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…
+ On Presidents’ Day (Feb. 17), Americans across the country took to the streets to protest Donald Trump with “No Kings on Presidents’ Day” and “Not My Presidents’ Day” marches. Signs with slogans like “This Flag Bows to No King” and “I Heart Checks & Balances” called attention to Trump’s unprecedented attempts to restructure the government during his first month in office.
+ In a win for reproductive health privacy, a judge in Indiana has temporarily ruled to protect doctors from being forced to share abortion records with the government after the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) agreed to treat terminated pregnancy reports as public records in a settlement agreement with an antiabortion organization. On Feb. 20, Judge James A. Joven granted a 10-day restraining order to OB-GYNs Dr. Caitlin Bernard and Dr. Caroline Rouse, who sued to stop IDOH from releasing confidential information about their abortion patients’ demographics, medical history and medical treatment.
+ Idaho became the sixth state to consider murder charges for abortion patients, introducing the Idaho Prenatal Equal Protection Act, which would categorize abortion as homicide. The state joins Indiana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Texas, which are also considering similar bills that would, in some cases, allow the death penalty for abortion patients.
+ In Montana, late on Thursday, Feb. 27, after intense and emotional committee hearings, eight Democratic lawmakers joined eight Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee to vote down HB 609, a radical antiabortion “trafficking” bill that would have made seeking an out-of-state abortion after viability, or simply helping someone get one, a felony. The bill represented the GOP’s first explicit attempt to restrict women’s right to travel out of state for abortions.
Jessica Valenti wrote that, even though the bill was tabled, the proposed anti-travel legislation “is a warning sign that we’re going to see more legislation like this… Republicans have opened the floodgates to trap women in antiabortion states, and they’re not about to stop.”
+ Karina’s Law was signed into law on Feb. 10 by Illinois’ Gov. J.B. Pritzker, increasing protections for survivors of domestic violence. The law is named for Karina Gonzalez, a mother who was shot by her husband and abuser along with their daughter Daniela and son Manny. Manny was the sole survivor and lobbied for the passing of this law in honor of his mother. Karina’s Law requires law enforcement to immediately seize firearms from anyone whose Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card has been confiscated due to a restraining order. The law says weapons and FOIDs must be confiscated within 96 hours of the court issuance of a search warrant, seeking to protect victims by immediately taking weapons away from those deemed too unsafe to possess them.
+ West Point disbanded clubs for women, LGBTQ+ students and racial minorities to comply with Trump’s executive order dissolving DEI offices. At the beginning of the month, West Point mandated that 12 clubs associated with the academy’s DEI office be shut down. The military academy, mainly funded by the federal government, said the move was meant to comply Trump’s Jan. 20 EO, Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs, which ordered the termination of all “discriminatory” DEI programs. Many of these clubs at West Point were created to uplift and support minority groups at the historically white male institution.
Let’s not forget what else was sent our way this year…
Friday, Jan. 24: Proposed Fetal Personhood Bill Gains Support in Congress
In late January, Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) introduced a new bill dubbed the Life at Conception Act (HR 722) that seeks to ban abortion nationwide. The number of cosponsors is at 70 at the time of writing and includes Republicans from 30 states.
Besides banning abortion, the bill would restrict access to IVF and fertility treatment and put pregnant women at risk for criminal prosecution for any actions that might negatively impact their pregnancy. (Multiple states are already using fetal personhood laws and confidential health information to put women behind bars.)
The proposed Life at Conception Act attempts to use the 14th Amendment—which grants citizenship to all people born in the U.S.—to extend personhood to fetuses. (Ironically, one of Trump’s executive orders from January attempted to overturn the 14th Amendment by seeking to block birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.)
In order to pass, the bill would need a majority of votes (218 out of 435) in the House before moving onto the Senate.
Wednesday, Jan. 29: Trump Signs Laken Riley Act into Law
The act, now Public Law 119-01, requires the detention of unauthorized immigrants accused of theft and violent crimes. The act was introduced in the name of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was murdered by a noncitizen in 2024. The murder further ignited already growing anti-immigrant sentiments—reflected in the text of the bill itself which criticizes “the Biden administration’s open borders policies [sic].” The law will not just allow but require the Department of Homeland Security to detain and deport noncitizens even just accused of theft (not convicted) on the grounds that Riley’s murderer happened to also have shoplifting charges.
“The Laken Riley Act will not make our communities safer. Instead, it strips immigrants of their rights and instills more fear in an already terrifying moment,” said Regina Davis Moss, president and CEO of In Our Own Voice.
Opponents of the law say it strips noncitizen immigrants of due process, an essential constitutional right under the Fifth Amendment, and eliminates the possibility for bail even for minor shoplifting offenses. In a House speech last month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) stated, “If someone wants to point a finger and accuse someone of shoplifting, they will be rounded up and put into a private detention camp and sent out for deportation without a day in court without a moment to assert their right … of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’” She also emphasized the Republican Party’s hypocrisy of allowing Trump to pardon the “violent criminals” of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Many feminists are also concerned with the law’s treatment of survivors of gender-based violence. “I want to see this much dedication to addressing violence against women and femicide and gender-based violence, but this bill doesn’t do that,” says Casey Swegman, director of public policy at the nonprofit Tahirih Justice Center. “I’m worried that the voices of survivors are getting lost in politics, and the movement for survivors is being politicized to an end that does not serve them.”
Friday, Jan. 31: Colleges Revert to Sexual Assault Policies from Trump’s First Term
The Department of Education is forcing colleges and universities in the U.S. to return to the Title IX campus sexual assault policies created during Trump’s first term, including more protections for accused students and requirements for live hearings that put survivors and alleged perpetrators in the same room. The agency announced in a memo to universities across the country that Title IX will now be enforced according to a set of rules that former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos created.
One controversial DeVos policy is the live hearing requirement, which allows accused students to cross-examine their accusers through an adviser. The Trump policies also narrow the definition of sexual harassment and reduces colleges’ legal responsibility for investigating reports. Victims’ rights groups have expressed worries that the new policies will make student sexual assault survivors less willing to come forward.
Earlier in January, a federal judge in Kentucky overturned the Biden administration’s Title IX rules, which also expanded protections for LGBTQ+ students by clarifying that Title IX—a 1972 law forbidding discrimination on the basis of sex—also applied to discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD, said that the Department of Education’s reversion to the Trump-era Title IX policies puts the most marginalized students in danger: “Protections for the most vulnerable students make the entire school safer and stronger for everyone.”
Friday, Jan. 31: Louisiana Indicts New York Abortion Provider for Mailing Abortion Pills to Louisiana Patient
A Louisiana grand jury has indicted Dr. Maggie Carpenter, a New York OB-GYN, for mailing medication abortion to a teenage girl in Port Allen, La. Jurors issued an arrest warrant for Carpenter on charges of “criminal abortion by means of abortion-inducing drugs,” a felony punishable in Louisiana by up to 15 years in prison, $200,000 of fines and the loss of a doctor’s medical license.
The jury also charged the minor’s mother with illegal abortion, and district attorney Tony Clayton has claimed that the girl’s mother “coerced” her into the abortion, even though the indictment includes no mention of this.
Carpenter’s home state of New York is one of six states with shield laws in place for telehealth abortion providers. On Feb. 3, days after Carpenter’s indictment, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill which allows New York abortion providers to leave their names off of medication abortion prescription labels, protecting them further from out-of-state antiabortion prosecutors. Abortion rights activists are hoping that other blue-state governors, especially Gov. Gavin Newsom in California, will pass similar legislation. Hochul also said “there’s no way in hell” that she would ever turn Carpenter over to Louisiana “under any circumstances.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the move, “a direct and brazen attack on Americans’ bodily autonomy and their right to reproductive freedom. This cowardly attempt out of Louisiana to weaponize the law against out-of-state providers is unjust and un-American. We will not allow bad actors to undermine our providers’ ability to deliver critical care.”
Monday, Feb. 3: Former Meta Director Kelly Stonelake Sues for Sex Discrimination and Retaliation
Stonelake alleges the tech giant retaliated against her and blocked her from due promotions “for opposing Meta’s illegal activity and violations of public policy.” She also calls Meta out for the “toxic pattern of silencing women” she said she experienced in her 15 years at the company. Stonelake’s suit alleges she was sexually assaulted by a male superior during a business trip in 2011, followed by further harassment from him, including a threat to not promote her unless she had sex with him. The suit states that she had to relocate from California to Washington to escape him, due to Meta’s inaction in the situation.
This suit comes amid Meta’s new anti-content moderation and fact-checking policies, which are projected to increase hate speech against women, LGBTQ+ people and other minorities on all of its apps, including Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, last month on Joe Rogan’s podcast, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg asserted that corporations in the already male-dominated tech industry need “more masculine energy.” (Do they though?)
Tuesday, Feb. 4, and Thursday, Feb. 6: Senate Confirms More Antiabortion Nominees for Key Cabinet Positions
In February, the Senate confirmed Pam Bondi as attorney general and Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget, adding two more far-right Republicans with distinctly antiabortion views to Trump’s Cabinet.
Vought, a co-author of Project 2025, has stated that “defending life” is the most important issue to him. In his new role, he’ll have the power to use the presidential budget to fund fake abortion clinics (called “crisis pregnancy centers”) and also reject agency funding for reproductive healthcare.
Bondi, Trump’s new attorney general and Department of Justice head, would be able to ban abortion nationwide without Congress’ approval by determining the DOJ’s position on the Comstock Act. As AG, she will technically be responsible for enforcing the Freedom of Access to Clinics (FACE) Act; however, Trump has already stated that he has no intention of prosecuting clinic harassers under the FACE Act, and in January pardoned 23 antiabortion extremists convicted of violating the FACE Act with violence to clinic patients and staff.
As Florida’s attorney general, Bondi defended mandatory waiting periods and biased counseling for abortions and joined other Republican attorneys general in amicus briefs advocating for limits on patients’ access to abortion and contraception.
Wednesday, Feb. 5: Trump Administration’s First Wave of Attacks on Transgender Rights Target Athletes, Gender-Affirming Healthcare and Government-Issued IDs
One of Trump’s five anti-trans executive orders, issued on Feb. 5, titled Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports, aims to ban all trans women from women’s sports teams on the grounds that it is “dangerous” and “demeaning.”
Gender-affirming healthcare is another clear target of the Trump administration. “Protecting Children from Surgical and Chemical Mutilation,” another EO signed Jan. 28, withholds all federal funding for gender-affirming procedures and treatments for those under the age of 19. Some states have already begun to comply with this starkly anti-trans mandate, including Colorado and Virginia.
Another policy implemented in one of Trump’s many Jan. 20 EOs was the mandated listing of “accurate reflect[ions] of the holder’s sex” on government-issued ID cards, including licenses and passports. This directly attacks the trans community since by Trump’s definition sex and gender cannot be changed and must follow the individual’s information listed on their birth certificate.
Trans actor Hunter Schafer, best known for her role in HBO’s Euphoria, took to TikTok to share her shock and disappointment after her newly issued passport labeled her gender as ‘male.’ She shares that her gender markers had been legally listed as ‘female’ since her mid-teens and that this passport, issued after Trump’s mandating the recognition of only two genders, was the first document to list her sex as ‘male’ in nearly a decade.
“I was shocked … I just didn’t think it was actually going to happen,” said Schafer, after referencing Trump’s tendency to exaggerate many policies leading up to the election. Lawsuits pushing back against Trump’s passport policy have already begun to be filed. In Massachusetts, seven individuals are suing Trump over the EO, claiming it violates the constitution.
Thursday, Feb. 13: RFK Jr. Confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kennedy was approved to lead the HSS with a 52-48 vote in the Senate, largely along party lines except for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the sole Republican to vote against Kennedy’s confirmation. McConnell’s childhood experience with polio was a deciding factor in his stance against anti-vaccine Kennedy’s nomination.
Beginning the day of his inauguration, Trump has launched what is likely only the beginning of funding freezes on healthcare, including a Jan. 20 EO revoking Biden’s efforts to strengthen Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. In Virginia, half of the state’s community health centers have already been cut off from federal funding since Trump took office again. If health centers close and Medicaid and related programs get cut, working families and patients will be forced to pay and potentially take on extreme debt.
Kennedy made his stance on abortion clear in his Senate hearing last month: “I agree with President Trump that abortion is a tragedy.” Additionally, RFK has a history of anti-vaccine rhetoric and advocacy for ‘alternative’ medicine approaches, including comments throughout the years that the polio vaccine’s efficacy was “mythology” and that it killed “many” more people than it saved. When discussing RFK at a rally in 2024, Trump announced, “I’m going to let him go wild on health…and medicines.” The implications for abortion and vaccines are already being seen: Recent reports say he is planning on firing a large portion of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group responsible for recommending vaccinations to the public. The CDC has already postponed the most recent committee meeting without announcing a new date for it.
Friday, Feb. 14: Tax Fairness for Survivors Act Introduced to Congress
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), along with Reps. Lois Frankel (D-Fla.) and Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), introduced a bipartisan bill which seeks to exclude settlements and other reparation payments to survivors of sexual assault or harassment from counting toward taxable income.
The bill seeks to relieve victims of the burden of paying taxes on settlements received by excluding these awards from the victim’s gross income when filing income taxes. “Currently, loopholes in our tax system fail survivors of sexual harassment and assault, penalizing survivors,” said Tenney.
“Survivors of sexual assault and harassment should not be forced to pay taxes on the compensation they rightfully deserve,” said Gillibrand. “The Tax Fairness for Survivors Act is commonsense legislation that will eliminate unjust tax burdens, allowing survivors to focus on healing in the wake of immense trauma.”
Friday, Feb. 21: Federal Judge Stalls Trump’s Plans to Halt DEI Funding
On Inauguration Day, Trump signed a slew of executive orders, including one titled “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government and DEI Programs” which sought to entirely eliminate all “‘equity-related’ grants” and programs from all federal agencies and those that receive federal funding. Several federal agencies have begun to comply with this EO, including the Defense Intelligence Agency which has effectively banned celebrations of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Black History Month.
Since the issuance of this EO terminating federal DEI efforts, Trump’s DOJ has also removed its site that had published resources on the crisis of missing and murdered Native American women since the creation of the Not Invisible Act Commission, signed into law by Trump himself in 2020.
Additionally, the CDC was forced to temporarily remove its data page following another Jan 20. EO titled “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.” This EO seeks to undo “efforts to eradicate the biological reality of sex [that] fundamentally attack women by depriving them of their dignity, safety, and well-being,” effectively removing safeguards for trans individuals and erasing them from government platforms. Notably, reproductiverights.org, a prominent resource for abortion and reproductive health information, was permanently removed as well on Jan. 20.
However, on Friday, U.S. District Judge Adam B. Abelson granted a preliminary injunction ruling to halt the EO’s termination of DEI programs following a complaint filed by a pro-DEI coalition on Feb. 3, accusing Trump’s EO of being unconstitutional and vague. This injunction temporarily prohibits the Trump administration from canceling contracts that involve DEI and from enforcing universities and other organizations to comply with these anti-DEI restrictions.
