Author: Roxana Behdad

Roxana Behdad is an editorial intern for Ms. and a rising senior at Cornell University, majoring in political science and minoring in creative writing. Her specific interests include political and feminist theory.

Our Favorite Signs From the No Kings Protests

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Thousands of No Kings protests swept across the United States on Saturday, June 14. The protests intentionally coincided with a lavish, Trump-ordered U.S. Army 250th anniversary parade, Flag Day and the president’s 79th birthday.

From big cities, to small rural towns, representing every corner of the country, between 4 and 6 million people in more than 2,000 locations attended No Kings protests across the country, making it one of the largest national protests in U.S. history.

“Today what I saw was a boisterous, peaceful display of First Amendment rights,” Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of the nonprofit Indivisible, told NPR.

Here are some of our favorite signs from those “boisterous” protesters.

Kentuckians Sound the Alarm: Abortion Bans Are Driving Doctors Out of State

Advocates, medical students, faith leaders and physicians came together in Bowling Greens, Ky., to mark the two-year anniversary of the Kentucky Court of Appeals decision that allowed one of the nation’s most draconian state abortion bans to take effect. The near-total ban in Kentucky has no exception for abortion care in cases of incest or rape.

With a mobile billboard truck reading “Kentucky’s Abortion Ban Is Driving Away Doctors” as a backdrop, the press conference highlighted the devastating implications of Kentucky’s abortion ban—chief among them its power to drive doctors away.

Antiabortion Extremist Sentenced to Prison for Harassing NYC Planned Parenthood Staff and Patients

“This is going to be a wonderful day. We are going to terrorize this place. And I want the manager to hear me say that. … More people are coming … and we’re going to make sure we terrorize you guys so good.”

These words were shared on a Facebook livestream by antiabortion extremist Bevelyn Beatty Williams as she prepared to invade and harass a Planned Parenthood clinic in lower Manhattan in June of 2020. On Wednesday, July 24, Williams was sentenced to 41 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act—a 1994 federal law that “prohibits violent, threatening, damaging and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain or provide reproductive health services.”

House Republicans Are Jeopardizing the Rights of Women and LGBTQ+ Students

On April 19, the Biden administration released new Title IX guidelines that increase protections for assault victims, LGBTQ+ students, and pregnant students by providing schools more flexibility in how they conduct investigations.

Almost three months later, on July 10, House Republicans passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution—House Joint Resolution 165—that would block the Biden administration’s Title IX revisions and revert them back to the restrictive Trump-era Title IX guidelines.