More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Over the last year, women, feminists and allies have marched, shouted, cried and organized together to have the right to our bodies solidified in law.
The nonprofit United State of Women (USOW) is helping people prepare to fight anti-abortion laws locally and nationally. This month, USOW is hosting a month-long virtual series dedicated to educating future and current organizers on how to rally around reproductive autonomy through digital organizing.
State laws banning abortion are a major factor for students and parents in the Northeast considering an out-of-state college education.
The majority of student respondents (76 percent) said they prefer to go to college in a state where abortion is both legal and accessible, and all (100 percent) financially contributing parents agreed. Ninety-five percent of parents and 91 percent of students asserted that school values were an extremely important aspect.
Colleges and universities that do not stand against extreme state legislation on behalf of their students, risk a major drop in enrollment rates.
From supporting the Supreme Court’s right-wing faction responsible for overturning Roe, to spreading misinformation around medication abortion, anti-abortion groups are fighting to eliminate abortion access on multiple fronts.
Their anti-reproductive justice efforts also include lobbying against the Equal Rights Amendment. Lobbying disclosures reveal that far-right, anti-abortion groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America (SBA, formerly Susan B. Anthony List), National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), Concerned Women for America (CWA) and Students For Life America (SFLA) have spent unknown sums lobbying against the ERA in 2021 and 2022.
Since the news broke about Pat Schroeder’s death on March 14, there have been thousands of tributes, obituaries, tweets and social media postings in her honor. They described her as a maverick, pioneer, feminist champion, trailblazer, fearlessly independent politician, and an icon and role model for many elected officials, men and women. We agree—but for the feminist movement, Pat Schroeder was much more. On March 22, 2023, the House of Representatives will honor Schroeder with a moment of silence. In honor of this one minute—60 seconds—of silence, we’ve compiled 60 stories from people who knew and admired Pat Schroeder.
“Pat was best known for being a fierce advocate for women. And many young women asked her for advice. She told them to make sure women were in rooms where decisions were being made. And if they were not, to kick the door down and hold the door open for those behind them.”
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, abortion pills have become a vital option for millions of people, especially for those living in states with abortion bans. Now, the same dark money groups that helped overturn Roe—and then argued that the edict “empowered women”—are taking aim at abortion pill access. A federal judge installed by Donald Trump could declare a nationwide ban on the abortion pill mifepristone as soon as this week.
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.
This month: Biden announces new immigration restrictions; Trump glosses over his role in the fall of Roe; Greta Thunberg is detained; Idaho Republican Jack Nelsen wants everyone to know he knows a lot about women; protests erupt nationwide after the disturbing video of police assaulting Tyre Nichols is released; and more.
The 19th, a fellow nonprofit newsroom focused on gender news, will mark January’s consequential milestone with high-level conversations on the legal, historical and cultural impact of Roe, and what the future holds without it. The program will feature thought leaders in the reproductive rights and justice space—including our very own Ellie Smeal, Ms. publisher and president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. On what would have been the celebration of 50 years of legal abortion throughout the U.S., we’re instead mourning the loss of our (apparently not-so) fundamental right to bodily autonomy.
But don’t let triumphant Republicans or smug Supreme Court justices fool you—the fight is far from over.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ruled that there is no U.S. constitutional right to abortion, will have ripple effects around the world. It will embolden anti-abortion movements abroad, contribute to global stigmatization of abortion, cause confusion for policy implementation and open the door for new restrictions—all of which will negatively impact the health, economic resources and well-being of women throughout the world.
Over the next year, at least 7,000 U.S. teenagers will likely be forced into parenthood because they were not able to obtain a desired legal abortion