Category: Justice & Law

It’s Time for Federal Paid Leave for Caregivers

No one is prepared to become a caregiver, but at some point, we will either be a caregiver or we will need to be cared for. In a country without a federal paid leave program, caregivers like me have to decide if we go to work or stay home and take care of ourselves or a family member.

Millions of people are faced with an unimaginable choice between taking care of a loved one or losing employment and health care benefits every day. In a country without a federal paid leave program, caregivers like me have to decide if we go to work or stay home and take care of ourselves or a family member. The time for a federal paid leave program is now, so we can all care for our families without losing employment and income.

Feeling Sold Out by Your Own Country Isn’t New for Many Americans

In my university classes, I teach undergraduates about the ways in which people on the land that is today the United States have been accepted or rejected as American citizens, and how even those who have gained citizenship must continually fight for their status as full citizens. We discuss issues facing minority groups including indigenous, Black and LGBTQ Americans. And we discuss marginalized majority groups: women and working and middle-class Americans. Students learn how all these struggles persist over decades, if not centuries.

History and politics are cyclical. Logically, I know this is how the American story goes. (And so many stories across the globe.) But it still hurts anyway. There are big changes coming, but as the late civil rights icon, Rep. John Lewis, wrote in his masterful op-ed published posthumously: “The truth does not change.” It is on us to speak that truth to power. It is more important than ever to stay engaged, to resist the urge to flee or opt out of the political process when we get that taste of loss or rejection—a feeling that’s all too familiar for many Americans.

‘Forced to Return to the Butcher’s Lair’: The Reality of Abortion Before Roe and the Fear of What’s to Come

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Abortions are sought by a wide range of people for many different reasons. There is no single story. Telling stories of then and now shows how critical abortion has been and continues to be for women and girls. (Share your abortion story by emailing myabortionstory@msmagazine.com.)

“Instead of protecting our right to freedom of choice, they would have women go through what I went through and perhaps die in the process.”

“The night before the procedure, the nurse gave me a sleeping pill and as I became sleepy, I shed a few tears. But, I knew that it was the only decision for me as the baby was unplanned. I was too young and my spirit had to be eternally free to create and experience my own type of utopia.”

Books in Dumpsters, But Ideas Thrive: The Resilient Legacy of New College of Florida

You’ve likely read about New College of Florida’s (NCF) transformation from a bastion of non-conformity and progressive ideals to a “Hillsdale of the South.” This telling homage refers to a private, conservative Christian school in Michigan that prides itself on not accepting federal aid for students, which allows it to dispense with federal rules like following Title IX guidance on cases of sexual discrimination.

As an educator for over 20 years and a proud alum (1993-1997) of New College, the embattled public small liberal arts college in Florida, I think of the influence of education as rhizomatic. It creates an underground network of stems and shoots that produce new growth. It’s a nonlinear network with multiple pathways—much like a diaspora—one where each node is distinct but also remains connected.

What Renee Bracey Sherman Wants You to Know About Liberating Abortion and the People Who Make It Possible

Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone recently released their co-authored book, Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve. In it, they offer a new perspective on the history of abortion and imagine a future where reproductive justice is realized.

Bracey Sherman and Mahone ask us to build a better future that begins with building community around abortion and reproductive freedom now.

Ms. sat down with Renee Bracey Sherman to discuss her new book, Liberating Abortion, the history of abortion and where we go from here.

Abortion Funds in Pennsylvania, N.Y. and N.J. Are ‘Moving Millions of Dollars to Get People Basic Healthcare’

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This piece, based on three funds in the Northeast, is the fourth in a series of articles spotlighting interviews with fund representatives across the U.S.

We interviewed representatives from the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), New Jersey Abortion Access Fund (NJAAF) and Abortion Liberation Fund of Pennsylvania (ALF-PA). Activists at each of these funds noted the delicate balance between supporting abortion seekers from their home states and helping the influx of folks traveling to “blue states” for abortion care.

Rest in Power: A Running List of the Preventable Deaths Caused by Abortion Bans

Josseli Barnica.
Yeniifer Alvarez-Estrada Glick.
Nevaeh Crain.
Amber Nicole Thurman.
Candi Miller.
Taysha Wilkinson-Sobieski.

Today, 21 states ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade. These states are failing women and their families, causing preventable deaths and irreparable pain and heartbreak for their families—leaving children without mothers, parents without their daughters, and spouses without their partners.

The Next President Will Decide Domestic Violence Policy for Millions of Survivors

Survivor Justice Action, alongside survivors and allies across the country, is taking the conversation about domestic violence beyond individual homes, ensuring it’s heard loudly throughout the halls of Congress.

We refuse to settle for a world that enables, perpetuates and ignores the root causes of domestic violence. We will always make survivors voices a priority, and we won’t stop until domestic violence ends.

Abortion Is Popular. The Antiabortion Movement Is Still Set on ‘Punishing’ Women Who Get Them—or Aid and Abet Others

In her new book, Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win, Jessica Valenti argues that abortion is not in fact as controversial as abortion ban lawmakers would like their constituents to believe. As noted on the back of Abortion, 81 percent don’t want government regulation of abortion or pregnancy at all.

A week before the election, Valenti, feminist reporter and founder of ‘Abortion, Every Day,’ sat down for a conversation about her new book with moderator True North Research’s Ansev Demirhan, also in conversation with Karen Thompson of Pregnancy Justice; and Anoushka Chander, youth activist and host of the Ms. magazine podcast, The Z Factor.