More Than A Magazine, A Movement
In nearly a dozen states, voters this fall will have a chance to protect abortion rights and advance equality for women.
(This article originally appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)
As abortion access is increasingly being decided by state and federal courts, two reproductive rights attorneys make sense of past rulings and the ongoing fight for reproductive healthcare.
Each month, we provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.
Laura Campbell chose to have an abortion after suffering devastating complications during her pregnancy.
Campbell’s traumatizing experience is one of the reasons that she knew that she would be 100 percent on board with helping the effort by the organization Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom to place an abortion rights ballot measure on the November ballot.
After the Supreme Court’s unprecedented 2022 decision to revoke a constitutional right, abortion changed the course of elections for two years running. As the nation approaches the first presidential election of the post-Roe era, Democrats—who are fielding a woman presidential candidate who champions abortion rights—are banking on the issue to bolster them again.
Many public polls predict it won’t. But are these polls right? Not so much, say numerous polling experts.
(This article originally appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)
Emily Wilson, a classicist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, made history as the first woman to translate Homer’s The Odyssey into English. Her groundbreaking translations offer a fresh lens through which to view these ancient texts.
Wilson’s work challenges long-held interpretations and underscores the value of diverse voices in literature—especially as U.S. education is under fire by conservative politicians and organizations.
As I’ve answered interviewers’ questions, I’ve noticed myself saying things like: “I was surprised how difficult it was to be a woman in seminary, even at a seminary that’s fully committed to supporting women in ministry.” I’ve come to realize that of course it’s still difficult to be a woman in these spaces. Of course it’s still hard—even after many decades, even after hundreds or even thousands of women have walked this path before me—because the reality is that the roads were not built with us in mind. They were not shaped to fit us. So many different intricacies and twists and turns and building materials went into making these paths, all of which are more difficult to navigate for those who were not their original intended walkers.
On Jan. 6, 2023, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated a rightwing takeover of New College of Florida in Sarasota, the state’s only public liberal honors arts college. DeSantis appointed six new members to the college’s board of trustees who promptly voted to eliminate the diversity, equity and inclusion office and the gender studies program.
On August 15, administration at New College of Florida in Sarasota destroyed hundreds of books that had been housed in the Gender and Diversity Center on campus, placing them in a huge dumpster for disposal.
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: Kamala Harris reaffirmed her candidacy for president at the DNC; Republican-appointed judges strike down Biden’s student loan relief plan; a new law bans women from speaking in public in Afghanistan; working moms earn just 71 cents per dollar earned by dads; understanding the orgasm gap; gold-medalist boxer Imane Khelif fights back against racist and sexist abuse; new reproductive rights bills signed into law in Illinois; and more.
As a gay woman, abortion wasn’t something I thought about too often; but the lawmakers in my home state were villainizing and legislating abortion the same way they villainized and disenfranchised the LGBTQ+ community, so I figured it was my turn to be an ally.
As of this month, 22 states have banned some or all abortions. If you’re like me and your home state has closed your local abortion clinic—well they’re probably anti-LGBTQ too, and this is your call to get involved: to volunteer, donate and fight abortion stigma wherever you can. But if you’re a queer person with a nursing license looking for somewhere to work where you can be yourself and make a profound impact, check to see if your local abortion clinic is hiring.