The ‘Pro-Life’ Party Has a Funny Way of Respecting Women

PUBLISHED 10/31/2024 by

Tony Hinchcliffe’s categorically unfunny appearance at Donald Trump’s recent rally in Madison Square Garden leaves me wishing that whoever discovered him left him sleeping in his car behind The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. (It’s how he opens the 12-minute set.)

Most of the ensuing backlash targeted Hinchcliffe’s puerile reliance on racism as humor. But another underreported moment that caught my attention was Hinchcliffe’s “joke” about Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce becoming “the next O.J. Simpson,” referencing Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder, widely believed to be the responsibility of her known abuser.

The joke hinges on the idea that Kelce might murder his girlfriend, Taylor Swift. Hinchcliffe referenced Swift’s political endorsement of Kamala Harris immediately after this joke. His punchline: If a woman voices her opinion, intimate partner violence is a hilarious solution. It’s an interesting stance for the so-called pro-life party to broadcast publicly.

War on Women Report: 27 Women Accuse Trump of Sexual Assault; Louisiana’s Controlled Substances Law Criminalizing Abortion Medication Takes Effect

PUBLISHED 10/31/2024 by and

U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the city of Austin over its abortion travel fund.
—The number of women who have accused Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump of sexual assault is now up to 27.
—Louisiana’s law reclassifying the abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol as “controlled dangerous substances” took effect on Oct. 1.
—In Manhattan, a 20-year-old woman is facing criminal charges for miscarrying in a restaurant bathroom.

The Ripple Effects of Restricting Abortion Access

PUBLISHED 10/31/2024 by , and | UPDATED 11/1/2024 at 11:33 A.M. PT

Just this week, we learned of at least two pregnant Texas women who died after doctors delayed emergency care. And last month, we learned that at least two women died after they were unable to access legal abortion care in their home state of Georgia.

Even still, legislators across the country are willing to continue denying care to the people who need it, prioritizing political extremism over medical realities. 

Documentary ‘The Young Vote’ Introduces America to the Young People Shaping Its Future

PUBLISHED 10/30/2024 by

The Young Vote is a powerful documentary by Diane Robinson, now streaming on PBS. The film highlights the stories of young changemakers.

One of the opportunities young people have to shape their future in the U.S. is the chance to participate in the democratic process and vote. Even where there are free and fair elections, voters need to increasingly navigate their way through fake news, AI-generated deep fakes, and a splintered and polarized media landscape where it’s more difficult than ever to know what to believe and who to trust.

Front and Center: ‘If You Lose Your Job, You Lose Your Childcare. How Are You Supposed to Make That Work?’ Asks Mississippi Mom of Five

PUBLISHED 10/30/2024 by

Front & Center began as first-person accounts of Black mothers living in Jackson, Miss., receiving a guaranteed income. Moving into the fourth year and next phase of this series, we’re expanding our focus beyond a single policy intervention to include a broader examination of systemic issues impacting Black women experiencing poverty. This means diving deeper into the interconnected challenges they face—including navigating the existing safety net; healthcare, childcare and elder care; and the importance of mental, physical and spiritual well-being.

“I really think Trump looks down on people like me,” writes Debra, a single mother taking care of her five children, plus her grandmother and niece. “That’s not the type of person I want leading the country. … People with criminal records can’t even get a job at Walmart. But a felon can run for president?”

A Texas Woman Died After the Hospital Said It Would Be a ‘Crime’ to Intervene in Her Miscarriage

PUBLISHED 10/30/2024 by and | UPDATED 11/1/2024 at 11:07 A.M. PT

Josseli Barnica grieved the news as she lay in a Houston hospital bed on Sept. 3, 2021: The sibling she’d dreamt of giving her daughter would not survive this pregnancy. The fetus was on the verge of coming out, its head pressed against her dilated cervix; she was 17 weeks pregnant and a miscarriage was “in progress,” doctors noted in hospital records. At that point, they should have offered to speed up the delivery or empty her uterus to stave off a deadly infection.

But when Barnica’s husband rushed to her side from his job on a construction site, she relayed what she said the medical team had told her: “They had to wait until there was no heartbeat,” he told ProPublica in Spanish. “It would be a crime to give her an abortion.”

For 40 hours, the anguished 28-year-old mother prayed for doctors to help her get home to her daughter; all the while, her uterus remained exposed to bacteria. Three days after she delivered, Barnica died of an infection.

A ROAR for Awareness: Empowering Women Through Education and Open Dialogue on Perimenopause

PUBLISHED 10/30/2024 by

As Perimenopause Awareness Month (September) and Menopause Awareness Month (October) close out, Ms. has been proud to cover a series of events that brought together experts to expand the conversation. Among these, “Perimenopause ROAR” held last month in New York City marked a powerful moment in women’s health advocacy by Perry and the National Menopause Foundation. 

The event brought together a diverse panel of experts, advocates and community members, united in a mission to break the silence surrounding perimenopause.