More Than A Magazine, A Movement
After a resounding win for abortion rights in Ohio, one would hope that the issue had at last been put to rest in the state. But now, the city of Lebanon, Ohio, is debating whether or not to retain its status as a sanctuary city for the unborn.
It’s all in service of anti-abortion activist Mark Lee Dickson’s vision: “outlawing abortion, one city at a time.”
As of this month, 46 cities have adopted ranked-choice voting (RCV), which allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference.
On Election Day earlier this month, 11 of these RCV cities across six states held elections, and RCV has proven once again to yield positive outcomes for women.
Even though I work to advance reproductive rights for a living, it can still be incredibly difficult to have meaningful conversations with them about abortion. I know it’s going to come up, though, and I need to be prepared.
Open, civil dialogue is the best way to make your voice heard and hopefully change hearts, minds and cultures. We must arm ourselves with facts, and not automatically write people off. Here’s what else I’m keeping in mind as I go into holiday gatherings with my family.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom’s announcement to run for Alaska’s one seat in the House of Representatives; Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) has launched a campaign to run for governor, hoping to succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin; the Voter Choice Act would help local and state elections implement ranked-choice voting; and more.
When almost 80 percent of rapes are committed by a perpetrator the victim knows, panicking about strangers lurking in loos is a dangerous diversion. Banning trans women from women’s spaces due to misguided safety concerns is not only nonsensical, it is cruel. I am incensed that the spaces I love are being weaponized to advance bigotry and exclusion.
Protecting women means protecting all of us and our right to freely express who we are.
Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation.
This week: Four steps we must take to see more women running in future elections; St. Paul, Minn., which uses ranked-choice voting for local elections, is projected to elect its first women-majority city council; how Shirley Chisholm, the first Black congresswoman in the U.S., shifted political rival Alabama Governor George Wallace’s stance on racial segregation; and more.
When analyzing Tuesday’s election results, one point becomes glaringly apparent: Abortion. Wins.
Abortion won (big) in Ohio. Abortion won in Virginia, where Democratic lawmakers pledged to voters to keep Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s anti-abortion and anti-education policies at bay—and voters delivered. Abortion helped keep Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear (D) in office, who has made his pro-abortion-rights position clear.
Ms. breaks down the results from the elections we were watching—plus a few other notable ones.
If our election officials are not safe, neither are our elections. As election officials are leaving at an alarming rate, we must step up to protect the security of our democracy.
As Joan Baez, one of my favorite songwriters/performers/activists from my political ‘coming of age’ era, once said, “Action is the antidote to despair.”
Tuesday, Nov. 7, is Election Day in the United States, and voting is one action we can all take as U.S. citizens—and a privilege for every person living in a democratic country—to fend off the despair so easily experienced given the wars, the violence, and the rollback on rights in so many places today.
Even as Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has worked to restrict the rights of trans youth, Virginia remains the sole state in the South with more protections for LGBTQIA+ people than discriminatory policies—a status that could change after this week’s elections.
