It’s January 2022—almost 100 years since the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was first proposed by Alice Paul and introduced in Congress. And with the start of the new year, legal wrangling for the proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution is ramping back up.
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.
Knoxville Planned Parenthood Clinic Burned Down by Anti-Abortion Extremists: “A Huge Loss for the Community”
On New Year’s Eve, anti-abortion extremists burned down the Planned Parenthood clinic in Knoxville, Tenn., the organization’s only branch in East Tennessee. Fire department officials confirmed Thursday the cause of the fire was intentional arson. No suspects are yet in custody.
This is just one example of increasing violence against abortion providers. Anti-abortion extremists are no doubt feeling emboldened by the unconstitutional six-week abortion ban in Texas (in effect for over four months) as well as a likely ruling against abortion rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The Most-Read Ms. Stories of 2021
Ms. readers are fed up. You know how I know? Your reading patterns.
Explore the most popular articles published this year on MsMagazine.com—measured by page views, average time spent on each page, times shared and a few other technical measures.
Dobbs v. Jackson Recap: Seven Times Justice Sotomayor Stood Up for Abortion Rights
Feminists and abortion advocates went into Wednesday’s oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization with a sense of dread and foreboding at the potential loss of Roe.
Despite a dismal outlook from experts, the pro-abortion Supreme Court justices put up a good fight. Justice Sonia Sotomayor in particular had several remarkable standout moments. Through quick quips and accessible language steeped in facts and research, she repeatedly reminded us why she’s known as “the people’s justice.”
How to Listen to the Supreme Court Case That Will Determine the Future of U.S. Abortion Rights
Wednesday’s Supreme Court case—Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—is the first abortion case in front of the Court that could overturn Roe v. Wade.
Here’s how you can listen to the arguments and tune into a livestream of the rally outside the Supreme Court ahead of the case.
Wide Majority of Americans Approve of Roe v. Wade and Disapprove of New Texas Abortion Law
Sixty percent of Americans believe the Supreme Court should uphold its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which established the constitutional right to abortion. Just 27 percent believe it should be overturned.
In the run-up to oral arguments on Dec. 1 in the Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, a Gallup poll shows Supreme Court approval at 40 percent—the lowest number recorded since the poll first started tracking this question in August of 2000.
Texas’s Six-Week Abortion Ban In Effect for Almost Three Months—With No End in Sight
The Supreme Court has yet again declined to block Texas’s S.B. 8, the most restrictive abortion ban in history—meaning it will likely be in effect when the Court considers the upcoming Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health on Dec. 1, a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade.
“Though this is in one sense about abortion, it is really about much more,” the dean of Berkeley Law School Erwin Chemerinksy told Ms. “It’s about: Can the state adopt a law that blatantly violates the Constitution and then immunize itself from federal court review? … Ultimately, it’s about whether states have to follow the Constitution. It’s about the very structure of American government.”
Assistant AG Christopher Schroeder Confirmation Brings the U.S. One Step Closer to ERA Ratification
On Thursday, the Senate confirmed Christopher Schroeder as assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Nominated by President Joe Biden in April, Schroeder was approved by the Senate in a 56-41 vote. He previously worked in the OLC under both the Clinton and Obama administrations. And he could play a key role in the adoption of the 28th U.S. constitutional amendment: the Equal Rights Amendment.
Our Favorite Signs From the Women’s March for Reproductive Rights
On Saturday, Oct. 2, tens of thousands of protesters gathered, rallied and marched to express their support for Roe v. Wade and their opposition to a recent onslaught of abortion restrictions.
From Texas to New Jersey to California to D.C., here are some of our favorite signs, marches and protesters who showed up in 650 locations in all 50 states. They paint the picture of a multi-generational, diverse coalition that is dissatisfied with current anti-abortion lawmakers; anxious to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law; and fired up for next year’s midterm elections.
Pressure Mounts for Companies to Stand Against Texas’s Near-Total Abortion Ban: “Time to Get on Board,” Says Cecile Richards
Texas’s S.B. 8. has laid bare the precarious nature of abortion rights. Even still, it’s hard not to notice a relative silence from corporate America. Cecile Ricards, former president of Planned Parenthood from 2006 to 2018 and daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, calls this silence “unthinkable.”
“This was the moment for corporations, businesses and employers, to stand up on behalf off the people that they employ, the people that they sell products to, and the places where they do business, on an issue like abortion rights, which has been a constitutional right in this country for [nearly] 50 years,” Richards told Ms. “Now in one state, Texas, essentially, that constitutional right effectively no longer exists.”