A new community-based tracker reveals how quickly the Trump administration is advancing policies that erode civil rights, healthcare access and worker protections.
Author: Carrie N. Baker
Carrie N. Baker, J.D., Ph.D., is the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman professor of American Studies and the chair of the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. She is a contributing editor at Ms. magazine. Read her latest book at Abortion Pills: U.S. History and Politics (Amherst College Press, December 2024). You can contact Dr. Baker at cbaker@msmagazine.com or follow her on Bluesky @carrienbaker.bsky.social.
‘Barrage of Harassment, Intimidation and Violent Attacks’ on Abortion Clinics, Says National Abortion Federation
The National Abortion Federation (NAF) this week released their Violence and Disruption Report for 2023 and 2024, documenting widespread antiabortion terrorism against abortion clinics.
The report revealed that there were 1,199 violent incidents at abortion clinics in 2023 and 2024. The report also documented extensive disruption of services. (The actual number of incidents of harassment and violence targeting abortion providers is likely much higher than NAF’s reported numbers.)
“Let me be clear: There is nothing peaceful about the kind of protesting behavior we see at our clinic,” said Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyo., and co-owner of Hope Clinic in Washington, D.C. “We have seen extremists try to invade our clinic multiple times in 2023 and 2024, intent on harassing our staff and intimidating our patients.”
First They Came for Kilmar
After World War II, German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller famously said, “First they came for the socialists and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.” We are watching this happen in real time with the Trump administration.
Donald Trump has targeted immigrants, such as Kilmar Abrego Garcia, with illegal deportation; then he came after workers’ rights, with cuts to overtime pay and rolling back rights to unionize; then he came for the hungry, with cuts to food programs and Medicaid; then he came for the low-income children, with the elimination of Head Start child care; then he came for the sick, with cuts to funding for medical research; then he came for women, with cuts to reproductive healthcare and funding for domestic violence shelters and rape crisis hotlines; then he came for disabled and elderly people, with cuts to Social Security and Medicare—and so much more.
Trump is boundary testing. If you give him an inch, he will take it all, until he has obliterated all resistance—and our democracy.
Class-Action Lawsuit Against Crisis Pregnancy Center and Groundbreaking Massachusetts Law Regulating Ultrasounds: ‘A Chink in the Armor’
Antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) across the United States receive state and federal funds but have operated with little or no government oversight. CPCs use unsterilized transvaginal ultrasounds wands inside of patients, delay access to lifesaving care by misdiagnosing serious medical conditions and steal patient data from real medical clinics, according to investigative reporting and lawsuits filed against them. Advocates have been stymied in their efforts to obtain any sort of CPC accountability. But that may be changing.
Jackson Katz Calls on ‘Every Man’ to End Men’s Violence Against Women
In an online culture becoming increasingly dominated by the hypermasculine manosphere, men’s roles in preventing violence toward women are more important than ever.
As decades of progress against gendered violence crumbles around us, another man is speaking out: renowned anti-violence educator Jackson Katz in his new book, Every Man: Why Violence Against Women Is a Men’s Issue and What You Can Do About It. Co-founder of the pioneering gender violence prevention program Mentors in Violence Prevention, Katz has written an engaging, practical guide for men who want to end violence against women.
Trump Administration Slashes Reproductive Healthcare Funding for Millions
On March 31, the Trump administration sent letters to Planned Parenthood affiliates and other reproductive health clinics in 20 states announcing a freeze of close to $35 million in federal Title X funding as of April 1. Title X is a federal program that provides affordable birth control, cancer screenings and other sexual and reproductive healthcare to low-income women.
“President Trump and Elon Musk are pushing their dangerous political agenda, stripping health care access from people nationwide, and not giving a second thought to the devastation they will cause,” said Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Young People Are Fleeing States With Abortion Restrictions
One in five individuals planning to have children within the next decade has moved—or knows someone who has moved—to another state due to abortion restrictions.
Characterizing the exodus as a “brain drain,” Dr. Jamila K. Taylor, president and CEO of Institute for Women’s Policy Research, warned employers: “Our report makes it clear that companies who fail to address these needs risk losing their competitive edge. To build a resilient workforce and thriving economy, it’s up to corporate leaders and lawmakers to take decisive action and make reproductive healthcare a top priority.”
Drugmaker GenBioPro Says Antiabortion Lawsuit Is ‘Extremist Attempt’ to Undermine FDA Authority
The pharmaceutical company GenBioPro filed a motion on Tuesday, Feb. 25, to intervene in Missouri et al. v. FDA, a lawsuit in Texas challenging FDA regulation of the drug mifepristone, which is part of a two-drug regimen for the termination of early pregnancy. GenBioPro is the sole U.S. manufacturer of generic mifepristone, which the FDA approved in 2019 and is now the majority of mifepristone sold in the U.S.
In the Texas lawsuit, the attorneys general of Missouri, Kansas and Idaho are attempting to remove generic mifepristone from the market and severely restrict the brand-name mifepristone, Mifeprex made by Danco, in all 50 states and U.S. territories.
“All people have a right to access safe, affordable, evidence-based healthcare, and GenBioPro remains committed to using all legal and regulatory tools to protect mifepristone for millions of patients and providers across the country,” said Evan Masingill, CEO of GenBioPro.
New York Times’ Shameful Reporting on Planned Parenthood Bolsters Right-Wing Attacks on Reproductive Healthcare Access
The New York Times recently published a 3,000-word investigative report claiming to have found “scores of allegations” against Planned Parenthood for misconduct, medical malpractice, mismanagement and labor violations. Released within a month of Trump’s inauguration, the article appears timed to provide ammunition for the ongoing right-wing attack on reproductive rights.
The NYT could have invested its significant resources into investigating how Planned Parenthood plays a unique and irreplaceable role in the U.S. healthcare system as the nation’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare and largest sex educator. By choosing to publish what reads as a hit job on Planned Parenthood at this political moment, while failing to devote any resources to investigating the opaque and unregulated antiabortion industry vying to defund and replace Planned Parenthood, the NYT has done a grave disservice to readers, especially women and girls who need reproductive healthcare.
Rolling Up Our Sleeves, Part 4: Staying Afloat While Trump Weaponizes Federal Funding
In the war against Trump-era authoritarianism and inequality, federal funding is another battlefront—and feminists are “battle ready.”
(This is the final installment in a four-part series on the steps activists are taking to fight for our rights amid Trump’s attacks on democracy.)