More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Antiabortion laws in America vary significantly by state, with some states imposing severe restrictions that effectively ban most abortions, often as early as six weeks into pregnancy. These laws have sparked intense legal and social debates, with reproductive rights advocates emphasizing the importance of women’s autonomy and access to safe medical procedures. The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade, has further fueled activists’ efforts to protect reproductive freedom and ensure equitable healthcare access across the country.
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 week: State courts come for abortion care services and close crucial clinics; Biden signs an executive order aimed at protecting abortion rights; six states pass anti-LGBTQ bills one day after Pride Month; and more.
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in in this biweekly round-up.
This week: Feminists worldwide react to the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade; witnesses testify before House’s Jan. 6 committee; 51 migrants die in an abandoned truck in San Antonio; Senate fails to pass PUMP Act; Biden signs first gun safety law in years; and more.
When the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost moved quickly to enforce the state’s six-week abortion ban. Shortly after, a 10-year-old rape victim who was six weeks and three days pregnant was denied an abortion in Ohio, forcing the girl to travel out of state for necessary medical care to end the pregnancy.
Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights released an open letter signed by over 1,000 doctors in the state protesting the dangerous ban.
The measure, which would require a second round of legislative approval, is the first step to enable a ballot question on a constitutional amendment that would declare that the Pennsylvania Constitution does not protect the right to abortion nor any right to public funding for abortion.
“Anti-abortion legislators in the Pennsylvania Senate … are using the constitutional amendment process to bypass the governor and they are legislating in the middle of the night to avoid your scrutiny as they erode your rights,” said PPPA executive director Signe Espinoza. “It’s shameful, undemocratic and wrong.”
As countless signs across the marches and rallies call for bans off our bodies and to keep abortion legal, a symbol that is new to many in this country, but beloved to the three of us, has unmistakably emerged all over the streets: a sea of green bandanas. The Green Wave, which had begun in Argentina — and then spread across all of Latin America — is now here, as a rallying cry to protect abortion.
On Friday, President Joseph Biden issued an executive order to protect reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs decision.
Biden’s executive order first directs HHS to take actions to protect and expand access to abortion medications regulated by the FDA. It also aims to ensure the reproductive health of people accessing care in federally-funded facilities. The order directs HHS to ensure enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s guarantee of free birth control and contraceptive counseling for individuals and covered dependents, including emergency contraception and long-acting reversible contraception like IUDs.
Violence against abortion providers rose significantly in 2021, following the trend of the past decade. Harassment of providers and patients also rose. After Roe, the focus must be on providing care and protecting providers.
Abortion laws are changing daily, as legislatures across the U.S. pass new protections or strip away existing ones. We are keeping track of the changing landscape, and will continue to update this piece as state policies continue to morph and change.
Almost 2 percent of babies born in the United States are the result of fertility treatments, together referred to as assisted reproductive technologies (ART). The recent overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court threatens the ability to access the treatments people need to build their families, such as ART.
In the days since the Supreme Court released its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, there has been intense debate about whether this is the last right that will be eliminated by the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority.. We should mourn this right—and see with clear eyes what its destruction means.