Author: Roxy Szal

Roxy Szal is the digital editor at Ms. and a producer on the Ms. podcast "On the Issues With Michele Goodwin." Before becoming a journalist, she was a Texas public school English teacher. She is based in Austin, Texas. Find her on Twitter @roxyszal.

Our Favorite Signs From the Nationwide ‘Bans Off’ Marches

Over 1 million protesters gathered for marches across the country on Saturday to attend a national day of action in support of abortion and reproductive rights. Themed ‘Bans Off Our Bodies,’ the mobilization was a direct response to two cataclysmic events in the world of abortion: a leaked draft opinion signaling the Supreme Court’s majority decision to overturn the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade; and Senate Republicans’ opposition to a bill that would codify the right to an abortion across the U.S.

When the Supreme Court’s final decision is issued before the end of the term (likely in June), it will represent the biggest blow to women’s constitutional rights in history. The anger, indignation and shock felt in America right now has reached a new peak—and it was on full display this weekend.

‘This Is An Emergency’: America Left Reeling in Wake of Likely Roe v. Wade Reversal

Late Monday night, shock waves could be felt across the U.S. after a leaked draft opinion signaled the Supreme Court’s majority decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case concerning a 15-week abortion ban out of Mississippi. The leaked opinion, if and when it takes effect at the end of the Supreme Court’s term (likely in June), represents the biggest blow to women’s constitutional rights in the last 50 years. 

Reactions from feminists, lawmakers, reproductive rights advocates and legal scholars have been pouring in as America begins to grapple with the gravity of what abortion access will look like in a post-Roe world.

U.S. Department of Justice Indicts Nine Anti-Abortion Extremists for Clinic Invasion

On Oct. 22, 2020, a group of anti-abortion extremists hailing from six different states and armed with a chain and rope forcefully pushed through the doors of the Washington Surgi-Clinic, a reproductive healthcare facility in Washington, D.C. Using furniture, they barricaded the door to the treatment area and chained themselves to each other in order to shut down clinic operations; they also injured a nurse during the course of the invasion while terrorizing staff and patients for well over an hour.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced last week criminal indictments against the nine anti-abortion extremists associated with this obstruction and violent invasion, charging them with violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

Yelp Joins Growing List of Companies Covering Costs for Texas Employees Seeking Abortions Out of State

Yelp Inc. said on Tuesday it will cover expenses for its employees and their dependents who must travel to another state for abortion services. Yelp joins Citigroup, Match Group, Bumble as the four publicly traded companies helping cover travel costs for Texas employees seeking abortions out of state—a necessity in the wake of S.B. 8, which bans abortions after six weeks. Clinics in Texas’s surrounding states have reported a nearly 800 percent increase in abortion patients since the law was enacted.

Come June, when the Supreme Court announces the end of Roe v. Wade as many experts predict, even more business leaders will feel the pressure to take a stand on the issue.

It’s Official. No One Is Coming to Save Texans Seeking Abortions.

It’s been six months since Texas’s chilling six-week abortion ban took effect. And the Women’s Health Protection Act—which would codify abortion rights into law and supersede state-level restrictions—was dead on arrival during its Senate debut on Monday. It’s now official: No one is coming to save Texans seeking abortions.

Marc Hearron, senior counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), calls the continuation of S.B. 8 “a grave warning for the rest of the country” and “a preview of what will happen on a much larger scale if Roe falls.”

U.S. Backslide on Abortion Rights Is a Grave Danger to Democracy, Say Both Reproductive Rights Experts and Legal Analysts

Saturday, Jan. 22, marked Roe v. Wade’s 49th anniversary—and it very well may be its last. 

On Friday, Jan. 21, experts on democracy and elections from the Brennan Center and Ms. discussed the implications of the Texas abortion law S.B. 8 and the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that directly challenges the precedent of Roe.

Sponsored by Ms. and the Gender and Policy Center at George Mason University’s Schar School, the rousing discussion set the stage for how the U.S. got to this point, and outlined where we go from here.

On Roe Day, Women in Congress Speak Out on Abortion Rights: "We Are Witnessing an All-Out Assault on Reproductive Freedom"

On Roe Day, Women in Congress Speak Out on Abortion Rights: “We Are Witnessing an All-Out Assault on Reproductive Freedom”

This year, Roe Day doesn’t quite feel like a celebration. To mark the occasion and with our eyes on the future, Ms. asked abortion rights supporters in the House of Representatives to share what the anniversary of Roe means this year in particular, how they see their role in the larger fight for abortion rights, how Congress can act as a counterbalance to a Supreme Court prepared to overturn Roe, and what they wish they could tell anti-abortion lawmakers standing in their way.