As 2025 comes to a close, we take a look back on the feminists and movement builders we lost.
Tierra Walker
Dec. 30, 2024: Tierra Walker died from preeclampsia in Texas after being repeatedly denied an abortion. More than 90 doctors were involved in her care, but none offered her abortion care despite seizures, a high-risk blood clot and a documented high risk of death.
At least 11 women are known to have died because of abortion bans, but this is almost certainly a significant undercount.
Cecile Richards
Jan. 20, 2025: 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.
Below is an excerpt from a piece she wrote for Ms., “We All Deserve the Freedom to Control Our Bodies,” in March 2023:
Restricting or criminalizing abortion does not eliminate abortion. These laws simply put lives at risk. …
The road ahead might feel long, but the power and strength of our movement gives me incredible hope. By working together, I know we can achieve the respect and freedom that we all deserve.
Maria Teresa Horta
Feb. 4, 2025: Feminist writer Maria Teresa Horta died in Lisbon at 87. The last of Portugal’s “Three Marias,” Horta coauthored a collection of letters in 1972 with Maria Isabel Barreno and Maria Velho da Costa—Novas Cartas Portuguesas (New Portuguese Letters)—that explored women’s sexuality and challenged the country’s dictatorship and rigid gender roles. The Marias became a feminist cause célèbre after government censors banned their book and they were arrested and tried for indecency. Two years later, the dictatorship was overthrown and the Marias were acquitted.
Roberta Flack
Feb. 24, 2025: Pianist and singer Roberta Flack died at age 88. The “Killing Me Softly With His Song” artist was the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record. She received a full scholarship to Howard at age 15, sang at the funeral of Jackie Robinson and was a guest performer on feminist children’s project “Free to Be … You and Me.”
Virginia Giuffre
April 25, 2025: Virginia Giuffre, an outspoken victim of Jeffrey Epstein and the first survivor to come out against him, died at 41. Her memoir, Nobody’s Girl, was published Oct. 21 2025 sparking online discourse and awareness of victims traumatic experiences coinciding with Congressional moves to release the Epstein files.
Alexis Herman
April 25, 2025: Alexis Herman, a civil rights activist and the first Black secretary of Labor, died at 77. As a member of President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet, she worked to curtail sweatshop use by American companies abroad and she supported two raises to the federal minimum wage.
Susan Brownmiller
May 24, 2025: Susan Brownmiller, American journalist, author and feminist activist died at 90. Best known for her book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape, she helped redefined rape as a crime of violence at a time when it was viewed primarily as a crime of passion. Published in 1975, the book helped to change society’s view of rape along with the many anti-rape groups that formed in the early 70s.
Patty Berne
May 29, 2025: Disability justice activist and artist Patty Berne died at age 58. Berne was one of the architects of disability justice, and sought to include queer people and women of color in the disability rights movement. In 2005, they founded Sins Invalid, a performance group focused on artists with disabilities, LGBTQ artists and artists of color.
Étienne-Émile Baulieu
May 30, 2025: Dr. Étienne-Émile Baulieu, the “father of the abortion bill,” died at 98. A French biochemist, physician and author, Dr. Baulieu developed mifepristone in the early 1980s, and passionately lobbied for acceptance of the abortion bill. He also studied the role of hormones in aging and treating dementia.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Dr. Baulieu criticized the decision, saying it “calls into question a fundamental right of women that we would have thought was legally, politically and morally guaranteed.”
Melissa and Mark Hortman
June 14, 2025: Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman were assassinated in their home by Vance Luther Boelter. Also targeted by Boelter, state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot, leaving them injured. Hortman was a longtime champion of reproductive justice, racial equity and other progressive causes, and was the third woman to lead the Minnesota House.
Andrea Gibson
July 14, 2025: Slam poet and Colorado’s 2023 poet laureate Andrea Gibson died in July at 49. Gibson’s works were both personal and political, covering mental health, gender norms, love and feminism as well as their yearslong treatment for ovarian cancer.
In an interview with Ms. in March of last year, Gibson shared this message on what motivated them to create a better world:
I also felt within the social justice culture, an almost pressure to be unhappy. And I questioned myself, like if some terrible world event had happened and then I was actually having a good day, what did that say about who I was? Was I a bad person, you know. And even the quote, ‘if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,’ which I used to love. And I know for a lot of people, outrage is what will activate them to create a more compassionate world. That, I learned, is not what activates me to create a more compassionate world. It is actually the better feelings. Like, I mean, not the better ones. I don’t think there’s actually better feelings.
Assata Shakur
Sept. 25, 2025: Black liberation activist Assata Shakur died at age 78 in Cuba, where she fled for political asylum after escaping from prison in the U.S. in 1979. Shakur was a member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army (BLA). She was convicted of killing a state trooper, but always maintained that she was innocent.
Jane Goodall
Oct. 1, 2025: Zoologist, primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall died at age 91. She extensively studied chimpanzees, finding that they were similar to humans in many ways. Goodall was the first to discover that they used tools, and observed their complex emotions and social bonds. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute and spent decades advocating for the protection of animals, environmental conservation and climate action.
Diane Keaton
Oct. 11, 2025: Actor Diane Keaton, who appeared on the cover of Ms. in 1982 for her role in Reds, died at age 79. In a career that lasted over 50 years, she is best known for her roles in The Godfather, Annie Hall and Father of the Bride.
Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
Oct. 13, 2025: Trans activist, author and organizer Miss Major Griffin-Gracy died at age 78. Miss Major joined the Stonewall Riots in 1969, founded multiple organizations to support trans women and was the first executive director of the TGI Justice Project, focused on incarcerated trans women. In 2016, she founded House of gg, a safe haven and educational center for the trans community, and in recent years spoke with young LGBTQ people across the country about anti-trans legislation.
“When younger people call me mother, or grandmother, I feel as though it’s an honor. To them, it’s like, ‘Here’s an older trans woman who survived, and who’s out there still raising hell.’ Elders can teach the younger people to pick up the fight. In my mind it’s what they must do,” said Miss Major in an interview with her longtime friend and writer Toshio Meronek.
Alice Wong
Nov. 14, 2025: Author and disability rights activist Alice Wong died at 51. Founder of the Disability Visibility Project, a community devoted to recording and sharing disabled culture and stories, Wong was a 2024 MacArthur Fellow, and in 2013 was appointed by President Obama to the National Council on Disability. Wong was the author of the memoir Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life (2022), as well as the editor of several collections including Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century (2020) and Disability Intimacy: Essays on Love, Care, and Desire (2024).
Viola Ford Fletcher
Nov. 24, 2025: Viola Ford Fletcher died at age 111. She was the oldest living survivor of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, making her 7 years old at the time. Fletcher testified before Congress in 2021:
“I will never forget the violence of the white mob when we left our home. I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire. I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams. … I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot.”
