
MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
Since our last report…
+ Abortion bans appear to be driving young people out of restrictive states, which could result in “huge economic implications,” warns The 19th’s Shefali Luthra. Since the repeal of Roe in 2022, an estimated tens of thousands of people are leaving the 12 states with total bans every quarter. The effect of this migration on population “is comparable to the impact of a 10 percent increase in local crime rates,” according to a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. “These population flows and demographic shifts could affect a wide range of economic factors from tax bases to housing markets to the availability of workers in key industries.”
+ A second woman has come forward saying she was denied miscarriage care at Providence St. Joseph Hospital, a Catholic hospital in Eureka, Calif. In October, Anna Nusslock was also refused treatment for her miscarriage. The other anonymous patient, “Jane Roe,” has filed a lawsuit against the hospital, which refused to end her painful, doomed pregnancy even though the fetus was nonviable.
+ Brittany Watts, the Ohio woman who was arrested and charged with “abuse of a corpse” last year after miscarrying at home, has filed a lawsuit against several members of hospital staff, including her nurses, who turned her into the police. Watts is also suing the police officer who interrogated her, the hospital where she was refused treatment, the doctor who denied her care and the city of Warren. The lawsuit states that the defendants “knowingly created reports and hospital notes that contained blatantly false information. As a result, Watts was arrested and charged with a felony.”
+ Four state legislatures review bills that would reclassify abortion as homicide. In South Carolina, the Prenatal Equal Protection Act asserts that “‘person’ includes an unborn child at every stage of development from fertilization until birth.” Thus, the termination of a fetus, even just one day after fertilization, would legally be considered murder. Bills in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Indiana also seek to legally change the definition of “human being” to include unborn fetuses. Not only would this mean abortion would legally be deemed murder, even “birth control could be punishable by the death penalty,” warns Jessica Valenti, including IUDs and emergency contraception.
Let’s not forget what else was sent our way in January.…
Saturday, Dec. 21: Blake Lively Alleges ‘Repeated Sexual Harassment’ and Retaliation on Set of ‘It Ends With Us’
Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department against co-star Justin Baldoni and the film’s studio, Wayfarer, co-founded by Baldoni, alleging sexual harassment and a consequent smear campaign to “destroy” Lively’s reputation. The New York Times released an article claiming Baldoni and Wayfarer hired a crisis publicity team to slander Lively’s reputation in an attempt to salvage their own. In response, Baldoni is now suing the Times for libel after the paper published this article detailing his alleged smear campaign against Lively, seeking $250 million in damages in response to the Times’ allegations.
Tuesday, Jan. 7: Meta Removes Content Moderation From Its Platforms
Mark Zuckerberg announced all of Meta’s social media platforms—including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads—are eliminating fact-checking to “get back to [its] roots of free expression.” Zuckerberg claims that the mistakes made by automated content moderation equate “too much censorship.” Zuckerberg also lauded Musk’s Community Notes program of “crowdsourcing” fact-checking on X, despite it being proven to increase the amount of hate speech and disinformation on the platform.
Disinformation is a dangerous online threat that has real-life consequences. Since Trump’s inauguration, more harmful falsehoods are spreading on Meta’s platforms. Users are now allowed to refer to women as “household objects or property.”
Many are outraged at the weak excuses provided by Meta for blatantly allowing mis- and disinformation to spread unregulated the platform. “Meta claims content moderation is hard,” said Maya Wiley, CEO and president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “What’s hard is being threatened. What’s hard is being attacked for the color of your skin or your immigration status. What’s hard is worrying about your kids’ safety. What’s hard is being doxxed because of who you are or your beliefs. Just because companies believe it is hard to monitor their platforms to protect their users doesn’t mean we should allow it.”
Wednesday, Jan. 15: Lawsuit Alleges Vermont Tracks Pregnant Women Deemed Unsuitable for Motherhood
A new suit brought by ACLU of Vermont and Pregnancy Justice alleges Vermont is tracking pregnancies of women they suspect “lack parental capacity”—even without formal mental health evaluations. The complaint accuses the Department for Children and Families of possessing a “‘high-risk pregnancy calendar‘ to target and track pregnant Vermonters it deems supposedly unsuitable for parenthood, relying on confidential information from medical providers and social services organizations it enlists … without the legal authority or consent to do so from the individuals it surveils.”
The woman in the suit, identified as A.V., was not assessed for parental capacity “until after they took her newborn away,” indicating that DCF planned to take custody of her child without official preexisting authorization. The monitoring of pregnant people to control the upbringing of unborn children, especially without formal proof of incompetency, indicates that the right to reproductive rights and medical privacy is under threat everywhere—even in one of the least restrictive states for abortion.
Thursday, Jan. 16: Medication Abortion Case Continues in Amarillo, Texas
Trump will have an early opportunity to either stay true to his word, or else instruct his Department of Justice to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence and stop defending access to medication abortion.
Julia Kaye, ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
In Texas’ Northern District, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a ruling permitting the attorneys general of Idaho, Kansas and Missouri to continue litigating the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA case in his courtroom in Amarillo. The case, which started in April 2023, seeks to challenge the FDA’s approval of mifepristone—an incredibly safe and effective medication used in most abortions in this country. The FDA first approved mifepristone in 2000, 25 years ago.

In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled that the antiabortion groups that originally brought the Alliance case lacked legal standing to sue, while Biden’s DOJ attempted to end the case altogether. However, Kascmaryk’s ruling requests further briefing on whether the case can proceed, effectively giving control to the new Trump administration. Idaho, Kansas and Missouri are expected to ask the court to issue another order preventing patients from obtaining mifepristone through telehealth or getting prescriptions filled at pharmacies, making it even more difficult for patients in reproductive healthcare deserts to access the medication.
The three attorneys general are also planning several other nationwide restrictions, including withdraw FDA’s approval for generic mifepristone, which comprises two-thirds of currently available mifepristone pills, withdrawing FDA’s approval of mifepristone for minors and prohibiting nurse-practitioners and certain other medical professionals from prescribing mifepristone.
“Once the Supreme Court found that the antiabortion groups who brought the Alliance litigation never had a right to sue in the first place, this outrageous case should have been put to bed,” said Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project. “Instead, the same Texas judge who already tried to take mifepristone off the market nationwide has left the door open for extremist politicians to continue attacking medication abortion in his courtroom.
“The nation’s leading medical authorities describe mifepristone as one of the safest medicines available—safer than many drugs in your medicine cabinet right now. And even [President] Trump walked back his attacks on abortion after realizing how overwhelmingly unpopular restricting abortion is with the American public. Today’s ruling means … Trump will have an early opportunity to either stay true to his word, or else instruct his Department of Justice to ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence and stop defending access to medication abortion. The American people will be watching.”
Monday, Jan. 20: Trump Signs Slew of Executive Orders on His First Day in Office, Attacking DEI, Immigration and Reproductive Rights
Trump Day 1 brought an onslaught of executive orders, the majority of which seem to align with the ultra-conservative ideology outlined in Project 2025—despite Trump’s attempts to distance himself from it during his campaign.
- Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization and reinstated the global gag rule, which blocks U.S. funding to foreign organizations that provide, promote or even discuss abortion care. (He later announced plans to rejoin the Geneva Consensus Declaration, a group of countries with extremist antiabortion leadership to try to declare that there is no international right to abortion.)
- Additional executive orders proclaim the U.S. only recognizes two genders, eliminate the White House’s Gender Policy Council and ban gender-affirming care for young people under the age of 19, effective in 60 days.
- Several EOs also attack diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts within the federal government, demanding that anyone with a DEI-related role be fired and requiring that other government employees report colleagues they suspect of continuing to promote DEI.
- Other new executive orders attack current immigrants in the U.S. while attempting to dramatically reshape U.S. immigration policy. One EO attempted to end birthright citizenship (a move that would defy the Constitution), while others allow for ICE raids in protected spaces such as schools and places of worship.
Tuesday, Jan. 21: Administration Removes Reproductive Rights, LGBTQ and HIV Resources Pages from Government Sites; Instagram Removes Abortion-Related Content
In the midst of Trump’s attacks on DEI and immigrants in his first few days in office, the Trump administration has taken down several government websites, including the Spanish-language version of the White House website and a page dedicated to the Constitution.
The administration has also removed the website ReproductiveHealth.gov, which the Biden administration launched in order to provide information and resources about women’s rights, abortion and contraception access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022. (Media company theSkimm bought the web address reproductiverightsdotgov.com, which redirects to a page on theSkimm site that contains the information the government website did on the day it was taken down.)
The federal government has also removed nearly all LGBTQ- and HIV-focused content and resources from the White House website and eliminated the content from key federal agency webpages. The search term “LGBTQ” now brings up zero results on WhiteHouse.gov. Some LGBTQ-specific pages have been taken down from the websites for the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of State and other government sites.
“President Trump claims to be a strong proponent of freedom of speech, yet he is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face,” said Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. “This action proves the Trump administration’s goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to find federal resources or otherwise see ourselves reflected under his presidency.”
Social media has also seen a rise in censorship. Jessica Valenti reported Instagram is removing and restricting information about abortion, including blurring posts from the organization Aid Access that tell patients how to find abortion care and hiding the account in searches.
Texas, meanwhile, has introduced another bill that would ban pro-choice websites in the state, forcing internet providers to block any website that contains information about how to obtain abortion care, including abortion medication. The bill lists specific websites that would be blocked, including Aid Access, Hey Jane, Plan C Pills, Just the Pill and Carafem.
Thursday, Jan. 23: Republicans Reintroduce Bill to Repeal FACE Act
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has sponsored a bill which would “repeal prohibitions relating to freedom of access to clinic entrances.” The bill would essentially overturn the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (or the FACE Act), which prohibits harassment and threats against patients and providers at reproductive healthcare clinics.
At the same time, the Trump administration has released a memo stating that “no new abortion-related FACE Act actions—criminal or civil—will be permitted without authorization from the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division”; in other words, even though the FACE Act is still in place for now, the Department of Justice has announced that they won’t enforce it.

Earlier this month, Trump pardoned 23 antiabortion extremists convicted of violating the FACE Act for terrorizing patients and staff at abortion clinics, including blocking patients from accessing emergency medical care and crushing a staff member’s hand in a door. Jessica Valenti wrote that, by pardoning them, Trump is offering “permission” for unregulated attacks on abortion clinics: “In other words, anti-abortion activists can do anything they want short of murder.”
On the day of the March for Life in D.C. (which JD Vance attended in person while Trump spoke in a prerecorded address), more than 30 Republican legislators promised antiabortion activists in a private meeting that they would repeal the FACE Act.
Meanwhile, conservative legal groups around the country are working to overturn Hill v. Colorado, the Supreme Court case that established safe buffer zones outside of clinics, requiring protestors to stay a certain number of feet away from patients and medical providers. Since 2022, violence outside of clinics has skyrocketed, with antiabortion protestors claiming First Amendment rights and arguing that harassing abortion patients and violating their privacy counts as free speech. 2022 saw a 25 percent increase in clinic invasions while bomb threats increased by 133 percent since 2021.
Saturday, Jan. 25: Pete Hegseth Approved for Trump’s Cabinet

Pete Hegseth was approved as Trump’s secretary of defense amid a pressure campaign against potential witnesses. Since his nomination, questions about the former Fox News reporter’s qualifications for the role have been raised regarding allegations ranging from sexual misconduct (tracing back to a settlement he paid to a woman who accused him of rape in 2017), alcohol consumption habits, susceptibility to blackmail, and financial mismanagement. (Hegseth admits to having a drinking problem in the past but has since described his “redemption story,” despite a claim shared with The New Yorker that he ordered unusual amounts of alcohol at a morning meeting as recently as 2023.)
“I’m deeply concerned by an apparent pattern of intimidation and threats, whether it’s legal action or reputational harm,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee which oversees legislative issues related to defense and national security.
Hegseth was approved by a 51-50 vote in the Senate, with the tie broken by Vice President Vance. Given the current 53-47 Republican lead in the Senate, had Hegseth lost just one more than the three Republican senators who voted not to approve him, he would not have earned the appointment.
Sunday, Jan. 26: Trump-Era Immigration Blitzes Begin in Chicago
Trump has launched a nationwide immigration enforcement operation, beginning in Chicago on Sunday night when ICE officers arrested nearly 1,000 people. ICE also detained immigrants in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Colorado, Puerto Rico and Austin, Texas.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan told CBS News Chicago that the raids targeted “criminal aliens,” or immigrants with active warrants, but that the ICE would also detain other undocumented immigrants as “collateral” if they’re close to the raids. In order to ramp up arrests, Trump officials have also issued quotas to ICE officers, hoping to increase arrests from a few hundred per day to 1,200 to 1,500.
“Quotas will incentivize ICE officers to arrest the easiest people to arrest, rather than the people that are dangerous noncitizens,” Paul Hunker, a former ICE chief counsel in Dallas, told the Washington Post.
“The recent ICE raids occurring in cities across the nation are deeply troubling and highlight the urgent need for immigration reform that prioritizes dignity and due process,” said Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. “These unwarranted raids have not only targeted hardworking individuals but, alarmingly, have also wrongfully targeted U.S. citizens and veterans. Such actions sow fear, disrupt families, destabilize local economies, and undermine public trust.”
Monday, Jan. 27: Trump Orders Sweeping Freeze of All Federal Aid
On Monday, Trump’s budget office ordered a freeze of “all federal financial assistance.” Even though a federal judge intervened on Tuesday, for now the order is only blocked until Feb. 3, and if the freeze resumes, it could block payments to states and individual households that receive assistance such as SNAP food aid.
In a two-page memo, the Office of Management and Budget wrote, “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.” The office ordered all federal agencies to temporarily suspend payments (but specified that funds paid directly to individuals, like Medicare, Social Security and student loans won’t be affected).
Representatives in Congress and organizers across the country have been quick to raise the alarm about the devastating effect the federal freeze might have on millions of families. Rep. Janelle Bynum from Oregon expressed concern over how freezing funds will hurt Americans who rely on federal assistance: “This decision is threatening to impact Oregonian‘s ability to pay for groceries, to pay their rent, to pay for their education, and to pay other can’t-skip bills in our households. The Trump administration is playing political games with people’s livelihoods … This is irresponsible, unproductive, and exactly what Americans have said they want to see less of in Washington.”
Abby J. Leibman, president and CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, released this statement: “This is an abuse of power and an abandonment of the American people. More than 47 million Americans struggle with food insecurity, and today they woke up terrified that their government has abandoned them. It was just last week that President Trump swore to protect the rights and well-being of all Americans, and he has already made clear that this is quite simply a lie. We do not yet know the specific impact of this policy memo—indeed, it’s not clear that the White House even understands the details—but we absolutely understand the cruelty behind it.”