Attacks on Abortion Access Are as Old as White Supremacist Patriarchy Itself. Here’s How We Fight Back.

PUBLISHED 7/18/2025 by

What really underlies attacks on our bodily autonomy isn’t a devotion to “life,” but a desire for dominance. “In the history of abortion, every single time there is a wave of criminalization of abortion, it’s at the same time that the people in power, the forces that be, are concerned about losing power,” says Renee Bracey Sherman.

In the second episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, advocates, lawmakers and experts explore the real roots of abortion criminalization throughout U.S. history — and lay out visions for where the fight for reproductive freedom must go next.

Listen to the second episode Ms. podcast, Looking Back, Moving Forward—”Inside the Feminist Fight to Reclaim Our Reproductive Freedom (with Renee Bracey Sherman, Michele Goodwin, Angie Jean-Marie and Amy Merrill, Susan Frietsche, and Gov. Maura Healey)”—on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

‘They’re Not Following the Law—They’re Imposing Conservative Values’: Key Takeaways From the Ms. 2025 Supreme Court Term in Review

PUBLISHED 7/17/2025 by , and | UPDATED 10/6/2025 at 8:05 A.M. PT

Friday, June 27, marked the final day of the ’24-’25 Supreme Court term. This year brought a series of stunning, high-stakes decisions that delivered major setbacks for reproductive rights and civil liberties—from a landmark case threatening judiciary checks and birthright citizenship and a ruling that expands parental opt-outs in public schools, to the Court’s decision to uphold both South Carolina’s ban on Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood and Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming healthcare for trans teens.

On July 2, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University hosted its annual Supreme Court Term in Review, co-hosted by Ms. magazine, Ms. Studios, the Brennan Center for Justice and the American Constitution Society. The event brought together legal scholars, litigators, journalists and activists to reflect on the most consequential rulings of the 2024-’25 term.

“We should not have to have seances with slave owners to know what our rights are today.”
—Lourdes A. Rivera

“The president can, with the stroke of a pen, revoke your constitutional right to citizenship.”
—Jamelle Bouie

“The Supreme Court and Congress are basically enabling this. Not just being feckless, but enabling it.”
—Lourdes A. Rivera

“I thought Justice Barrett was extraordinarily disrespectful toward Justice Jackson in that opinion.”
—Mark Joseph Stern

“We get hope from our clients and the communities that are stepping up when many elite institutions are not.”
—Skye Perryman

‘Feminist Activism Plays a Long Game’: Jennifer M. Piscopo on the Lessons the U.S. Can Learn from Mexico

PUBLISHED 7/16/2025 by

The professor and researcher has watched gender quotas transform the political landscape in Mexico over the last two decades. Here’s what she thinks feminists in the U.S. can learn from their example.

“There has always been resistance to expanding women’s rights—in Mexico, in the U.S., everywhere—whether in politics or different spheres, but we are at this moment where that resistance seems to be having its own moment, and has been able to walk back a lot of gains.

“The past 50 years have shown that democracy is bound up with gender equality. … Feminist claims have always been about making democracy work for those usually excluded.”

Hear more from Piscopo and other feminists on the newest Ms. podcast, Looking Back, Moving Forward—the first episode is out now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

How Trump Gave America License to Roll Back Women’s Equality—And How We Take it Back

PUBLISHED 7/16/2025 by

For decades before Trump’s political rise, we fought for women’s equality, advancing one hard-won victory at a time. Reproductive freedom. Economic independence. Workplace equity. Protection from harassment and violence.

In 2022, fewer than 30 percent of Republican men believed women should return to traditional roles. By 2024, that number jumped to 48 percent.

This isn’t just political polarization. This is a fundamental rejection of women’s equality fueled by a sitting president intent on rolling back women’s progress.
Trump’s presidency has unleashed a cultural and political backlash that threatens generations of progress toward women’s equality—demanding a bold, collective response.

Every woman and man who believes in equality can fight back.

Why Is the Trump Administration Destroying Almost $10 Million of Contraceptives?

PUBLISHED 7/16/2025 by

After the richest man in the world shuttered the U.S. agency that provides aid for the world’s poorest, the government is now going to spend money destroying the contraceptives, medications and food items it chose not to distribute.

This includes $9.7 million in contraceptives that were bound for crisis areas—places like refugee camps and war zones. It includes $800,000 worth of high-energy biscuits, a kind of emergency food aid for people in the direst of circumstances—and enough of it to feed 1.5 million children for a week.

To be clear, all of these items have already been paid for by U.S. tax dollars. The Trump administration is about to spend more money to destroy them.

Black Activists Say Trump Administration’s ICE Raids Revive Jim Crow Tactics

PUBLISHED 7/16/2025 by

“The ICE crisis is a Black issue, too,” said Myeisha Essex of Black Women for Wellness (BWW) at a recent press conference in Los Angeles. Essex was joined by leaders from other Black- and Latino-led grassroots organizations, including the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and the California Black Power Network (CBPN). Together, they warned that Trump’s crackdown threatens the safety and civil rights of immigrants and citizens alike, underscoring the need for solidarity across communities of color—and with allies—amid deepening political and racial divides.

The uncertainty and fear of this political moment intensified last month when the Supreme Court upheld the federal government’s ability to deport immigrants to third-party countries—even when individuals have not had a fair chance to contest removal or raise credible fears of torture or harm. Advocates argue the ruling undercuts due process and erodes bedrock democratic principles, leaving both immigrants and U.S. citizens questioning what rights remain secure.

“We are the ones—Black people, regardless of citizenship—who must define what resilience and resistance look like in this moment,” said Nana Gyamfi, executive director of BAJI. “The first human beings who migrated, allowing people to exist all over this planet, were Black people.”

Why Trump’s Manhood Is Threatened by a Free Press

PUBLISHED 7/15/2025 by

President Donald Trump doesn’t hate the media because it lies. He hates it because it tells the truth, and the truth frightens him. Despite nonstop lying, he’s managed to stay ahead of reality. But even with MAGA, his grip is slipping.

When Trump sneers, “The press is the enemy of the people,” he’s not showing strength; he’s revealing weakness. A truly strong man doesn’t need to crush dissent. That’s what weak men do.

‘No More Shame!’ The Transformative Lesson of Gisèle Pelicot, the French Survivor of Mass Rape

PUBLISHED 7/15/2025 by

A phone call one autumn morning from local police requesting that Dominique Pelicot, then 67, husband to Gisèle, also 67, report to the local station interrupted their daily routine. A surprised Gisèle listened as her husband told her not to worry: “It won’t be pleasant, but by noon we will be home,” he said. But the next time she saw him was at his trial.

Like many countries, France has a protective privacy act guaranteeing anonymity for crime victims. Gisèle’s lawyers warned what would happen in a public trial—the intense media attention that would surely follow every development in the case, the probable attacks on her testimony in court and possible threats to her life. Undaunted, Gisèle chose to waive her right to anonymity.

“When you’re raped, there is shame, and it’s not for us to have shame,” she told the court. “It’s for them.”

Her insistence that her trial be public surprised both her lawyers and the presiding judge—and transformed Gisèle into a feminist hero and icon.