Now Is the Time to Protect and Expand Birth Control Access

PUBLISHED 11/15/2022 by

Concern about future access to contraceptives has spiked since Roe was overturned. Concerns about access are understandable, given state legislators have strategically perpetuated misinformation as part of efforts targeting access to contraception.

In response, we must call on elected officials to support urgently-needed legislation, such as the Right to Contraception Act, which seeks to protect the right of individuals to use birth control and the right of physicians and other healthcare professionals to provide this basic essential care.

What to Expect When Expecting (and Running)

PUBLISHED 11/14/2022 by

Running for office while pregnant or parenting can be a major challenge.

I discovered I was pregnant the week the Dobbs decision was announced. I briefly considered suspending my campaign because I knew how hard it was going to be for my family and me. But at the end of the day, the reason I ran for public office hadn’t changed or become less significant to me, and so I decided to stand up for what I believe in.

Abortion Was Front of Mind for Midterm Voters

PUBLISHED 11/14/2022 by

Across the board, Democratic candidates and progressive ballot measures far outperformed expectations set by the pundits, who had all but declared that abortion no longer was the driving factor in voters’ decisions.

“It was abortion that made a huge difference in race after race,” said Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners. “In well over half the races, it was the issue of abortion that increased turnout of Democrats and younger voters.”

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Is Essential for Pregnant Workers and Moms Like Me

PUBLISHED 11/12/2022 by | UPDATED 3/19/2025 at 10:55 A.M. PT

Denizer Carter penned this piece in 2022, a month before the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act’s passage, sharing her story of being forced off her job at a grocery store because she needed an accommodation while pregnant, and urging the Senate to prioritize the PWFA. The voices of women like her were instrumental in the law ultimately being passed in December 2022.

“In 2019, I was working as a cashier for a large grocery store chain in Louisiana when I became pregnant with my second child. When the store’s management found out about my restrictions, they pushed me out of my job.”

(This essay is a part of Ms. and A Better Balance’s Women & Democracy installment, all about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—a groundbreaking civil rights law ensuring pregnant and postpartum workers have the right to reasonable workplace accommodations. Bipartisan, pro-family and boldly feminist, the PWFA is both a lesson in democracy and a battleground for its defense against antidemocratic attacks.)