More Than A Magazine, A Movement
On the floors of state legislatures over the past year, doctors detailed the risks their pregnant patients have faced when forced to wait to terminate until their health deteriorated. Women shared their trauma. Some Republican lawmakers even promised to support clarifications.
But so far, few efforts to add exceptions to the laws have succeeded.
In the many tributes written since Rosalynn Carter’s death on Nov. 19, one word often is used to describe her: trailblazer. Indeed, Rosalynn Carter was like no other first lady. She testified before Congress on mental health issues; made policy proposals on caregiving and established the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers in 1987; worked to advance women’s rights; and helped in the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Carter’s own words are the most powerful about her belief and commitment to equality. “Although there has been progress, women still struggle to take their full, rightful places in politics, the media, business and athletics. … I would like for people to think that I took advantage of the opportunities I had and did the best I could.”
Construction is complete on the Enbridge corporation’s Line 3 pipeline, which was dug under the Mississippi River to carry expensive, dirty tar sand oil from Alberta, Canada, to be refined in Wisconsin. In Aitkin County, Minn., the trial of Mylene Vialard (aka Ocean) reveals a pipeline of injustice—the structural violence of white settler-colonial capitalist patriarchy. Vialard’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 20.
In the face of a referendum that could add a right to reproductive freedom to the Ohio constitution, state Republicans have organized a campaign to confuse voters and undermine the democratic process.
As Ohioans United started collecting signatures to make sure the Reproductive Freedom Amendment would be on the ballot in November, state Republicans started plotting. They first tried to make it more difficult to pass referenda. Thankfully, Ohio voters showed up during an August special election to defeat the amendment—by a 14-point margin. Unfazed by the loss, state Republicans embarked on a crusade to push voters away from the Reproductive Freedom Amendment.
Protect Women Ohio would like you to think it’s a “grassroots” coalition of anti-abortion momentum in Ohio. In reality, it’s fueled by millions of dollars tied to Leonard Leo—the man responsible for packing the U.S. Supreme Court with the very justices responsible for overturning Roe.
On Sunday, while attending a funeral service for 17-year-old Armita Geravand, renowned Iranian women’s rights attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh was arrested and beaten. A local news agency in Tehran said Sotoudeh’s grounds for arrest were “not wearing a headscarf” and “disturbing the society’s mental security.”
Other Iranian human rights activists, mourners and protesters were arrested alongside Sotoudeh—all of whom had assembled to honor Geravand, who was recently arrested and assaulted by the country’s morality police for not wearing a headscarf. Geravand eventually fell into a coma and died on Saturday, the day before the arrests.
In honor of International Day of the Girl, the White House Gender Policy Council celebrated 15 young women leaders leading change in the U.S.
This November, Ohioans will decide whether to add to the state’s constitution the right for individuals to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions, including abortion. Early voting in the election has already begun.
A coalition of reproductive, women’s and civil rights organizations, Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights, is urging voters to vote YES on Issue 1 to protect reproductive freedom.
Ohioans, here’s all you need to know about how to vote in this election.
Narges Mohammadi has been chosen for the Nobel Peace Prize—a victory for her freedom and the broader movement for women’s and human rights in Iran.
Mohammadi has been at the forefront of this struggle for more than 30 years. Upon receiving the news, Narges said to her father: “Yesterday was one of the best and most glorious days in prison for all of us. The women’s ward was filled with happiness, singing, and the chant ‘Woman, Life, Freedom.’ We all held hands and formed a big circle, and as we sang, ‘Hand in hand, we become a sea, a storm, a roar,’ we felt united.”
Our work is not done to gain her freedom.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is the group that overturned Roe v. Wade. And they’re clear on what they’re coming for next: Trans rights. Gay rights. The separation of church and state. Secularism. Anti-discrimination laws. And contraception.
