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
“Trump’s funding freeze is an outright attack on women and families and the latest move in his anti-family agenda. It is not only illegal, but it would have real consequences that real people in every corner of the country would feel in their homes, schools and communities.
“Republicans claim to care about protecting women, but freezing this critical funding would unquestionably make women and families’ lives harder. Trump callously caused fear and worry across America to carry out Project 2025 which sets up tax credits for his billionaire bros. A federal court enjoined the stealing of federal resources for now, but we will keep calling out Trump’s betrayal. … To the millions of women and families impacted by Trump’s cruel act: We see you, we hear you and we will fight like hell for you.”
—Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández explains how Trump’s attempt to freeze federal funding will have devastating impacts.
“On this Inauguration Day, we find ourselves at a pivotal juncture in the ongoing struggle for racial justice, coinciding with the commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. We can’t be silent in the face of pressing issues that demand our voices and our attention under this new administration. We urge our supporters to stay engaged and active in the policymaking process. Participate in online events, sign petitions, and discuss the ways in which diversity, equity and inclusion have been beneficial in creating more equitable spaces in our schools, workplaces and public institutions. Go to school board meetings, get involved at the local level—leave no power on the table.
“Our collective voice is powerful, and it is essential that we utilize it to influence the dialogue.
—The African American Policy Forum
“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.
“The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away, and that you help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.”
—Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde boldly spoke directly to President Trump during an inaugural prayer service.
“I think Greenland will be worked out with us. I think we’re going to have it. I don’t know really what claim Denmark has to it. But it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn’t allow that to happen because it’s for protection of the free world.”
—President Trump doubled down on his threats to invade Greenland, and suggested again that Canada should become a state.
“Today the president has offered no real solutions to the challenges at our southern border. He has instead doubled down on racist fearmongering and tried-and-failed policies of cruelty. We are ready to take this administration to court and use every tool at our disposal to halt these destructive measures. They are designed only to sow fear, punish immigrants and refugees, and destroy all legal pathways to safety for people fleeing persecution and torture.”
—Melissa Crow, director of litigation at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, responded to a variety of harmful immigration policies enacted by the Trump administration.
“Republicans voted to criminalize reproductive healthcare providers nationwide. Under this bill, women experiencing heartbreaking, life-threatening pregnancies will die on the operating table. Babies born in complex, high-risk pregnancies aren’t going to get neonatal care. All because doctors, who already have an obligation to provide the highest degree of care, won’t want to risk five years in prison for doing their job. Why don’t Republicans care about these deadly consequences?”
—Leger Fernández, after the House passed an antiabortion bill that uses anti-scientific misinformation to compare abortion to infanticide.
“The Democratic Party failed miserably. It’s very simple, males shouldn’t be participating in women’s sports, whether it’s at the rec level, the high school level, the collegiate level, period. That’s the end.”
—New Jersey Democratic state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Paul Sarlo, in a worrying shift from Democratic party norms towards accepting transphobic bills and messaging.
“Institutions and healthcare providers across the country should be ever committed to showing up for the needs of the patients they care for, especially those at the center of the Trump administration’s attacks, like transgender youth. We are here with you. We see you. And we are not going anywhere, no matter what happens.”
—Physician Dr. Meera Shah in response to Trump’s plan to ban gender affirming health care for people under the age of 19.
“It’s beyond shameful that one of President Trump’s most pressing priorities is to disrupt our military’s readiness by forcing qualified and dedicated service members out of the military. … The Equality Caucus is committed to righting this wrong and ensuring long-lasting protections for transgender service members and transgender people who wish to join the armed forces to ensure that our national security remains uncompromised from politically-motivated mass discharges and bans.”
—Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, in response to Trump’s executive order that would effectively ban trans people from serving in the U.S. military.
Milestones
+ President Trump enacted dozens of executive actions that will have devastating impacts on the health, education, jobs and futures of families and communities in the U.S. and around the world. Nearly two-thirds of Trump’s executive actions mirror proposals from Project 2025. Trump’s first week of executive actions include:
- Attempting to end birthright citizenship;
- Withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization (WHO);
- Suspending almost all foreign aid and stopping global programs from working. After backlash, Secretary Rubio announced a waiver for “life-saving humanitarian assistance,” but the uncertain nature could still prevent critical programs from providing medical care, nutrition, clean water, primary education and much more;
- Stating that the U.S. recognizes only two genders, male and female, which are defined “at conception”— language that could lead to antiabortion fetal personhood policies in the future;
- Banning transgender Americans from serving in the military;
- Initiating a 60-day plan to ban gender-affirming care for people under the age of 19;
- Reinstated an expanded version of the global gag rule or “Mexico City Policy,” preventing organizations that receive federal global health funding from providing access to abortion-related information and care;
- Eliminating all Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) efforts in the federal government, including the White House Gender Policy Council;
- Beginning to detain noncitizens until their immigration proceedings have concluded, and dismantling the task force designed to reunify families separated during Trump’s first term;
- Suspending asylum processing at the southern border and shutting down the CBP One app. Around 30,000 people are stranded in Mexico after waiting months for now-canceled asylum appointments.
- Reaffirming the Hyde Amendment and other restrictions on federal funding for abortion.
+ Trump also attempted to freeze almost all federal grants and financial assistance, potentially halting billions of dollars designated by Congress for domestic violence shelters and other nonprofits, universities, housing programs and much more. Any programs that include a focus on women or gender are particularly at risk. A federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze just minutes before it was set to take effect, and today a new memo from the administration stated the order was rescinded.
+ The Trump administration removed reproductiverights.gov and almost all LGBTQ and HIV content and resources from the White House, CDC, Department of Labor and State Department pages.
+ Elon Musk appeared to perform two Nazi salutes at Trump’s inauguration event, and followed it by posting a series of Nazi “jokes” and puns on X (Twitter). He also spoke virtually at the campaign launch for a far-right German political party event this week.
+ Trump pardoned or dismissed the charges for all 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, including those who violently assaulted Capitol Police officers.
+ Trump also pardoned 23 antiabortion extremists who invaded or blockaded abortion clinics and harrassed patients and providers. The Justice Department confirmed that further prosecutions under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act will now be allowed only in “extraordinary circumstances.”
+ A coalition of veterans, teachers and public health professionals filed a federal lawsuit against the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), for not complying with federal transparency laws.
“At a time when the American people’s trust in our nation’s institutions is low, allowing unelected billionaires to run roughshod over essential services without being transparent about their operations does not achieve the efficiency the American people want to see from their government and only threatens to further undermine the public’s trust,” said Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward.
+ Scott Bessent, Trump’s new treasury secretary, told the Senate that expanding Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy is “the single most important economic issue of the day,” and confirmed that he wouldn’t support raising taxes for any income level.
+ Trump signed his first piece of legislation into law, the Laken Riley Act, requiring ICE to detain undocumented immigrants charged with theft or shoplifting. Some congressional Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill, but others raised due process concerns.
“In the wake of tragedy we are seeing a fundamental erosion of our civil rights,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a New York Democrat. “In this bill, if a person is so much as accused of a crime, if someone wants to point a finger and accuse someone of shoplifting, they would be rounded up and put into a private detention camp and sent out for deportation without a day in court.”
+ Large-scale ICE raids in cities including Chicago, Atlanta and Miami arrested almost 1,000 people. The White House claimed to be targeting people with active warrants, but admitted that other undocumented immigrants could be detained as well. The Trump administration wants to increase arrest quotas from a few hundred to 1,500 per day.
+ At least 15 Indigenous people in Arizona and New Mexico were stopped and questioned or detained during immigration raids. “There’s a lot of fear, and I know they’re probably feeling frustrated knowing that they don’t feel safe in the country where they were born or where their ancestors come from and there’s a lot of frustration of them being stereotyped,” said Navajo Nation Council speaker Crystalyne Curley.
+ Cecile Richards died on Jan. 20 at age 67. Richards led Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018, founded Supermajority, an organization to build women’s political power, and organized powerful abortion rights actions during Trump’s first term. Last year, the lifelong activist helped cast Texas’ votes for Kamala Harris at the Democratic National Convention and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Biden.
+ Meta will replace social media fact checkers in the U.S. with “community notes,” following Musk’s example on X (Twitter). They also rewrote their policies on hateful conduct to explicitly allow attacks on LGBTQ people and women, and will now allow language dehumanizing women and nonbinary people, calling for women to be banned from certain careers, and calling LGBTQ people mentally ill or abnormal.
“Rolling back content moderation when mis- and disinformation has flooded the zone online is an egregious mistake. Whether it’s a lie about where and how to vote or false information about getting help after a disaster, everyone can be harmed by mis- and disinformation. And some communities—including children, people of color, people with disabilities, and other marginalized communities—are even more vulnerable. Mis- and disinformation and hateful attacks are tactics to silence and divide us,” responded Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
+ Despite questioning over his “degrading” statements about women in the military and an insufficient FBI background check, Pete Hesgeth was confirmed as secretary of defense.
+ The House passed a bill that would ban trans girls from competing in women’s sports at federally-funded schools. It now faces an uphill battle in the Senate. Just 1.4 percent of trans teens participate in sports, but 40 percent are bullied at school.
+ Brittany Watts, who was arrested and prosecuted after a miscarriage, is now suing, accusing two nurses of conspiring with police to create false reports and notes that led to her arrest.
+ Whole Woman’s Health has expanded its 24/7 abortion care services by adding virtual care services in three states (California, Colorado and New York), launching an initiative to accept Medicaid and insurance, and increasing the gestational limit for virtual abortion care services to 12 weeks.
+ Republicans are advancing legislation to undo the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. However, the Department of Justice announced that they won’t enforce the law stating that the only exceptions would be in “extraordinary circumstances…such as death.”
+ Meta censored abortion pill providers including Aid Access and Mayday.Health on social media by blocking, blurring or taking down their accounts, as discovered by Abortion, Everyday.
+ The climate crisis and severe weather are disproportionally increasing the cost of living for Black Americans. Since January of last year, the damage and economic losses surmount to around 3 percent of the U.S. economy, according to a new analysis.
+ President Trump has put schools at risk for loosing federal funding if they don’t stop teaching what he views as “critical race theory” and other material dealing with race and sexuality.
+ Before leaving office, President Biden declared that the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has been ratified and should become law. Unfortunately, his strong support will have no legal effect, but Congress could decide to pass a resolution in the future deeming the ERA part of the Constitution.
How We’re Doing
+ In total, President Biden confirmed 235 judges, one more than Trump’s first term: 64 percent were women, and 63 percent people of color. Forty-six percent are professionally diverse, including civil rights attorneys and public defenders. The many “firsts” included the first openly lesbian appeals court judge, first Navajo federal judge and first Black woman Supreme Court justice.
+ A new study found that the active ingredient in the emergency contraception pill Ella, at a higher dosage, can be used instead of mifepristone for abortion care. This could provide a much-needed safe alternative as attempts to restrict mifepristone continue, but could potentially lead to increased attacks on emergency contraception.
+ Female firefighters will now receive federal compensation for treatment for reproductive cancers, nearly three years after testicular and prostate cancer got coverage. Recent studies indicate that firefighting can increase the risk of cancer, including breast and cervical cancer.
+ Since the fall of Roe, states hostile to abortion rights have lost 36,000 people per quarter. Single-person households—who are generally younger—are more likely to move out of states with abortion bans. This could lead to challenges attracting and retaining workers, especially educated workers that are more likely to support abortion rights and be able to move.
