Our Abortion Stories: Shamed Into Silence, ‘We Weren’t Fit To Become Mothers’

I was forced to give my son up for adoption, moments after giving birth. Boom. Gone. Just like that. I had no hope of ever seeing him again.

This shameful secret—my pregnancy and loss of my child—festered inside for more than 50 years. Decades later, my middle-aged son reached out by email and we met, a longed-for experience that soon turned into a nightmare. I had no idea that reunion in adoption is often shattering. The pain and anguish I wasn’t allowed to feel when I gave him away exploded inside me.

Alito Says Abortion Has Nothing to Do With Gender Equality—But History Says Otherwise

Justice Alito’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson eviscerates Roe’s privacy anchoring of the right to abortion, and also trashes the Court’s subsequent recognition in Planned Parenthood v. Casey that control over one’s reproduction is inextricably linked to gender equality.

History upends Alito’s claim that “the goal of preventing abortion” does not evince a “discriminatory ‘animus’ against women.” It also makes a mockery of his assertion that the Roe Court was guilty of a “plainly incorrect” reading of history.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: The 174th Anniversary of Seneca Falls Convention; The GOP Is Failing Millennial Moms

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: the 174th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention; coalition-building is how we advance women’s representation; the status of women’s representation in Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine; the GOP is failing millennial moms; and more.

Cecilia Aragon: Women in Data Science Breaking Down Binaries and Taking a Human-Centered Approach

, and

While the total number of women receiving college degrees increases, what hinders the expansion of diversity in the data science field? To address this persistent gap, women working in the fields that feed into data science have been working to change the circumstances that hinders women from pursuing work in the field, as well urging society to consider the harmful consequences of a field which has historically excluded the voices of women.

Dr. Cecilia Aragon is a major contributor to these ongoing discussions. She is an award-winning author, airshow pilot and professor—the first Latina to earn the rank of full professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington in its 100-year history. Her interdisciplinary methods, active inclusion of diverse students with diverse academic backgrounds, and perceptive research questions, all challenge the traditional expectations of data scientists and question the false assumptions of data science.

Bills to Defend Marriage Equality and Contraception Access Pass U.S. House, Head to Senate

The U.S. House of Representatives passed two landmark pieces of legislation: the Respect for Marriage Act, which would grant federal recognition of both same-sex and interracial marriages, and the Right To Contraception Act, would establish a right in federal law for individuals to obtain and use contraceptives.

Democratic leaders say both bills are a direct response Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurring opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson which called on the Court to “reconsider” past rulings codifying rights to contraception access, same-sex relationships and same-sex marriage.

The Jan. 6 Committee Debunks Heroic Myth of the Insurrection

At a time of growing authoritarianism, it is crucial to understand how right-wing demagogues tap into mythology to convince their followers that they are part of something redemptive and heroic. And gender is at the heart of our national mythology.

Reclaiming white men’s position at the top of American society is one of the animating themes of Trumpism as a sociocultural and political force.

Ms. Global: Iranian Women Unveil in Protest; Hungary Sued Over Anti-LGBTQ Law; Sierra Leone Overturns Abortion Ban

and

The U.S. ranks as the 19th most dangerous country for women, 11th in maternal mortality, 30th in closing the gender pay gap, 75th in women’s political representation, and painfully lacks paid family leave and equal access to health care. But Ms. has always understood: Feminist movements around the world hold answers to some of the U.S.’s most intractable problems. Ms. Global is taking note of feminists worldwide.