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 Pick for Attorney General, on Jeffrey Epstein
“It is not a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.”
—Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
Laura Ingraham asked Blanche if individuals who partied with Epstein and were sexually involved with children will be prosecuted. Trump wants the Senate to confirm Blanche as attorney general.
Feminists React to FBI Raid on Ohio Voting Rights Organization
“Those of us who believe in free and fair elections have long feared that the Trump administration, facing record levels of public disapproval due to its skewed, shameful priorities, would try to interfere with our elections. Last week’s raid of an organization in Cleveland with a long history of helping Ohioans exercise their legally protected right to vote is deeply and profoundly disturbing. We fear it is part of a widening pattern of targeting voting and civil rights groups that work with people of color.”
—Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, executive director and CEO of MomsRising
The FBI raided the office and homes of staff of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, with no explanation. The organization focuses on helping communities of color and people with low incomes register to vote.
House Democrats Move to Force Contraception Rights Vote
“The Right to Contraception Act reflects the position of the vast majority of Americans who rely on contraception of all kinds to plan their families and their lives. Contraception is essential healthcare. But what we are seeing from Republicans across the country and the Trump administration are efforts to restrict access to family planning, violating the autonomy and right to privacy of Americans that the Supreme Court recognized in Griswold v. Connecticut.”
—Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) is the lead sponsor of the the Right to Contraception Act and filed a discharge petition to try to force a House floor vote on the bill. (Sen. Ed Markey is lead sponsor in the Senate.)
“The Trump administration has made it clear that they will chip away at reproductive rights until they have total control over our bodies, our lives, and our futures. Attacks on reproductive health care, including contraception, are clearly laid out in Project 2025, and we have already seen the devastating consequences of these attacks. To protect our bodily autonomy and freedom, Congress must act quickly to stand with the vast majority of Americans who believe contraception is vital healthcare, not with the extremists who seek to take it away.”
—Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center.
Trump Cheers Inflation Report
“The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.”
—President Donald Trump
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index report for May 2026 shows that inflation increased 4.2 percent, the highest in three years. Wage growth, conversely, is currently at a five-year low.
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Turns 14, as Threats and Deportations Mount
“For 14 years, Dreamers have been woven into the fabric of our communities while being denied the certainty and dignity they deserve. … More than 500,000 DACA recipients live, work, study and contribute to communities across the United States. They are our teachers, healthcare workers, entrepreneurs, neighbors, and loved ones. Yet despite all they have given to this country, their futures remain subject to ongoing legal and political battles.
“Today, DACA recipients have increasingly found themselves caught in the crosshairs of aggressive immigration enforcement, with hundreds detained and dozens deported since the start of 2025. At the same time, court rulings, renewal delays and the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on immigrant communities continue to chip away at the protections DACA was meant to provide. Absolutely no one should have to wake up each day wondering whether the only home they have ever known will continue to welcome them tomorrow. Nearly 80 percent of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.”
—Beatriz Lopez, Voto Latino executive director
The Trump administration continues to make it easier to deport DACA recipients and undermine the program.
Speaker of the House Plans Cuts to Lifesaving Programs
“Entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security—they have to be adjusted and fixed. We have a plan to do that next year.”
—Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.)
Johnson claimed cuts to these essential programs are needed to reduce the national debt. The Republican “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed last year will add $4.7 trillion to the national debt.
When Women Advocate for Less Power…?
“I would gladly give up my right to vote to have a more conservative country.”
—Samantha Stone, right-wing influencer, in conversation with Erika Kirk
Feminism remains popular, particularly among younger women, even as conservative influencers promote traditional gender roles.
Milestones
+ Missouri has restored access to medication abortions after a Jackson County judge struck down key state restrictions, allowing clinics to resume providing the service this week. Planned Parenthood says patients can now start booking appointments again, marking the first time medication abortion has been available in Missouri since 2018.
+ Republicans passed a reconciliation bill that provides roughly $70 billion for ICE and CBP, sending it to President Trump’s desk. (This is on top of more than $140 billion Republicans already provided for those agencies last year.) The House approved the package 214-212 after the Senate had already cleared it, setting up a major funding boost for immigration enforcement through the rest of Trump’s term.
+ The Trump administration was forced to withdraw their request for $1.776 billion for their “Anti-Weaponization” slush fund. Now, several plaintiffs are suing for proof that the administration has actually abandoned the fund. The Justice Department refused to confirm in court that the fund will not be created.
“While mistruths and obfuscation may be the standard playbook for the Trump-Vance administration, it is telling that they have repeatedly refused to say under oath that the slush fund is truly dead,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
+ A sweeping IRS immunity deal for Trump may also remain in place. Originally attached to the anti-weaponization slush fund, it prevents the Trump family and their businesses from being investigated for any conduct before May 2026.
+ For the first time since Gallup and West Health began tracking the issue in 2021, fewer than half of Americans (49 percent) can consistently afford healthcare and prescription medications, and nearly three-quarters say healthcare costs are a financial burden.
+ June 17 was LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day. LGBTQ households earn just 85 cents for every dollar paid to non-LGBTQ households.
(Also remember that if America’s national Equal Pay Day was based on a more comprehensive measure of the gendered earnings gap, the day would fall much later in the year—more like October. And for women of color, you’d have to wait until the next year.)
+ Graham Platner won the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine, despite reports of sexist social media posts and sending sexual texts to several women while married. He will challenge Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in November, in one of the nation’s most closely watched Senate races as Democrats seek to flip the seat and the balance of power in the Senate hangs in the balance. (Under Maine law, party officials could replace the nominee if he withdrew by July 13, though they would have until July 27 to select a new candidate, leaving Democrats just two weeks to reset the campaign.)
+ Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) lost her primary for South Carolina governor, finishing fifth and losing even her home county.
+ Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic mayoral primary in Washington, D.C. In November, she is likely to become the first democratic socialist mayor of D.C.
+ Liberation won the Tony Award for Best Play, making playwright Bess Wohl the first American woman to win it since 1989. Liberation focuses on early feminist consciousness-raising groups, and was inspired in part by Wohl’s mother, Ms. writer Lisa Cronin Wohl.
+ North Carolina Democratic state senators have introduced a bill that would codify access to contraception into state law. They warn that 61 years after Griswold v. Connecticut, the right to contraception is once again at risk.
+ Two hospital systems—the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and Texas Children’s Hospital in Austin, Texas—agreed to create an unnecessary “detransitioning clinic” as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice for providing gender-affirming care. Some advocates see the agreement as bowing to the Trump administration’s political attacks and legitimizing transphobic narratives.
+ Wisconsin Republicans refused to move a bill ending child marriage in the state, claiming it infringes on parental rights. Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds can be married to another teen or an adult with parental permission.
+ The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will no longer require federal agencies to report demographic information on race, ethnicity, sex or gender identity. This will make it harder to identify and prevent discrimination in the federal workforce.
“Turning a blind eye to discrimination does not mean that it has gone away—it simply means that it goes uncorrected,” warned Democratic commissioner Kalpana Kotagal.
+ Brooke Mayo became the first openly gay referee of a men’s World Cup match.
+ A new Trump administration rule will require more people to meet Medicaid work requirements, even if they are “medically frail” due to disabilities. Many will lose their Medicaid coverage as a result.
+ U.S. Navy member Jermiah Copeland was sentenced to 44 years in prison for fatally strangling fellow sailor Angelina Resendiz. He also admitted to choking another woman and nonconsensually filming a third.
+ The Maternal Health, Dignity and Consent Act passed the New York Senate, but didn’t get a vote in the Assembly. The bill would have stopped nonconsensual drug testing of pregnant people and newborns. The New York Anti-Shackling Bill did pass, protecting incarcerated pregnant people from being shackled while receiving medical care.
+ Over 100 attorneys and advocates attended a national convening on the use of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) to hold law enforcement officers accountable for misconduct and abuse.
“From teargassing children to pulling citizens from through car windows to brutalizing peaceful protestors, at a time when the Trump-Vance administration has escalated unlawful enforcement actions that are causing serious harm to people and communities across the country, it was incredible to see the robust organizations and people together to pursue accountability against federal misconduct,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward.
+ A coalition of 23 governors in the Reproductive Freedom Alliance has launched TRACE, a searchable database that compiles nearly 600 state-level policies on abortion, contraception and fertility care across member states. The tool is designed to help users track how governors’ offices and state legislatures are shaping reproductive health access in the post-Dobbs landscape.
+ The Trump administration quietly revised a Health and Human Services grant program to refer to frozen IVF embryos as “children,” a change that could bolster the antiabortion movement’s push for fetal personhood. The shift could have broader consequences for abortion access, IVF and contraception.
+ An intersex teacher was forced to resign from a Florida public school, after a parent falsely believed he is transgender and complained. The ACLU and the employee filed an EEOC complaint, alleging the school district violated civil rights protections.
+ A federal court temporarily blocked the Bureau of Prisons from transferring 14 trans women to men’s facilities. The ruling emphasized that the Trump administration’s policy requiring trans women be housed in men’s prisons would put them in danger of rape and other violence.
+ A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from accessing the private medical records of trans youth in California.
+ With women feeling pressure to detect pregnancy early, due to abortion bans, medical providers are seeing strangely high rates of false positive pregnancy tests from the brand Clearblue. Some of these patients in abortion ban states have traveled hundreds of miles to reach an abortion clinic without confirming the pregnancy at their local doctor due to fear of legal risks.
+ Almost 40 women detainees launched a hunger strike at Delaney Hall. More than 300 men have been protesting at the immigration detention facility since May. The women’s demands include ICE releasing all mothers and women under 21 or with medical conditions, improved living conditions and safe water. They also want a guard accused of sexually assaulting at least 10 immigrant women to be fired.
How We’re Doing
+ After enhanced ACA tax credits expired, people buying insurance on the marketplace saw their monthly premiums go up by about 58 percent.
+ Republicans enacted nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts, projected to leave 15 million more people uninsured. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 hospitals, nursing homes, maternity wards and other providers have closed, reduced services or face financial risk.
+ Abortion bans could cost the U.S. economy $140 billion per year by pushing women out of the workforce and limiting their job growth and earnings. Black and Latina women are disproportionately affected by the costs of abortion restrictions and the labor force losses.
+ ICE will no longer report deaths that occur within 30 days of people being released from detention. That policy was put in place under the Biden administration to prevent ICE from releasing people with severe medical conditions just to avoid scrutiny. ICE has already reported the deaths of 18 detainees this year, on pace to surpass the highest number of deaths in decades.
+ For the sixth month in a row, all of the refugees admitted to the U.S. were white South Africans. The Trump administration claimes Afrikaners are victims of a “white genocide” promoted by far right conspiracy theorists.
+ Eighty-three percent of American voters, including 72 percent of Republicans, agree that emergency contraception should be easily accessible. Only 31 percent of voters believe the health care system does a good job meeting the health needs of women, and 72 percent say policymakers should protect access to birth control and emergency contraception.
+ Disputing transphobic narratives, a new study found trans women athletes have no meaningful physical advantage over cis women.
+ The use of the nationwide Miscarriage & Abortion Hotline rose 210 percent from June 2022 to June 2023, after Dobbs overturned Roe v. Wade. But even before Dobbs, demand was rising by 10 percent per month in states without abortion bans, and an additional 7 percent in states with bans.
+ Across the U.S., 1.13 million abortions were provided through the medical system in 2025, almost the same as 2024. Telehealth abortions increased from 22 percent to 28 percent of all abortions. Shield laws helped facilitate almost 15,000 abortions per month by December 2025.
+ Telehealth abortion care receives higher satisfaction rates than in-person care. 94 percent of telehealth patients were extremely or very satisfied with their care, compared to 80 percent of in-person patients.
+ Since Dobbs, the number of women medical school applicants has been climbing slower in states with abortion bans, compared to the national growth. Overall, residency applications in banned states have fallen for the past two years, and 58 percent of medical students said they were unlikely to apply to a state with abortion restrictions.
+ Two-thirds of planned AI datacenters in the U.S. will be built in locations experiencing drought. They are estimated to demand 73 billion gallons of water a year by 2028, up from 17 billion gallons in 2023. Some states are already considering restrictions on datacenters and their water usage after public backlash.
+ Ninety-nine percent of surveyed CDC employees say the Trump administration has reduced the agency’s capacity to respond to public health emergencies like Ebola and measles.
+ One in 31 children were diagnosed with autism in the U.S. in 2022, and boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed than girls. Autism presents differently in girls, and experts may be less familiar with the symptoms girls are more likely to experience.
+ A year after Republicans passed devastating cuts to SNAP, more than 770,000 children have already lost access to the lifesaving nutrition program. Overall, 4.3 million fewer people receive SNAP compared to early 2025.
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