While a lot of attention will be paid to U.S. Senate races and state legislative races, just as much attention must be paid to state judicial races. State judges and justices, who are elected in many states, will have the final say on access to abortion healthcare.
Category: Health
As San Antonio Abortion Clinic Closes, Its Director Worries About Who Is Left Behind
Abortion clinics are closing across Texas after the state banned the procedure, with few exceptions, at any point in a pregnancy.
At Alamo Women’s Reproductive Services, executive administrator Andrea Gallegos turned the lights on in empty patient rooms and worried about whom the clinic was leaving behind. The clinic is one of two owned by her father, abortion rights advocate Dr. Alan Braid. His clinics, one in Texas and one in Oklahoma, will relocate to Illinois and New Mexico.
The Case for Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pills
Over-the-counter birth control pills, especially if covered by insurance, would be a game-changer for millions of U.S. women who experience barriers to contraception access.
The Jackson Water Crisis Is a Crisis of Leadership
The water system failure in Jackson, Miss., is a crisis, but the failure of our leaders to build the necessary supports and systems that families need to survive has turned it into a catastrophe.
‘Chaos, Confusion and Crisis’: Marking a Full Year of Texas’ Six-Week Abortion Ban
It’s been two months since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal constitutional right to an abortion—but we can’t forget that Texans like me have been suffering for much longer.
For one year, abortion after around six weeks of pregnancy has been banned in Texas. For one year, people like me have been forced to find the time, money and resources to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles out of state, if they can, to access healthcare. And if they can’t, for one year, countless Texans have been forced to carry pregnancies against their will, with profound medical risks and life-altering consequences.
Unionized Starbucks Employees Fight for Abortion Care Benefits
As anti-abortion laws spread across the nation as a result of the Dobbs decision, the Starbucks corporation said it could not guarantee benefits to unionized employees that they previously said would cover travel to access abortions.
Starbucks workers and labor organizers say this is a deliberate anti-union strategy which weaponizes the fragile state of abortion care access to discourage unionization.
Cowgirl Boots, Anxious Nights: Transgender Youth and Families Fight Hostile Legislation and Sky-High Suicide Rates
In states around the U.S., families of transgender youth are battling anti-trans legislation blocking life-saving healthcare and transphobic ideas that permeate into their families and schools, and terrifying mental health statistics of trans youth who do not receive care.
Families share how they’re building safe and affirming homes for their children amidst such barriers.
COVID Revealed the U.S.’s Long-Time Misogyny and Lack of Respect for Teachers
Early on in the pandemic, when little was known about the virus and no vaccine yet existed to thwart it, some “essential workers”—those in healthcare—received applause daily for their heroic efforts to staunch the bleeding. But one group, made up primarily of women, was on the receiving end of bitter acrimony and blame for allegedly aggravating the problems caused by the pandemic: teachers.
Those who work in education were blamed for failing to do what other essential workers were doing and stay on the job, no matter the personal cost.
ICYMI: ‘Everything You Need to Know About Birth Control’ with Dr. Sophia Yen
In this time of crisis, Dr. Sophia Yen says it’s essential we take charge of our own reproductive health. Yen is the CEO and co-founder of Pandia Health, the only doctor-led and women-founded and -led birth control delivery company. She is a board-certified physician with a focus in adolescent medicine, and serves as a clinical associate professor at Stanford Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics.
In a Ms. webinar on Tuesday, “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Birth Control,” Yen broke down the best forms of birth control and emergency contraception, why you should consider skipping your period, how to get abortion pills (even if you live in a state with a ban), and more.
Who Will Care for Indiana’s Pregnant Children?
Is it child abuse to force a child to have a baby? Who will care for Indiana’s pregnant children? Who will protect those who become pregnant and those who will be charged with child support for a baby? May other states learn from Indiana’s tragic tale.