Trump’s Education Department Claims It’s Focused on Educator Sexual Misconduct. Is It Real Commitment or Political Messaging?

PUBLISHED 7/18/2026 by

Trump’s Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague Letter on July 10 warning schools they risk losing federal funds if they fail to protect students from sexual misconduct by school employees. The accompanying press release announced that the Department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) will open 20 directed investigations into school districts whose Civil Rights Data Collection submissions suggest they may have mishandled allegations of staff sexual misconduct.

The question is not whether educator sexual misconduct deserves federal attention. It is why the Education Department has elevated staff-on-student sexual misconduct, while devoting comparatively little attention to peer sexual harassment and assault, which occurs far more frequently.

One possible explanation is that educator sexual misconduct allows the department to demonstrate visible action on an issue that is politically uncontroversial, while helping restore public confidence in its commitment to protecting students.

The letter follows criticism from 112 gender equity organizations, survivors’ advocates and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over the administration’s dismantling of OCR and its shift away from investigating many forms of sex discrimination. Critics argue the administration has increasingly weaponized Title IX to advance political objectives, particularly through investigations involving diversity initiatives and transgender students’ participation in girls’ sports, while reducing enforcement in other areas of sex discrimination.

This Week in Women’s Representation: Hegseth Rolls Back Progress for Military Women; Darline Graham Nordone, Sister of Lindsey Graham, Heads to the Senate

PUBLISHED 7/17/2026 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:
—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently blocked the promotions of seven senior Navy officers, five of whom are women or people of color.
—Darline Graham Nordone, the younger sister of the late South Carolina Rep. Lindsey Graham, was appointed by the state’s governor to complete his U.S. Senate term.

… and more.

Antiabortion Extremists Can’t Target Abortion Pill Prescribers If They Don’t Know Their Names

PUBLISHED 7/17/2026 by

Four years after the fall of Roe, telemedicine is not just a convenience. For thousands of women, it is the best or only option.

Telemedicine’s success means that antiabortion threats have grown more sophisticated and intense. Pregnancy is statistically the most dangerous time in a violent relationship. Patients seeking abortion care also risk harassment and violence from hostile partners, as well as abortion opponents, and in the worst cases, life-threatening violence. A pill bottle with your name on it is evidence that can be used with threats to expose you to your employer, your family, immigration authorities or a stranger on social media.

We have developed legislation that would better safeguard the privacy of people seeking abortion care by allowing patients and providers to choose not to have their names appear on pill packaging. Our organization is currently working to pass this legislation in several states.

As Dr. Mary Applegate, a public health physician who testified in favor of such a bill in New York, spelled out: Allowing the use of a pseudonym on prescription labels can be a matter of life and death.

Saving Seneca Falls: The U.S. Birthplace of ‘All Men and Women Are Created Equal’ Must Be Preserved

PUBLISHED 7/17/2026 by

A caved-in roof. A crumbling porch. A memorial water wall in need of restoration.

These are just a few areas of the $10 million of deferred maintenance needed at the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, N.Y., one of 11 sites on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2026 list of “Most Endangered Historic Places.” The Women’s Rights National Historical Park celebrates the first Women’s Rights Convention, held on July 19 and 20, 1848. Of the 433 parks within the National Park System, only 13 are dedicated to women’s history, making the inclusion of the Women’s Rights park on the “most endangered” list even more imperative. Rather than merely lament a need for restoration, the list, according to the trust, aims to increase “visibility, public attention and new resources to save and activate historic places for the public good.”

The story of suffrage, like so many stories in our nation’s history, is neither uncomplicated nor is it a “single story” that’s “preserved in amber,” insists Miranda Johnson-Haddad, president of the Friends of the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, the non-profit philanthropic group that supports the park. Johnson-Haddad emphasizes that the park’s leadership wants to continue to have “brave conversations about difficult subjects,” including that some suffragists, like Stanton, succumbed to white supremacist thinking—despite being active in the abolition movement—championing the right to vote for white women, but not for Black men and women. No Black women were known to be in attendance at the first Seneca Falls Convention, and only one Black man, Frederick Douglass, signed the declaration.

Still, “these are stories that belong to all of us in all their messiness and complexity,” Johnson-Haddad stresses, “and that can guide us through the current messy complexity.” She cites “Bread and Roses,” a protest song dating back to 1912: “As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days / The rising of the women means the rising of the [human] race.”

Todd Blanche Suggests He Is Open to Using the DOJ to Restrict Mailing the Abortion Pill

PUBLISHED 7/17/2026 by

Antiabortion Republican senators scored a major win from embattled acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during his contentious confirmation hearing to lead the Department of Justice.

Texas Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz used Wednesday’s hearing to press Blanche to restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone, and Blanche ultimately agreed to revisit the current Department of Justice interpretation of the 1873 Comstock Act, which allows the nationwide mailing of the abortion pill under certain circumstances.

‘The Wrong Kind of Girl’: Feminists Warn of Fallout After Supreme Court Says States May Exclude Trans Girls From School Sports Teams

PUBLISHED 7/16/2026 by

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 on Tuesday, June 30, that states may prohibit transgender students from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, holding that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment does not prohibit such bans. The decision leaves in place laws already enacted in 27 states and marks another major setback for transgender rights after months of escalating attacks on LGBTQ+ communities.

Feminist organizations, reproductive justice advocates, physicians, civil rights leaders and lawmakers swiftly condemned the ruling, arguing that it harms transgender youth, undermines Title IX’s protections against sex discrimination and fits into a broader campaign targeting marginalized communities.

Human Rights Campaign president Kelley Robinson argued the ruling would fuel suspicion and harassment not only toward transgender athletes but toward girls more broadly.

“When politicians convince the public that any girl could be ‘the wrong kind of girl,’ they invite harassment, intimidation, invasive questioning or even an inspection of their body by a total stranger. While we know this administration and other anti-equality politicians won’t stop obsessing over trans kids, we must all call on states to adopt inclusive policies so that no one gets left behind for being their authentic selves. We must show up in large numbers for every school board, local and state and federal election to be sure our communities are heard. We must continue this fight with full force until freedom, justice and equal opportunity are not flimsy promises but nationwide guarantees.”

Keeping Score: Feminists Denounce Supreme Court Anti-Trans Ruling; Trump Tries to Hijack America 250; Camp Mystic Will Not Reopen; Birthright Citizenship Safe for Now

PUBLISHED 7/16/2026 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:
—The Supreme Court upheld birthright citizenship, but also allowed discrimination against trans student athletes. “When politicians convince the public that any girl could be ‘the wrong kind of girl,’ they invite harassment, intimidation, invasive questioning or even an inspection of their body by a total stranger,” warns Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign.
—Feminists mark four years without Roe.
—Trump continues to push voter suppression tactics through any means necessary.
—Young women who receive the HPV vaccine are at almost zero risk of dying from cervical cancer.
—A weekend of action on voting rights will take place from July 17-19.
—Olivia Rodrigo launches all-women music festival to raise money for organizations centered on women and girls.
—Ninety-seven percent of single moms experienced housing hardships in the past year, and 85 percent reported food insecurity.
—Federal agents shot and killed Joan Sebastián Guerrero in Maine and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Texas, during traffic stops by ICE. Both men had been living in the U.S. for years with their partners and children.
—Feminist Majority Foundation president and publisher of Ms. Ellie Smeal won the National Organization for Women Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring her decades of feminist activism and organizing.
—The inhumane “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention center has closed.
—Camp Mystic in central Texas won’t reopen this summer, a year after the tragic flood that killed 28 people, primarily young girls.
—Ahead of their wedding, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce donated a total of $26 million to 20 charities, including food banks, children’s hospitals, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and other education nonprofits.
—Aviator Wally Funk died at age 87. She was the first female flight inspector for the Federal Aviation Administration and taught more than 3,000 people how to fly.

… and more.

‘I Don’t Want To Die’: Texas Patients Are Afraid to Get Pregnant

PUBLISHED 7/15/2026 by

The fear of losing their lives is precisely what many pregnant Texas residents say they’ve experienced after four young women died in the state when they were unable to access medically necessary abortions.

Three died while doctors delayed their care for hours as they miscarried. Another, Tierra Walker, was 20 weeks pregnant and suffered from soaring blood pressure that had required multiple hospitalizations, yet was given no option for what would have been a lifesaving abortion by any of the 90 doctors who examined her.

She died in bed of preeclampsia, a serious, persistent high blood pressure disorder, and was found by her son on his 14th birthday.

Two of the dead women were also already moms, while another, Nevaeh Crain, was just 18 and expecting her first baby when she died of an infection while miscarrying. Crain had been sent home by two hospitals in the hours before her death, and a third delayed care while they waited to confirm that her fetus had no heartbeat.

These deaths and near-deaths have created an atmosphere where “100% of my patients are afraid” of experiencing complications in their pregnancies, said Dallas OB-GYN Dr. Austin Dennard. “It’s an extra stress to every stage of pregnancy. These laws are stealing the joy out of pregnancy.”

“Women are afraid to get pregnant in Texas. There is a pervasive unease with pregnancy. Women in their 40s with high-risk pregnancies are very afraid. Those pregnancies are fraught with difficulties,” she said.

You Will Hear These 10 False Narratives About Abortion. Here’s All You’ll Need to Fight Back

PUBLISHED 7/15/2026 by

Misinformation about abortion care is rampant and being weaponized at state and federal levels to justify wide-ranging restrictions across the United States.

Ensuring awareness of these narratives, and combatting them with rigorous data and evidence, is critical both for preventing them from becoming entrenched in law and for rolling back harmful policies rooted in misinformation.

This fact sheet offers evidence-based statements to counter 10 common but false narratives about abortion, and offers readers additional ways to dive deeper.

The Antiabortion Movement Has a New Plan for a National Abortion Ban

PUBLISHED 7/14/2026 by

Judges, lawyers and sexual abuse survivors have raised very strong reasons why it would be reckless and unconscionable for the Senate to confirm Todd Blanche to the post of Attorney General of the United States. One of the under-reported issues, though, is Blanche’s backing from well-funded antiabortion groups.

If the Republican Congress confirms Blanche, he could weaponize the DOJ in service of the antiabortion machine’s wish list, increasing the potential for some of the biggest blows to abortion access since Dobbs. 

Blanche’s confirmation could mean the further decimation of access to abortion healthcare in the United States at the behest of the antiabortion machine, which has already successfully pressured the Trump administration to meet its demands by, for example, calling for FDA head Martin Mackary to be fired. Meanwhile, the antiabortion machine is ratcheting up the pressure to push its agenda at various levels across the U.S.

Reasonable members of Congress who believe in the independence of the DOJ from outside pressure, including that of the administration itself, will vote to oppose Blanche’s nomination for U.S. attorney general.