Author: Kathy Spillar

Katherine Spillar is the executive director of Feminist Majority Foundation and executive editor of Ms., where she oversees editorial content and the Ms. in the Classroom program.

What’s Up With Men?

What the hell is up with men these days? It’s clearer than ever that (mostly white) men are hurting—but why is this happening, and what can be done to change things?

We go in search of the answers to these questions on the latest episode of On the Issues, where host Michele Goodwin is joined by Jackson Katz, Gary Barker and Cody Thompson to talk about the issues facing men—and how we can address them, in order to get our democracy back on track.

If you want to go even deeper, Katz also guest-edited a special “Report on Men” for our Summer issue (which you can get right now as a standalone for just $5)—including pieces that delve into the rise of the “bro-casts,” the clinicians combating the “male loneliness epidemic,” JD Vance and the performance of masculinity, and so much more.

If you’ve been enjoying the recently-released documentary Dear Ms. on HBO, and want to go deeper into the history and legacy of Ms., you’re in luck! Our latest podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward explores through the lens of Ms. not only how we got to where we are now, but how our shared histories illuminate the path toward an intersectional feminist future

As Support for Abortion Grows, the Court Doubles Down on Restricting Care

In its Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a devastating blow to reproductive health clinics across the nation. A substantial slate of decisions issued by the Court Friday dealt several more severe blows to the rule of law and our constitutional rights—though a silver lining was the Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act’s preventive-care mandate.

In a Summer of Protest, We Find Our Power

There’s a lot worth protesting right now.

Last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in U.S. v. Skrmetti affirming that Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth is constitutional. (ICYMI Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented “in sadness.”)

There’s the ongoing battle to save Medicaid, Medicare and SNAP in Congress—where Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” continues to threaten programs that so many lives depend on.

The same day as the No Kings protests, news broke of the assassination of Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state legislator and former speaker. Since then, media accounts of the shootings have increasingly failed to mention the potential role of abortion in motivating the alleged shooter’s actions.

Trump’s Vanity Parades, Immigration Raids and Cuts to Medicaid Face a Feminist Wall

This weekend, while Trump paraded tanks through D.C. in a $45 million display of ego, tens of thousands of peaceful protesters flooded streets across the country to say: No more kings. In cities like Los Angeles, we saw communities come together to defend their neighbors from the cruel realities of immigration raids, family separation and attacks on basic healthcare. The protests made one thing clear—especially among women, who overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump’s actions: We reject this vision of America. And we’re not backing down.

As Antiabortion Violence Surges, Republicans Vote to Strip Federal Protections for Providers

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Early Saturday morning, news broke of the assassination of Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state legislator and former speaker, along with her husband Mark. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot multiple times; both survived and are fighting for their lives following emergency surgery. The suspect had a list of more than 50 additional “targets,” including other Democratic officials, some from outside Minnesota, as well as abortion facilities and leading abortion rights advocates in the state.

Although we don’t yet know if his extremist views on abortion were the driving cause in his murderous rampage, it is proof of the ongoing threats to abortion providers in this climate of escalating political violence.

Yet, just weeks after the suicide bombing of a Palm Springs fertility clinic, and despite rising rates of threats and violence against abortion clinics after the Dobbs decision, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance HR 589, the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025. The bill would repeal the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a statute protecting clinicians’ and patients’ right to safely provide and access reproductive healthcare. All Democrats on the committee voted against the proposed bill.

This Is Not Just a Budget. It’s a War on Women.

They didn’t just vote to gut programs. They voted to gut women’s lives.

Last week, in the dark of night, House Republicans passed a budget bill that slashes billions in federal spending on Medicaid, SNAP (food assistance), childcare, home energy assistance and disability support. The budget bill will cut direct support to tens of millions of working-class families—and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, millions more will lose their health insurance through changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace. This is not just cruel. It’s calculated. And it will hit women hardest.

We have one month to stop these devastating cuts.

How Antiabortion Extremists Stopped a Beverly Hills Clinic From Opening … With Help From City Officials

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Ever since middle school, Jennefer Russo wanted to be a doctor—by the time she entered college she knew she wanted to be one who performed abortions. The reason was simple. As she told Ms., “I grew up watching the impact that abortion had on the women in my life, and I saw that it allowed them to have autonomy and relative control over their lives.”

Early in summer 2022 (right around the time the Supreme Court issued its Dobbs decision), Russo learned that a suite in a medical building located at 8920 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills was available. She began negotiations with the owner, the real estate investment trust Douglas Emmett, and on June 30, DuPont sent a letter of intent to the company to lease a suite there. It read: “Use: The DuPont Clinic is a private referral center for all-trimester abortion care.”

It would take only two months to stop the DuPont Clinic from opening.

(This article originally appears in the Spring 2025 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox.)

The Republican Budget Plan Betrays Women and Their Families

If you’re like me, you were following the drama around the Republican funding bill that played out on Friday in the Senate, just hours before the government was set to run out of money. A continuing resolution to fund the government—constructed entirely by Republicans who refused to negotiate a bipartisan bill with Democrats—was finally passed, over nearly unanimous Democratic opposition. Once again, programs that make a profound difference in the lives of women and their families were sacrificed in a high stakes political game, played by people who won’t experience any the real-world impacts.

The Republican Budget Plan Won’t Work for Women

On Tuesday, House Republicans passed a budget resolution—and it does not bode well for women and their families.

As the Democratic Women’s Caucus reported, the resolution includes more than $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid—which, by the way, covers 40 percent of births that happen in America. The budget also includes significant cuts to SNAP programs that support nutrition for poor families, and helps feed over 13 million American children. We’re already in a care crisis—and Republicans are hell bent on making it worse.