More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Parenting is stressful—so stressful, in fact, that earlier this month Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an official advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents.
Single parents represent 30 percent of households in the United States—and 4 out of 5 of these single parents are single moms, who tend to be more stressed, lonelier and feel less supported than other parents.
Albinism is a non-contagious, genetically inherited condition that affects people regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. The condition is characterized by a lack of melanin in the hair, skin and/or eyes. This lack of melanin makes people with albinim susceptible to ultraviolet rays, increasing their risk of developing deadly skin cancer. Although it is a relatively rare condition, albinism disproportionately affects people in poverty and those facing multiple and intersecting forms of stigma, discrimination and violence.
This summer marked a decade since the creation of International Albinism Awareness Day. Ten years on, we reflect on the challenges faced by individuals with albinism and to celebrate the significant strides made to advance their human rights.
There’s no romance in being a child bride. And whether the “groom” is R. Kelly, with his marriage to 15-year-old Aaliyah, your great-grandmother, or Justine (name changed for protection)—a minor married to a man twice her age in the state of Maryland—more often than not, these marriages are a form of child abuse … government-sanctioned child abuse, in some states.
Child marriage remains legal in well over half of all U.S. states, with over 300,000 minors married between 2000 and 2018. Every year, hundreds of children of every gender, ethnicity and religious background are married, with no regard for their consent. “Groom” might be the technical term in these marriages, but “grooming” is more accurate.
More than 8,000 Catholic employers across the country will not be required to provide accommodations for workers needing abortion or fertility care following a ruling in North Dakota. An estimated 162,000 workers are on these health plans.
Abortion access, IVF treatment and gender-affirming care have all become major talking points in an election that may be defined by them. Vice President Kamala Harris, who supports all three, has been critical of Trump’s stance on abortion and IVF in particular.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: At current rates, it will take 137 years to lift all women and girls out of poverty; Fannie Lou Hamer’s legacy; women make up 53 percent of voters, yet their rights remain vulnerable without the Equal Rights Amendment; and more.
This summer, 430 first-time voters gathered in Washington, D.C., for an opportunity to experience democracy at work in our nation’s capital and discuss deciding issues in the upcoming election. The event aimed to gauge the opinions of 17- and 18-year-olds with a representative sample from every state in America.
Participants were particularly open to changing their minds in support of women’s healthcare. Engaging young voters on the issues of reproductive rights is essential in 2024.
When the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health and overturned Roe v. Wade, there was a lot of talk, mostly from “compassionate conservative” abortion opponents, about what was next. It would be necessary, these abortion opponents argued, for the pro-life movement and perhaps even the Republican Party to finally turn its focus to actually helping women and babies. The country would be remade into one reflecting a broader “culture of life.” We were going to get a bipartisan pro-family agenda. Abortion wouldn’t just become illegal; the nation would be so welcoming to pregnant women that abortion would simply be unthinkable.
None of that has happened.
Since Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris on the night of the debate with former President Donald Trump, publications from NBC to Fox have been debating what it might mean for Harris’ campaign and the outcome of November’s election.
An Instagram post from Sept. 10 shows the pop star posing with a fluffy cat in her arms—a direct reference to JD Vance’s quip deriding single and childless women. Before signing the post, “With love and hope, Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” Swift told followers that she plans to vote for Harris “because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos.”
Ms. spoke with contributing editor and scholar Dr. Janell Hobson about about what the endorsement might mean.
Dr. Nisha Verma wants her patients to know that they don’t have to tell any doctor that they have ever had an abortion. She wants them to know that no doctor can tell the difference between a natural miscarriage and one caused by medication, and she wants her patients to know that they don’t have to report what’s causing their bleeding if, for some reason, they visit an emergency room for care.
Verma, of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe has made women scared to seek reproductive care. November’s election results could make matters profoundly more serious. So it’s OK for women to protect their medical information from a threat of increased government surveillance, she said in an interview.
Between abortion bans and decreasing access to contraception post-Dobbs, women are facing ever-increasing barriers to maintaining control over their reproductive lives, whether ending unwanted pregnancies—or preventing them.
(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!)
