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
Talarico on What Real Masculinity Looks Like
“In a time when there’s so much debate about what it means to be a man, my dad showed me every Saturday morning. He would mow our lawn, and then, without telling anyone, without anyone asking him, he would go next door and mow our neighbor’s lawn. … Nowadays our culture tells young men that greatness is tearing other people down, trolling and owning and dominating, but my dad showed me what real greatness looks like.”
—James Talarico, Democratic Senate nominee in Texas
His rival, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, is pushing deceptive narratives attacking Talarico’s masculinity and sexuality.
Yentel on Defending Civil Society
“This congressional hearing is another attempt to intimidate and silence dissent among civil rights and other nonprofit organizations with whom the president and some in Congress disagree, further fueling the Trump administration’s dangerous weaponization of government. Those who support a strong and independent civil society as a foundation for our democracy should be alarmed by these actions to weaken our Constitution’s commitment to free speech.”
—Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits
More than 440 organizations released a sign-on letter rebuking the Trump administration and House Republicans’ attempts to indict and silence the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Lawmakers Sound Alarm on Detention Conditions
“Horrible conditions. First of all they’re on a hunger strike—an active hunger strike—and they’re under intimidation and retaliation. The food is bad and medical services are horrible, it’s overcrowded. We are supportive of the people in the hunger strike and we will continue to fight to shut this place down.”
—Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.), chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
Espaillat and other members of Congress visited Delaney Hall Immigration Detention Center in New Jersey, where hundreds of detainees are on a hunger strike protesting conditions and inadequate medical care.
Ocasio-Cortez on Trump’s Pattern of Firing Women
“Is he out of women? Because that seems to be his pattern right now. Trump only seems to have the capability to fire female secretaries. If you’re a man in the Trump administration, it seems that they reward misconduct.”
—Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)
Responding to questions about who President Trump might fire next from his Cabinet.
UltraViolet Pushes Back on the Carroll Investigation
“Donald Trump has been caught bragging about assaulting women, and was found liable for sexual abuse. We survivors know the truth: He is a predator. We believe survivors. And we believe E. Jean Carroll, just as a jury of her peers did. The DOJ’s investigation is nothing more than another craven and corrupt attempt by Trump to silence survivors and his personal opponents.”
—Elisa Batista, campaign director at UltraViolet
The Department of Justice is investigating Carroll, whom Trump was found liable for sexually abusing and defaming.
A Protester Confronts Hegseth
“If you approve this budget, you will be complicit in the war crimes of this administration.”
—A protester interrupting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee
Michele Goodwin on Mifepristone and the Supreme Court
“The Supreme Court is not a political arm of government. But these days, there are judges, including Republican-appointed judges, that are saying you cannot ignore that the Supreme Court is very much looking like a politically motivated arm of government. And that’s unfortunate.”
“People have clarity today because of the news coverage that mifepristone can be shipped in the mail, but [things are] overall confusing since the Dobbs decision. It’s created a bit of chaos across the country, really quite dangerously for people’s health.”
—Dr. Michele Goodwin, Georgetown Law professor, Ms. Studios executive producer and host of On the Issues
Discussing the Supreme Court’s decision to maintain access to mifepristone while litigation continues.
Milestones
+ The TAKE IT DOWN Act (Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act) took effect last month. It requires social media sites to take down non-consensual sexual imagery within 48 hours. They now must have a notice and removal system so victims can report AI deepfakes and revenge porn.
A 2023 study found that 98 percent of deepfake videos are sexual, and 99 percent depict women.
+ A federal appeals court found that the Trump administration illegally banned transgender people from serving in the military, since the ban was motivated by “animus-filled reasons.”
“Unless we are going to fall for the old Groucho Marx line—’who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?’—we have direct evidence in this case that animus motivated the classifications in the [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth Policy,” Wilkins, an Obama appointee, wrote in a portion of his opinion joined by Judge Judith Rogers.
For now, the ban will remain in effect for new recruits, but the administration can’t kick out current trans service members.
+ June 1 marks the start of LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Around the country, and in many others, events and parades are taking place. The annual parades in New York, San Fransisco, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago are always the largest, but this calendar shows all of the parades across the country and globe.
+ The House did not allow a vote on language that, if passed, would have been used to block abortion-by-mail, a.k.a. national access to the abortion pill mifepristone—a win for the abortion-rights movement.
Rep. Chip Roy’s (R-Texas) goal was to introduce amendments to a bill that funds the FDA, which would have required abortion pills to be distributed in-person only. This would have prevented pregnant people in states with abortion bans from receiving abortion pills in the mail via telehealth or other online services.
+ Texas Children’s Hospital will create a “detransition clinic” after being investigated for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth. Five doctors will be fired and the hospital will pay $10 million, according to AG Paxton. It’s not clear exactly what services the clinic will offer, and detransitioning is very rare. Less than 1 percent of trans people regret their transition.
+ Assistant Secretary of Health Dr. Brian Christine was assigned to the U.S. response to the hantavirus outbreak. He is a urologist focused on erectile dysfunction and aesthetic surgeries for penises. Christine was also opposed to vaccine mandates for COVID and compared the Biden administration’s pandemic response to Nazi Germany.
+ Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) reintroduced the Federal Death Penalty Prohibition Act to ban the death penalty at the federal level. Last month, the DOJ announced they would bring back firing squads and potentially electrocution and lethal gas for executions.
“The death penalty is a racist, discriminatory, and deeply flawed punishment and must be abolished once and for all,” said Pressley. “Our bill would get the federal government out of the business of executing its own citizens, and save the lives of the people failed by our criminal legal system, including Black, brown, and low-income people.
+ The co-chairs of the congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls introduced a resolution to encourage inclusive policymaking around economic policy, employment, housing, healthcare and other structural barriers Black women face.
+ Marjane Satrapi, author of Persepolis, died at 56. She brought the issues Iranians faced, both in Iran and after fleeing, to the global stage. Persepolis, published in 2003, is a graphic novel and memoir, and was later adapted into film. The main character lives through the Iranian Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War. It is one of the most widely-read books that explores the modern Iranian experience.
+ Former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) died at age 86. He was the first member of Congress to come out as LGBTQ, openly identifying as gay in 1987. In 2012, he married James Ready and became the first member of Congress to marry someone of the same gender. After the 2008 recession, he was instrumental in creating reforms to protect consumers and prevent future economic crises.
+ Oscar-winning film editor Marcia Lucas died at 80. She was George Lucas’ “secret weapon” in the making of Star Wars and other movies, and was also a close collaborator of Martin Scorsese.
+ A new Colorado law requires any college with a health center to provide access to abortion pills, and colleges with a campus pharmacy must stock abortion medication. This is a great step to reduce barriers to abortion care often faced by young people.
+ A North Carolina bill would classify abortion as first-degree murder and authorize the use of deadly force against pregnant people and abortion providers. As Pro-Choice North Carolina said, “If the political party in charge actually cared about families, they’d work to reduce the out-of-pocket costs we pay for healthcare, they would pass a statewide living wage so our families and neighbors could thrive.”
+ Smith College professor and Ms. contributing editor Carrie Baker is a finalist for the American Council of Learned Societies’s Open Access book and publishing awards. Her book Abortion Pills: US History and Politics was selected in the political science and history categories.
+ For the second time, a New York jury was unable to reach a verdict in Harvey Weinstein’s rape trial, forcing a judge to declare a mistrial. Jessica Mann, who testified against Weinstein, said, “Mistrial doesn’t in any way detract from the truth I told and the violent crimes Harvey Weinstein committed upon me and so many others. … [I chose] integrity even when the process flayed me open.”
+ Philadelphia will now celebrate Ona Judge Day on May 21, to honor the legacy of one of the enslaved people owned by George and Martha Washington. Judge escaped and fled to freedom near the end of Washington’s presidency.
(Editor’s note: You may also like “She Wanted to Be Free: Black Women’s Revolutionary Resistance,” part of the FEMINIST 250: Founding Feminists series, marking the 250th anniversary of America by reclaiming the revolution through the women and gender-expansive people whose ideas, labor and resistance shaped U.S. democracy)
+ A Black Power War Room “Freedom Summer 2026” campaign will mobilize communities across the U.S. and strengthen critical organizing around voting rights, starting with a nationwide Juneteenth Week of Action.
+ The manifestos of the teen boys who fatally shot three people at the Islamic Center of San Diego include misogynist content and incel terms. They glorified other misogynistic killers and admitted to being heavily involved in “online incel culture” since 2022.
+ The House voted against construction of the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Museum after Republicans added anti-trans language to the bill. They also sought to give Trump the power to relocate the museum, and called for content that represents “the diversity of political viewpoints.”
+ Karen Attiah, former Washington Post editor and columnist, had her termination case heard by an arbitrator last week. Attiah, the last remaining Black staff columnist in the Post’s Opinion section, was fired after commenting on racial double standards after Charlie Kirk was killed.
+ CBS news fired 60 Minutes anchor Scott Pelley, days after former executive producer Bill Owens warned that the new Trump-friendly leadership is undermining CBS with “partisans and ideologues.” Owens alleged that new Editor in Chief Bari Weiss’s pro-Israel views have prevented CBS News staffers from fully covering conflict in the Middle East.
+ The Salmon River Central School District confined at least five young children with disabilities in small wooden boxes for “timeout.” Two-thirds of students in the New York district are Akwesasne Mohawk, echoing past abuses of Native children in federally-funded boarding schools.
+ The American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG) released its own recommended vaccine schedule for pregnant individuals. ACOG states that it “differs” from the CDC’s recommendations but is endorsed by other national medical organizations, blaming anti-vaccine policy changes at the CDC and “rampant vaccine misinformation.”
How We’re Doing
+ Two-thirds of surveyed abortion clinics reported violence or harassment in 2025, with instances of threats and stalking more than doubled compared to 2024. Four clinics suffered arson in 2025, and clinic blockages rose by 500 percent.
In recent months, a Montana man was charged with planning to kill an abortion provider in Missoula, and confessed to shooting the door of a different clinic in 2023.
+ Seventy-three percent of American adults say that healthcare affordability is a very big problem for the country. Sixty-five percent of Americans disapprove of Donald Trump on healthcare, the highest rate for any president this century.
+ More than one in five people who enrolled in health insurance through HealthCare.gov this year could not pay their first monthly premium. After Republicans failed to extend the ACA premium tax credits, costs increased by an average of 58 percent. Now, 21 percent of enrollees have lost coverage, compared to 12 percent last year.
+ Rising inflation, unaffordable childcare, lack of reproductive healthcare, lack of schedule flexibility and the Trump administration eliminating workplace protections for women are combining to make it harder for women to earn equal pay and keep their families afloat. Forty-two percent of women who voluntarily left their jobs in 2025 were motivated by caregiving responsibilities and the cost of childcare. Eighteen percent reported dissatisfaction with their pay. Overall, women of color were disproportionately affected by layoffs.
+ Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA)—or HR 1—has now caused 3.5 million Americans to lose their SNAP benefits. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said there was a “remarkable increase in food insecurity.” More than half of the SNAP recipients of Arizona lost their benefits in 2025, and the entire country faces the rising prices of gas, groceries and the pace of inflation.
+ Lift Our Voices launched an AI tool that can help workers identify hidden clauses like NDAs and forced arbitration in their employment contracts. 45 percent of workers are now covered by NDAs, and 39 percent are bound to forced arbitration clauses.
+ The National Women’s Law Center Action Fund launched an immersive toolto show the devastating impacts of last year’s OBBBA reconciliation bill.
+ More than 2 million women of childbearing age live in maternity care deserts in the U.S. In Texas alone, 45 percent of counties are maternity care deserts, and the state’s Medicaid program covers only 50 percent of births. Gaps in postpartum care are a continuing problem, even after Texas extended postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months.
+ On average, women freelancers charge 19 percent less per hour than men globally. The worst field is Finance and Accounting, where women charge 26.1 percent less than men. The average pay gap is 16.9 percent in the U.S., 16.2 percent in Canada and 15.4 percent in the UK. Thailand has the largest pay gap, at 51.7 percent.
+ After the Trump administration slashed jobs and changed policies at the Social Security Administration, disability benefits have become even more difficult to access. Seven percent fewer claims for disability benefits were submitted in the first half of 2025 than the year before. Fewer workers and walk-in services, longer waits and unhelpful AI chatbots left people unable to access support. As a result, people are suffering and dying without receiving the benefits they’re eligible for.
+ Affordability is a significant barrier to summer programs for children. 51 percent of kids whose parents want them to be in a structured summer experience are missing out. High-income families are more than three times as likely as low-income families to have their child in a summer program.
+ GLAAD’s annual Social Media Safety Index found that social media platforms continue to fail LGBTQ users. Scores for all major platforms except for TikTok dropped in 2026, as Meta and YouTube maintained anti-LGBTQ policy changes that removed protections and allowed hate. Platforms also disproportionately suppress LGBTQ content.
+ Workers at the nation’s largest abortion hotline went on a 24-hour strike on May 26 due to contract negotiations about AI that could potentially eliminate their jobs. They help 110,000 people annually with information or financial assistance, and claim they are continuously forced to make concessions about AI integration that could affect those they help, and their own job security.
+ Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who just lost the bid for Republican nomination for Senate, issued cease and desist letters to out-of-state companies that send abortion pills by mail to people in Alabama. These include Plan C, Red State Access and other online medical providers. Marshall claims that the pills are unsafe despite 40 years of science that prove he is wrong.
Improved moderation, strengthened protections against harassment and transparency around data and policies are needed to fight homophobic and transphobic hate online.
Look to these trusted groups if you or a loved one needs to know more about reliable abortion care:
- A one-stop-shop for abortion seekers: I Need An A
- Safe websites to buy abortion medication: Aid Access, Plan C Pills, Abortion Finder
- If you need help affording abortion care, contact an abortion fund near you.
- To protect your digital privacy when planning your abortion, click here.
- For free legal help as a patient or doctor, call If/When/How’s Repro Helpline: 844-868-2812
- For medical advice, contact the Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline: 833-246-2632
- If you need to know the abortion law in your state, look to the Center for Reproductive Rights.
