Tag: Amy Coney Barrett

The Truth About the Adoption Option

During oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that would end 50 years of protections for abortion rights in the U.S., Justice Amy Coney Barrett asked lawyers for a Mississippi clinic, “Why don’t safe-haven laws take care of that problem?” Ignored by the justices was extensive research showing that forced birth has consequences—devastating ones—for the woman, for the infant and for the communities where they live.

(This article originally appears in the Spring 2023 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the issue delivered straight to your mailbox!)

What Will the Supreme Court Decide Next?: Ms. Magazine Spring Issue Explores

In the Spring 2023 issue of Ms., contributing editor Carrie Baker examines how the legal reasoning used in Dobbs could erode women’s rights beyond abortion.

In the face of these threats, experts point to the Equal Rights Amendment as a potential avenue to fight back. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get the Spring issue delivered straight to your mailbox!

U.S. Rape Culture Is Sidelining and Silencing Future Female Leaders

The recent CDC report on the health of U.S. high school students was sharply contextualized by chief medical officer Dr. Deborah Houry’s headline-grabbing remark at the report’s release: “America’s teen girls are engulfed in a growing wave of sadness, violence and trauma.”

Rape culture is defined in part by its tolerance of subjection of women to a continuum of threats. Rape culture is also characterized by sexism, which involves normalized denigration and dismissal of women. Failure to address these conditions for young girls creates more hurdles on their paths to success and the possibility of public leadership—where the ranks of women leaders continue to be proportionally much smaller than they are for men.

Dark Money Anti-Abortion Groups Peddle the Absurd Idea That a Post-Roe World Empowers Women

Right-wing dark money groups are peddling the notion that abortion access “harms” women and, even more outlandish, that the Dobbs decision overturning Roe “empowers” them. This position essentializes women by suggesting their value is centered around motherhood. It also uses pseudo-feminist claims to detract from the very real dangers a post-Roe landscape presents for people and the myriad ways abortion access has helped advance gender equality in the U.S. in the last five decades. 

Safe Haven Laws Were Never Supposed to Be an Alternative to Abortion

The case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has thrust safe haven laws back into the public spotlight. Safe haven laws ignore the very real risks and burdens associated with pregnancy and childbirth, particularly for vulnerable communities, and were never intended to be a literal alternative to abortion.

These laws ignore the very real risks and burdens associated with pregnancy and childbirth, particularly for vulnerable communities. They also represent an abandonment of “troubled young women” by “deciding that their deep-rooted problems can be saved by an after-the-fact, quick-fix solution.”

A Generation Left Unheard: How Teen Girls Have Lost Their Rights

In the time following the Supreme Court’s official overturn of Roe v. Wade, I have reflected on what it means to be a teenage girl in a nation that fails to respect women’s rights.

Perhaps I am naive to think that my voice might inspire progress—that, at some point in the future, our nation will respect my right to choose. For now, I only hope that everyone privileged to vote will consider my perspective. I do not want empty words of comfort. I want choice. 

Abortion How-To: The Ms. Q&A on Menstrual Extraction With Carol Downer

Before Roe v. Wade, one of the ways women bypassed the medical system to get necessary abortions was a technique feminists called “menstrual extraction,” using a syringe, flexible plastic tubing and a mason jar to extract the contents of the uterus.

Ms. spoke with activist Carol Downer about her experiences teaching people to perform menstrual extractions and how the procedure could help post-Roe.

“How in the world can that Supreme Court sit up there and deny this thing to us? How can they get away with that? You can guarantee that Amy Coney Barrett has not seen her own cervix.”