By Georgeanne M. Usova

Watching Congress' actions toward women last week might leave you confused about what year it is. Instead of advancing a single policy designed to help women, the U.S. House of Representatives has chosen to attack women's health any way it can.

Even after House leadership was forced to abandon plans for a vote on a nationwide abortion ban bill, because it was so extreme that women in the GOP caucus rejected it, the House didn't stop there. Instead, it quickly swapped out one bad bill for another and passed a harmful ban on abortion coverage. This bill would eliminate health insurance coverage for abortion for millions of women, effectively robbing them of the ability to access the care they need.

Medical experts immediately condemned the House leadership for substituting politics for science and jeopardizing women's health. "All women should have access to the medical services they need – including reproductive care – regardless of the ability to pay," said Dr. Hal C. Lawrence, executive vice president and CEO of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. "Medical care must be guided by sound science and by the patient's individual needs, not by legislative mandates or financial concerns."

Yet it's clear that for far too many legislators restricting women's access to safe, legal abortion is their top priority. So here's the big question: Why are some politicians so intent on passing them? The answer couldn't be any clearer – these politicians want to get one step closer to banning all abortion, and they will stop at nothing to do just that.

In just a few weeks, the new Congress has already introduced a slew of bills designed to restrict a woman's access to abortion. Among these is a bill that would block funding to organizations that provide crucial reproductive health care to low-income women, like Planned Parenthood. This also includes a bill that would allow hospitals to refuse to provide an abortion to a woman experiencing a serious pregnancy complication and a bill that would target abortion providers with unnecessary and burdensome requirements like those that have decimated access to abortion in Texas.

In short, Congress is committed to turning back the clock for women by introducing more and more hurdles to safe and legal abortion access. This is ideology run amok, as Americans of all parties agree that this is the wrong way for their elected officials to spend their time.

Luckily some members of Congress are listening. The Women's Health Protection Act was reintroduced last week in both the House and Senate. That bill would ensure that a woman's access to safe, legal abortion does not depend on her zip code. Both chambers honored last week's 42nd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's historic decision inRoe v. Wade with a resolution in support of legislation that allows women to plan their families and futures by expanding access to comprehensive reproductive health care.

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Extremists in Congress have sent a clear signal that they won't let up on attempting to restrict women's rights any time soon. They have already said that they still intend to bring up a 20 week ban for a vote soon, even though it's clear that interfering with women's personal medical decisions is a failing agenda.

We can't let this Congress send extreme anti-women's health bills to the president's desk. If you agree, tell Congress to stand against extreme attempts to restrict women's reproductive rights!

Georgeanne M. Usova works at the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. Follow ACLU_SoCal.

Philip Summers Borden, a staunch supporter and member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU SoCal), former professor of business administration, Harvard alumnus and one-time real estate executive died Dec. 26. He was 89.

Borden, a resident of Laguna Woods in Orange County, California, was "a thoughtful guy who described himself as a 'real progressive' and a 'true Christian,'" said Hal Gunn, Associate Director of Gift Planning for the national ACLU. Borden collapsed while walking home from a meal in the senior living community's dining room and never regained consciousness, said Gunn, who became friends with Borden through his work with ACLU SoCal.

Borden was born in El Dorado, Kansas in 1925. As a child he was called "Summers" after his mother's beloved grandmother, Lucy Summers. Following a brief stint as a sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Force, he received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Kansas in 1947, an MBA in 1950, and a Doctorate of Commercial Science in 1955, both from Harvard University.

He taught at Harvard and Northwestern Universities before being, as he describes it in some of his papers, "recruited into the homebuilding industry" by Ohio-based Huber Homes, Inc. in 1956. At the time, Huber was one of the Midwest's largest developers and Borden served variously as CEO, Executive Vice President, President, and Director of the company during his 14-year tenure.

He went on to hold several positions with major homebuilders and manufacturers in the Midwest, Washington, D.C., Florida, Chicago, and Southern California including a stint working for philanthropist Eli Broad during the 1960s in Los Angeles.

Borden eventually went back to academia acting as Dean of the School of Administration and Management at California Coastal University. While there he focused on advanced education for mid-career professionals.

In his later life, Borden committed himself to charitable work and civil liberties issues. He worked with the Carter Center, The Jewish National Fund, the Ford Foundation, the Unitarian Church and was active in the homeowners' boards and associations where he lived.

"His general approach to life was that he thought people should be treated kindly and with respect, said Gunn who is charged with finding a good home for Borden's cat "Barbara Boxer".
Belinda Escobosa Helzer, director of ACLU SoCal Orange County and Inland Empire offices, was a frequent lunch companion of Borden. She called him a generous man who sometimes got frustrated "with people who weren't pure about what they said."

"He liked having a relationship with me and the (Orange County) office and the (ACLU) staff. He would come to the office periodically because he really felt like we were walking the walk and he was irritated with people who didn't. He was very genuine," she said.

Although Borden, an only child who didn't have a family, Escobosa Helzer said he wasn't a lonely man.

"The last time I saw him he showed me all the things he had gathered that were really important to him. He was an avid reader of multiple subject matters. It was clear he had a thirst for knowledge. He had this painting that his barber had done in the 1940s and he wanted me to make sure it didn't end up on a trash heap or flea market," she said. "I think he had a lot of wonderful relationships even though he didn't have a family and that he positively affected people's lives."

In personal papers in which he listed his "principles and beliefs," Borden remarked, "I do not always lock my house or car in the hope that a taker can benefit from it." On the same document he named "real and fictitious" people he admired including President Barack Obama, Abraham Lincoln, UC Irvine Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, and J.D. Salinger's hero from "Catcher in the Rye" Holden Caulfield, as well as the protagonist — Atticus Finch — from "To Kill a Mockingbird" and Jesus. Among his dislikes he listed: "Greed!" Of himself he said, "Like bright people, often bored by dull people with no interests".

Borden will be cremated and interred in his family's plot in Waldron, Arkansas. There will be no memorial service. Contributions in Borden’s memory may be made to the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, 1313 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017.