Politics

From Minnesota to Puerto Rico: How We Survive Together

PUBLISHED 2/6/2026 by and

In each of our communities, every day seems to announce itself. Whistles and shouts for our neighbors punctuate each hour, as blades of helicopters and flight drills slice through the air into the night. Increased military and federal government presence is visible, splitting images between the corners of our everyday lives and active battlefields. 

We write from two different places, often discussing them separately. We do, however, live as part of the same story.

From Minnesota to Puerto Rico, our struggles are one and the same. So is our strength. We are still here—not because the system is working, but because we work for each other. Maybe this is finally how we usher in a new world order.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)

What This Moment Requires of Us: Women, Voting Rights and the Battle for Representation

PUBLISHED 2/6/2026 by

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the world—with a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!

This week:
—As February begins and we mark Black History Month, I’m reminded that the fight for a more representative democracy has always been carried forward by women who refused to accept exclusion as inevitable.
—”Republicans in Congress have unveiled a new bill that would impose the most extreme voting restrictions ever proposed at the federal level,” warns Democracy Docket of the so-called “Make Elections Great Again” (MEGA) Act.
—Washington, D.C.’s legendary delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, will not run for re-election this year after 35 years in office.
—Republican state Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Coral Gables resident who co-founded Latinas for Trump, is now concerned about the overt racial profiling and indiscriminate aggression against citizens, legal immigrants, and undocumented people alike. 
—In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan leads polls and just secured the endorsement of incumbent Sen. Tina Smith in her bid for the Democratic nomination for Senate.

… and more.

Resistance, From the Red Carpet to the Courts: Grammy Winners Denounce ICE, Immigrant Families Challenge Trump’s Visa Ban

PUBLISHED 2/5/2026 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—For the first time, more Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE.
—Senate Democrats refused to pass a DHS bill that would fund ICE for this fiscal year. Instead they passed a two-week continuing resolution to give them time to negotiate reforms designed to prevent further brutality from ICE and CBP agents. 
—Artists use Grammy acceptance speeches to denounce Trump and ICE: “Our voices matter,” urged Billie Eilish. “We are humans and we are Americans,” said Bad Bunny.
—Organizations raise alarms about Grok AI spreading nonconsensual intimate images on Twitter.
—Virtual reality may be a tool to change opinions about catcalling.
—Access to IVF has led to more unmarried women in their 40s choosing to have babies.

… and more.

How Attacks on Immigrant Teens Helped Build the Post-Roe Playbook

PUBLISHED 2/5/2026 by

A conversation between legal scholar Shoshanna Ehrlich and Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project.

“In the first Trump administration, we still had Roe. By losing that underlying constitutional right to abortion at the federal level, the door has been opened for the second Trump administration to both compound the attacks and move in new directions,” Amiri told Ms.

“We were screaming from the rooftops that they were coming after Roe, and abortion was going to be banned, and we were not believed. … As with all rights, they’re tenuous and you have to continue to fight to enforce them.

“It’s always the most marginalized, as we’ve been talking about. It’s the people who have the fewest resources, people who live in rural areas, young people, people without documentation, people with limited language skills. That is who will feel the brunt the hardest of these policies.”

Abortion Clinics Left Unprotected as DOJ Weaponizes FACE Act Against Journalists and Peaceful Protesters

PUBLISHED 2/3/2026 by

As unbelievable as it sounds, President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has deployed the FACE Act—not against antiabortion extremists who invade clinics and terrorize patients, but against journalists documenting political protests and peaceful activists decrying the killing of Renee Good by federal ICE agents.

The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances and Places of Religious Worship (FACE) Act, a law designed primarily to protect abortion providers, clinic staff and patients, is being perverted by the DOJ as part of its broader effort to deny freedom of the press and undermine the rule of law.

The DOJ has criminally charged nine people, including two journalists, under the FACE Act for entering a church to speak out against a pastor who is reportedly the acting field director for ICE in Minneapolis. The high-profile and highly unusual arrests of journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent Minneapolis journalist Georgia Fort, along with several peaceful activists, underscore the Trump administration’s latest attack on the rule of law, freedom of speech, and the right to assembly.

The Trump administration purposefully ignored clinic invasions and blockades by antiabortion extremist groups in 2025—all while reproductive health clinic staff and patients have experienced a dramatic surge in threats and violence.

Serious Work Begins to Create a Treaty on Crimes Against Humanity

PUBLISHED 2/3/2026 by and

Afghanistan. Myanmar. Syria. The Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Over the last 80 years, there has rarely been a situation of atrocity that has not been marked by the commission of crimes against humanity. These crimes, defined by their widespread or systematic nature, target civilians and devastate societies.

Yet, while the international community has created legal regimes to address war crimes and genocide, we lack a global legal architecture for the prevention, suppression and punishment of crimes against humanity, leaving millions across the globe at risk and justice elusive for survivors.

The start of negotiations for such a treaty is not just overdue; it is of historic importance. Late last month, the United Nations General Assembly launched a four-year process to prepare for and negotiate a new global treaty to prevent and punish crimes against humanity by 2028. If it is crafted with ambition and resolve, it can be a game-changer for international accountability, strengthen the rules-based order and offer hope and justice to victims and survivors.

War on Women Report: Meta Removes Abortion-Related Accounts; Louisiana Tries to Extradite California Abortion Provider; Fatal ICE Shootings

PUBLISHED 1/30/2026 by

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has tried to remove pro-abortion ads from Mayday Health, an organization that shares information about abortion pills, birth control and gender-affirming care.
—The FDA withdrew a rule requiring cosmetics companies to test their products made with talc for asbestos, alarming public health advocates.
—Two Pennsylvania hospitals told the state they may not provide emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors because of religious objections.
—Some good news out of Wyoming: The state’s supreme court started the new year by striking down Wyoming’s two abortion bans.

… and more.

When in Doubt, Blame Young Women: The Evergreen Electoral Existential Crisis of Young Women in U.S. Politics

PUBLISHED 1/28/2026 by

While the right-wing media ecosystem views young women as an affliction, the Democratic Party risks taking this group for granted and overlooking their real-life concerns.

Women are more likely to support Democratic candidates than their male counterparts. This pattern, coined the “gendergap” by Ellie Smeal, has remained a fixture of American politics in every presidential election since 1980. That support shows that women’s Democratic support is consistent and can be politically decisive. Still, this support should not be taken for granted.

‘She Rubbed Me the Wrong Way’: Why Trump Punished a Woman Head of State for Saying No

PUBLISHED 1/27/2026 by

Under the Jan. 21 headline “‘She Just Rubbed Me the Wrong Way’: Trump Suggests Swiss Tariffs Were Personal,’” The New York Times quotes Trump quoted as saying, she was “’so aggressive.”

Seeking to make sense of the existential anomie that flooded me after reading the article, it quickly became apparent that that much more was at play here than a clash of personalities, as suggested by Times’ headline. Accordingly, as I began envisioning the article I would write, my initial aim was to locate Trump’s remarks within the broader context of his administration’s attacks on women and the LGBTQ+ community. 

Why International Law Still Fails Afghan Women

PUBLISHED 1/27/2026 by

Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, Afghan women and girls have been progressively removed from almost every sphere of public life. Girls are banned from secondary and higher education. Women are excluded from most employment, face severe restrictions on movement and have been rendered legally invisible. Institutions responsible for protecting women’s rights have been dismantled.

In early December, the international Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in The Hague presented its verdict on the situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. Two days later, on Dec. 13, the French Senate convened a high-level colloquium titled “No Peace Without Women: Their Representation in Diplomatic, Military and Political Bodies.”

Together, these two forums—one judicial-moral, the other parliamentary-political—converged on a stark conclusion: The exclusion of Afghan women is systematic, intentional and state-imposed. At the same time, they exposed a critical gap in international law, one with far-reaching implications for the United Nations system, international accountability mechanisms and the global women, peace and security agenda.