In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
Lest We Forget
“My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.”
–President Biden announcing the end of his reelection campaign.
“This election will present a clear choice between two different visions. … I believe in a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom and ensures every person has the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead.”
–Vice President Kamala Harris’s statement on becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
“I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy. I never liked him. … My god what an idiot.”
—JD Vance in 2016.
“I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.”
–JD Vance in January 2022, while running for Senate. He also argued that federal laws could be necessary to prevent people going out of state to seek legal abortion care.
“My wife and I had multiple, soul-crushing miscarriages, and one stillborn daughter before we were able to have children. Millions of parents are desperate to have kids but simply can’t. Treating people without children like they are lesser human beings is unbelievably cruel.”
—Tommy Vietor, co-host of ‘Pod Save America,’ in response to JD Vance’s comments that the U.S. was being run by “childless cat ladies” who “force their misery on the rest of the country” and have no direct stake in the government because they don’t have kids.
“She can talk personally about what it means to be a woman in post-Roe America. She can talk about the crimes against women and children she encountered as a prosecutor and how those victims will fare in Dobbs America. She can echo and amplify the everyday concerns and fears millions of women now live with. Most importantly, Harris can channel the anger.”
–Nia-Malika Henderson last January, explaining why Harris’ campaign is threatening to Trump.
“I hope Republican and Democrat leadership put together some sort of plan for January in which we work our way back to where America was in the 1960’s.”
–Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisc.) on the House floor.
“Denying healthcare care by giving a fetus ‘patient’ status rights in emergency departments is playing Russian Roulette with people’s health. We’ve seen the deadly results globally. Now state officials from Idaho are following suit, willing to put people experiencing pregnancy complications, miscarriage and follow-up care for self-managed abortion at risk.”
–Julie F. Kay, The Abortion Coalition for Telemedicine (ACT) in the wake of the Supreme Court EMTALA case.
“It is disappointing to see Louisiana censor LGBTQ+ curriculum by adopting a ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law during Pride Month. Taken with the Ten Commandments law and a new law policing pronoun usage in schools, HB 122 demonstrates how the legislature and the governor have pushed their extreme ideological agenda at the expense of student well-being and freedom of expression.”
–PEN America Freedom to Read program assistant Madison Markham.
Milestones
+ In just the first 24 hours of her campaign, Vice President Harris raised $81 million, the highest first day amount in history. Over 888,000 grassroots donors contributed, and 60 percent were first-time donors this election cycle. One Black women-led virtual organizing call hosted 44,000 attendees and raised $1.5 million.
+ Meanwhile, Trump chose Ohio senator JD Vance as his running mate and embraced Project 2025 policies, despite pretending not to know anything about the Heritage Foundation’s right-wing playbook.
+ An abortion rights amendment will be on the ballot in Nevada this November, after Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom collected more than 200,000 signatures, double what they needed.
+ Several class-action lawsuits have been filed against large national employers who are violating the PUMP Act by refusing to accommodate breastfeeding employees. The U.S. Postal Service, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Nike are among the organizations under scrutiny.
+ A conservative lawsuit accused Northwestern University’s law school of discrimination, saying that their efforts to hire more women and people of color is illegal. The suit is likely an attempt to attack universities for “DEI” and other dogwhistles, after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action last year.
+ A new media deal with NBC, Amazon and Disney will net the WNBA $2.2 billion over the next 11 seasons, more than tripling the annual revenue of their media rights.
+ Associate justice Kyra Harris Bolden became the first Black woman sworn in to the Michigan Supreme Court. “Now there are so many boys and girls that have something new to aspire to because they can now see themselves in the position of power. I know the weight of this job and what it means and It’s always been my goal to lift as I climb. I may be the first but not the last. I am fighting to ensure we have justice for today and justice for generations,” she vowed.
+ Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sexually harassed and assaulted his children’s babysitter, and texted nude photos to other women during his second marriage, according to Vanity Fair reporting. When asked about the allegations, he admitted to texting his victim to tell her he didn’t remember the incident, and said “I am not a church boy. … I have so many skeletons in my closet that if they could all vote, I could run for king of the world. … I am who I am.”
+ The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging Texas’ law requiring age verification to watch pornography.
+ In Ohio v. EPA, the Supreme Court temporarily blocked the “Good Neighbor Plan” which would protect states from air pollution created by other states. Alliance for Justice Vice President of Strategy Keith Thirion responded, “This Court has decided that states have no choice but to endure the pollution generated by their neighbors, regardless of the consequences, while this policy is challenged. The conservatives on this Court consistently fail to comprehend the present-day impacts of climate change and the steps we must take to save our planet and the well-being of our people. Never doubt their willingness to hand a victory to the wealthy and powerful so that corporate polluters can make more money while everyone else suffers.”
+ The liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court will hear two abortion cases that challenge an 1849 law that Republicans have attempted to use to justify a ban.
+ Missouri Republicans want to make it harder to pass ballot initiatives by requiring not just a statewide majority, but majorities in five of eight congressional districts. With gerrymandering, pro-choice amendments would be unlikely to gain enough support in conservative areas.
+ The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a section of Mississippi’s Constitution that bans people with certain felony convictions from voting for life. Dissenting, Judge Hames Dennis declared, “Voting is the lifeblood of our democracy and the deprivation of the right to vote saps citizens of the ability to have a say in how and by whom they are governed. Permanent denial of the franchise, then, is an exceptionally severe penalty, constituting nothing short of the denial of the democratic core of American citizenship.”
+ Federal appeals courts rejected a Department of Justice request to reinstate Biden’s new Title IX rules, keeping it blocked for now in 10 states. The rule is being challenged largely because it includes anti-discrimination protections for transgender students.
+ The House also voted to repeal the new Title IX rule that protects sexual harassment survivors, LGBTQ students and pregnant and parenting students. The legislation is unlikely to pass in the Senate, where the Democrats have a majority.
+ Four years after protecting the right to abortion in their state’s Constitution, the Kansas Supreme Court struck down several abortion restrictions, including a ban on D&E after 14 weeks. They reaffirmed the “fundamental right to personal autonomy, which includes a pregnant person’s right to terminate a pregnancy.”
+ Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador complained that Justice Sonia Sotomaypor was “relentless” and “shameless” during oral arguments on their EMTALA case. Labrador also claimed that Idaho doctors are lying about needing to airlift patients out of state for urgent abortion care.
+ Sen. Joe Manchin approved adding two amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would restrict access to gender-affirming care for military members. When asked about his vote, Manchin at first said he may have made a mistake, but then doubled down on opposing funding for all gender-affirming care.
+ The House passed a bill that would require proof of citizenship, like a passport, to vote, praying on anti-immigrant rhetoric to promote voter suppression. Almost 10 percent of American citizens don’t have easy access to proof documents, and voter fraud is so rare, even Speaker Mike Johnson admitted he couldn’t find any evidence: “We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number.”
+ Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) died last week at 74, after a battle with cancer. She was a leader on progressive causes in Congress, especially racial justice. In the past few years, she championed making Juneteenth a national holiday and passing police misconduct bills and the Violence Against Women Act.
+ Civil rights activist and Freedom Signers co-founder Bernice Johnson Reagon died at 81. The a capella group was part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Reagon went on to become a scholar and music historian, receiving a Ph.D. from Howard University, a MacArthur genius grant and the Presidential Medal.
+ Pioneering sex-positive psychologist Dr. Ruth Westheimer died at 96 years old. Her radio and TV shows, dozens of books, and classes at Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Hunter College, provided groundbreaking sex education and destigmatized pleasure. She promoted safe sex and normalized the use of anatomically-correct words when few others dared to do so.
+ After the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, U.S. Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned. After much criticism of her agency, Cheatle took “full responsibility for the security lapse” in a letter to agency staff.
+ Kim Davis, a former Kentucky county clerk who became known for denying marriage licenses to gay couples after the equality ruling, is now arguing in federal court that Obergefell v. Hodges should be overturned under the notion that same-sex marriage is not rooted in U.S. history, the same reasons the Court overturned Roe.
+ A Tennessee woman, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for violating the FACE Act, which anyone from using force or threats against a person because they are seeking reproductive health services.
“Bevelyn Beatty Williams repeatedly intimidated and interfered with individuals seeking and providing critical reproductive health services. She did so by physically blocking access to clinics, threatening staff and by force,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
How We’re Doing
+ The National Abortion Federation (NAF) was forced to cut the budget for their hotline in half, as individual donations fell nearly 40 percent in 2023. In order to help the most patients possible, support will be capped at 30 percent of procedure costs. The need for funding is only increasing, with a greater number of patients forced to travel out of state for care.
+ Mainstream media has failed to tell the truth or hold guests accountable for misinformation on JD Vance’s extreme anti-abortion views. Trump’s choice for vice president has advocated for a national abortion ban, promoted enforcing the Comstock Act to prevent mailing abortion medication, voted against IVF and refused to support exceptions for rape and incest.
+ A new report on women’s health found that life expectancy is the lowest it’s been since 2006, thanks in part to pregnancy-related deaths, substance use and treatable chronic health conditions. The maternal death rate almost doubled between 2018 and 2022, and disproportionately affected women of color and states with limited access to quality healthcare.
Northeastern states were the best performing health systems for women overall, and Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, Oklahoma and Arkansas were among the worst. State-level inequities in expanded Medicaid coverage also had severe effects. States with abortion restrictions have fewer maternity care providers and higher rates of maternal mortality.
+ Two-thirds of states and D.C. have approved using campaign funds for childcare expenses, reducing a common barrier for parents.
“This is a momentous step toward a more inclusive and effective government… we’ve seen a movement that has not only transformed the political landscape but also changed the conversation about who can and should run for office. This milestone is not only a win for parents and caregivers but for democracy itself, and is a testament to the power of collective advocacy and governance,” said Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Foundation Founder and CEO.
+ More than 75 percent of women reported receiving no accommodations for menopause in the workplace, despite almost half saying it has impacted their job performance; 48 percent believe that women experiencing menopause are seen as less productive, and many women urge employers to provide increased time off and improve empathy from colleagues.
+ Almost one in four workers earn less than $17 per hour, including 27 percent of women. Women of color are disproportionately affected by low wages, with 40 percent of Latina women and 35 percent of Black women earning below $17. Twenty states still follow the federal minimum wage of just $7.25 an hour.
Up Next:
U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you. For as little as $5 each month, you’ll receive the print magazine along with our e-newsletters, action alerts, and invitations to Ms. Studios events and podcasts. We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity.
