action? |
| Q: | Should racial profiling be accepted as a law enforcement practice? |
| Q: | Is desegregation in public schools still necessary to achieve racial equality? |
| Q: | Has welfare reform helped poor women improve their lives? |
| Q: | Is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) a good law? |
| Q: | Is Title IX, the law protecting people against discrimination based on their sex, a good law? |
| Q: | Should HIV testing for pregnant women be mandatory? |
| Q: | Is the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) a good law? |
| Q: | Should homosexuals have "equal protection" rights based on their sexual orientation? |
| Q: | Should same-sex marriage be allowed? |
| Q: | Should the US Constitution be amended to prohibit same-sex marriage? |
| Q: | Should gays and lesbians be restricted from adopting children? |
| Q: | Should public schools allow gay-straight alliances? |
| Q: | Does the Real ID Act unfairly target immigrants? |
| Q: | Is illegal immigration an economic burden to America? |
Issue: National Security
| Q: | Full Text of the USA PATRIOT Act (PDF 400 KB) |
| Q: | Should the USA PATRIOT Act have been made law? |
| Q: | Does the USA PATRIOT Act diminish civil liberties? |
| Q: | Does the PATRIOT Act allow the government to conduct secret searches and access records of individuals held by third parties, without providing sufficient judicial overview? |
| Q: | Does the PATRIOT Act provide the government with excessive power to conduct searches, surveillances and wiretaps of US citizens? |
| Q: | Does the PATRIOT Act unfairly target minority and immigrant communities? |
| Q: | Does the ACLU undermine the war on terror? |
| Q: | What are National Security Letters (NSLs)? |
| Q: | Do National Security Letters give excessive surveillance power to the government? |
| Q: | Does the "no-fly" list make us safer? |
Issue: Criminal Justice System
| Q: | Is the ACLU pro-criminal? |
| Q: | Should racial profiling be accepted as a law enforcement practice? |
| Q: | Should the government be allowed to collect DNA samples from non-violent and non-convicted offenders? |
| Q: | Have mandatory minimum jail sentences been an effective tool in the war on drugs? |
| Q: | Should felons be allowed to vote? |
| Q: | Does the protection of prisoners' civil rights go too far? |
| Q: | Should illegal drugs be legalized? |
| Q: | Have mandatory minimum sentences been an effective tool in the war on drugs? |
| Q: | Should incarceration be substituted with treatment for drug offenders? |
| Q: | Do current drug laws and policies discriminate against minorities and women? |
| Q: | To read extensively about Medical Marijuana policies go to www.medicalmarijuana.procon.org |
| Q: | Should the death penalty be abolished? |
Issue: Freedom of Expression
| Q: | What is free speech? |
| Q: | Would amending the US Constitution to prohibit the desecration of the US flag limit free speech? |
| Q: | Is the ACLU justified in claiming that limits on political campaign contributions and expenditures compromise free speech? |
| Q: | Does the ACLU fail to protect the First Amendment rights of abortion clinic protesters? |
| Q: | Does the ACLU support child pornography? |
| Q: | Does regulating access to pornographic content on the Internet to protect minors, infringe on the First Amendment rights of adults? |
| Q: | Do university regulations against offensive speech often inhibit freedom of expression? |
| Q: | Do hate crime laws often violate the right to free speech? |
| Q: | Should the ACLU defend free speech rights of white supremacists? |
Issue: Other Issues
| Q: | Should the ACLU challenge government sponsorship of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)? |
| Q: | Is the Voting Rights Act still necessary? |
| Q: | Is the ACLU a communist or left-wing organization? |
| Q: | Is gun ownership an individual right guaranteed by the Second Amendment? |
| Q: | Should prostitution be decriminalized? |
| Q: | Should physician-assisted suicide be legal? |