Author: Carrie N. Baker

Carrie N. Baker, J.D., Ph.D., is the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman professor in the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. She is a contributing editor at Ms. magazine. You can contact Dr. Baker at cbaker@msmagazine.com or follow her on Twitter @CarrieNBaker.

White Christians Are Still Taking Native Children

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case, challenging the constitutionality of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA).

The lead plaintiffs, the Brackeens, are a well-to-do white, evangelical Texan couple, who are seeking to adopt a Navaho girl against the wishes of her relatives, who want to adopt her themselves. Among other arguments, the Brackeens allege reverse racism—that the law discriminates against them based on their race in violation of the equality guarantees of the U.S. Constitution. 

But this is just the most recent chapter in a long history of white people taking Native children from their parents, tribes and cultures.

Anti-Abortion Groups Ask Trump-Appointed Judge to Ban Mailing Abortion Pills

Anti-abortion advocates have filed a federal lawsuit challenging FDA approval of the medication mifepristone. It seeks to revive the 1873 Comstock Law—named after the zealous anti-vice crusader Anthony Comstock—to ban the medication now used for over half of abortions in the United States.

“When they look at the courts, they think, ‘Why wouldn’t the courts be friendly to us even if we are making new things up?’ The Supreme Court just overturned a 50-year precedent that took away half the population’s fundamental right to control their bodies, so why wouldn’t they try?”

#MeToo, Five Years Later

In the five years since it took off like wildfire, the #MeToo campaign has made widespread sexual abuse in the U.S. visible for the first time and inspired a record number of sexual harassment lawsuits against employers. It exposed how our decades-old workplace anti-harassment laws were outdated and often ineffective. In the last five years, 22 states and the District of Columbia passed more than 70 workplace anti-harassment bills in the last five years—many with bipartisan support.

Even still, U.S. rape culture persists and creates an environment where women and girls are disbelieved, survivors are discouraged from reporting abuse, and male abusers are forgiven—or even rewarded—for sexually abusive behavior. Congress must do more.

Citizen Petition to FDA Requests Lifting Restrictions on Mifepristone for Miscarriage Use

Mifepristone is highly effective at treating incomplete miscarriages, but patients often cannot get the medication because the FDA tightly regulates the drug as an abortion medication. As a result, the most commonly used medical protocol for miscarriage management today is misoprostol alone. But, research shows that the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol is faster and more effective for miscarriage care as well as less painful than misoprostol alone.

A new citizen petition asks the FDA to modify the drug’s label to add an indication for miscarriage treatment and to remove requirements that clinicians and pharmacies be certified to prescribe and distribute the drug.

Period Pills: Another Option for Fertility Control

Menstrual regulation has a long history in the United States where, for centuries, women have used a wide range of herbs and medicinal teas to “induce” or “bring down” a late period when they did not want to be pregnant. Today, period pills—also known as “missed period pills” or “late period pills”—are medications that you can take if your period is late and you suspect you’re pregnant—but don’t want to be. Advocates believe period pills can help avert the negative consequences of new abortion bans, now in effect in over a dozen states across the country.

Anti-Abortion ‘Crisis Pregnancy Centers’ Face New Accountability Post-Roe

and

Post-Roe, the anti-abortion movement is funneling more resources to crisis pregnancy centers that use these tactics in order to block access to abortion healthcare, both in states with bans and in states that protect reproductive rights.

Over 2,500 crisis pregnancy centers across the U.S. provide virtually no medical services, spreading fabricated claims about the dangers of abortion. Public officials are taking actions to hold CPCs accountable for their deceptive practices.

Need-to-Know Midterm Ballot Measures for Feminists

Kansas voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the Republican-dominated state Legislature to severely restrict access to abortion. In the midterms, there will be five more ballot measures on abortion across the U.S.—the most on record for any single year.

Other noteworthy initiatives include minimum wage amendments in Nevada and Nebraska; a collective bargaining measure in Illinois; a right to healthcare amendment in Oregon; Medicaid expansion in South Dakota; and a New Mexico amendment to direct public money to early childhood programs. Five states—Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont—will decide whether to repeal language from their state constitutions that allows for enslavement as punishments for crimes.