LWV's Work with Urgent Social Justice Issues

To achieve the League's vision of a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge, and the confidence to participate, LWV advocates on issues like voting rights as well as “urgent issues." Urgent issues include social issues that impact people’s ability to participate equitably in our democracy, including sex and gender equality, environmental and gun policies conducive to public health, immigration reform, and the ability to make reproductive choices. 

LWVUS Actions on Urgent Issues 

Below is an overview of LWVUS’ recent work on urgent issues divided into advocacy with Congress and the executive branch and public education. The League works in close coordination with partners who specialize in these issues. Our goal is to center the communities that are most marginalized and impacted by institutional inequity to break down barriers to voting and civic engagement. 

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

The League supports ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and efforts to bring laws into compliance with the goals of the ERA. The League supports equal rights for all under state and federal law regardless of race, color, sex, gender, religion, national origin, age, sexual orientation, or disability. 

Congress

In January 2023, Congress reintroduced a joint resolution affirming the validity of the ERA as part of the US Constitution. LWVUS published an action alert on our website, allowing people to contact their members of Congress urging support for the resolution. In February 2023, LWVUS submitted testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee before a hearing on the ERA. In anticipation of the Senate voting on the resolution, LWVUS sent letters to targeted senators urging support and then a memo to the House of Representatives.

Tell Your Representatives to Support the ERA!

Executive Branch

At the end of 2022, LWVUS sent a letter to the White House Gender Policy Council urging them to advise the President to instruct the US Archivist to publish the ERA. 

Public Education

For 2023 Women’s Equality Day, LWVUS did a month-long campaign and included ERA publication as one of its three priorities. LWVUS also published a blog on the ERA’s history, importance, and status for its centennial. 

Climate Change

The League supports climate goals and policies that are consistent with the best available climate science and that will ensure a stable climate system for future generations. The League promotes an environment beneficial to life through the protection and wise management of natural resources in the public interest. 

Congress

In 2023, LWVUS joined letters to Congress urging them to support environmental investments in the 2023 Farm Bill, oppose a resolution to roll back efforts from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce smog pollution, and end the practice of diverting federal funding from wastewater and drinking water infrastructure. LWVUS also published an action alert on the reintroduced Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution, which acknowledges the need for a national, just, comprehensive, and science-based climate recovery plan.

Demand a Climate Recovery Plan

Executive Branch

In 2023, LWVUS submitted comments to the EPA to take additional measures to reduce methane air pollution from the oil and gas industry. The League also submitted comments to the Council on Environmental Quality on the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) — a rule that was finalized in May 2024 — and on the Environmental Justice Scorecard, an assessment of what the federal government is doing to advance environmental justice.

Gun Safety

The League believes in protecting the health and safety of citizens through limiting the accessibility and regulating the ownership of handguns and semi-automatic weapons. The League supports regulation of firearms for consumer safety. 

Congress

In 2022, LWVUS submitted recommendations on gun safety reforms to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

Executive Branch

In 2023, LWVUS submitted comments to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regarding its proposed rulemaking on the definition of when a person is considered “engaged in the business” as a dealer in firearms. LWVUS also shared template comments with affiliates, and 14 state Leagues submitted their own comments to ATF emphasizing the impact of the proposed rule on health and safety in their respective states. The rule was finalized and in April 2024, it was published by the Department of Justice.

Public Education

 LWVUS published an assault weapons explainer blog and a blog on the impact of gun violence on the LGBTQIA+ community.

Immigration

The League believes in promoting the reunification of immediate families, meeting the economic, business, and employment needs of the United States, being responsive to those facing political persecution or humanitarian crises, and providing student visas. The League believes in ensuring fair treatment under the law for all persons. In transitioning to a reformed system, the League supports provisions for individuals already living in the country without legal permission to earn legal status. 

Congress

In 2023, LWVUS endorsed the reintroduced American Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a path to permanent resident status for Dreamers (immigrant youth who were brought to the US as minors and remain undocumented) and people with deferred enforcement departure and temporary protected status.

Executive Branch

LWVUS joined a letter to the Biden Administration urging them not to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking on an asylum ban. They issued another to the President urging him to direct his administration to finalize a proposed rule to allow DACA recipients to enroll in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and Medicaid. This rule was finalized in May 2024. LWVUS also submitted comments to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) opposing increases in immigration application fees.

Public Education

LWVUS published a DACA explainer blog looking at the program's history, status, and permanent solutions.

Reproductive Justice

The League believes in protecting the constitutional right of privacy of the individual to make reproductive choices.

Congress

After the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade and overturned the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, LWVUS endorsed and urged passage of the 117^th Senate’s Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified the right to provide and receive abortion services. LWVUS also joined a letter urging Congress to reject appropriations bills with riders restricting abortion access.  

Executive Branch

LWVUS joined a letter to the Biden Administration urging them to protect abortion rights and access, a letter to the President urging him to remove an anti-abortion appropriations rider from the fiscal year 2025 budget, and comments to the Department of Defense urging them to do data collection on service members’ experience with family planning services, including abortion.

Public Education

LWVUS published blog posts including an explainer on the state of reproductive rights nationwide after the Dobbs draft decision leak, an update one year post-Dobbs, anti-democratic trends in abortion legislation, and an explainer on the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of federal funds for abortion services.

How You Can Get Involved in Urgent Issues

• Take one minute to urge your members of Congress to support the Equal Rights Amendment; 
• Take one minute to urge your members of Congress to support the Children’s Fundamental Rights and Climate Recovery Resolution; 
• Follow the League of Women Voters’ materials and advocacy work on urgent issues — just go to our search bar and enter the issue you'd like to learn more about; 
• Visit the League of Women Voters’ Legal Center, a one-stop-shop for locating the League’s litigation at the national, state, and local levels;  
• Join your local League to learn about and support local and state initiatives to address urgent issues in your community; and 
• Talk with your community about how these issues impact people’s ability to participate in our democracy.