As leaders from around the world gather in New York for the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly to discuss urgent problems, the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has a message for the United States: New abortion restrictions in Texas violate women’s fundamental rights.
Tag: Biden Administration
The U.S. Still Hasn’t “Forgiven Haiti for Being Black”—And Modern Immigrants Are Paying the Price
In an 1893 speech examining the U.S. relationship with Haiti, Frederick Douglass said: “A deeper reason for coolness between the countries is this: Haiti is [B]lack, and we have not yet forgiven Haiti for being [B]lack or forgiven the Almighty for making her [B]lack.”
U.S. Border Patrol agents rounding up asylum seekers with whips while thousands more languish under a bridge in the unrelenting Texas heat make it clear: 128 years after Frederick Douglass’s speech, his words still ring true.
From Greater Education Access to Higher Quality of Life, The Revolutionary Power of Birth Control
It’s important to raise awareness of birth control’s many benefits—from greater education access, to general well-being, to the management of chronic health conditions. But must also consider birth control is not available equitably to all.
“Women’s Rights Are Not Just ‘Western Values'”: A Warning Not to Learn the Wrong Lessons From Afghanistan
In the wake of the fall of the Afghan government to the Taliban, many in the international community and media have said that efforts in Afghanistan to secure women’s rights and human rights were doomed to fail because of the traditions and culture in my country. This is absolutely the wrong lesson to take away from our experience in Afghanistan. Human rights and women’s rights are not “Western values.”
The Biden Administration’s Expulsion of Haitians Is Unconscionable—and a Missed Opportunity
“No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. … No one puts their children on a boat unless the boat is safer than the land.”
Recent expulsions of thousands of Haitian migrants showcase how far the U.S. has to go on immigration reform.
The proliferation of Haitian migrants at the Mexican border did not begin under this administration. But for Biden, this represents not only a missed opportunity to distinguish himself on immigration, but also an egregious lack of humanity and regard for Black lives in the Caribbean.
U.S. Health and Human Services to Protect Texas Abortion Patients and Providers: “We Have Your Back,” Says Secretary Xavier Becerra
On Friday, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra announced new resources and actions to protect reproductive health care for Texans after the state banned abortion at six weeks and the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the ban to go into effect on September 1.
“Every American deserves access to health care no matter where they live—including access to safe and legal abortions,” said Becerra.
Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice to Coincide with U.N. General Assembly: “Life Itself Hangs in the Balance”
The Global Women’s Assembly for Climate Justice—a free, virtual, gender-inclusive public forum being held September 25–30, 2021—will assemble over 100 leaders from over 40 countries to encourage governments to increase climate action by examining the root causes of environmental and social injustice, adopting a climate justice framework and providing a diverse array of possible solutions to the climate crisis.
Keeping Score: Breonna Taylor Portrait Unveiled at Smithsonian; Texas’s Unprecedented Abortion Ban; Half the World’s Children at “Extremely High Risk” from Climate Change
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: Texas implements unprecedented pre-viability abortion ban; Biden’s Education Department forgives $5.8 billion in student loan debt for disabled borrowers; Supreme Court order maintain’s Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy; North Carolina bans child marriage under age 16; and more.
Travel Ban to North Korea: The “Abstinence-Only” of U.S. Foreign Policy
The Biden administration renewed a Trump-era ban on Americans traveling to North Korea, preventing humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations.
The ban freezes the work many are doing to improve the situation on the ground in North Korea, and, like abstinence-only sexual education, ignores real solutions that have been proven to work.
What Happens Now that Everyone Has Left Afghanistan? Increase Feminist Funding Now
Too often, aid has been delivered on behalf of women and girls. They have been boxes to be checked off and their rights used as tools of trade between men in power. This must end now.
Feminist funders have been supporting local Afghan feminist groups for decades with long-term flexible funds toward urgent community needs and long-term rebuilding. We need to vastly increase this feminist funding that goes directly to local grassroots groups to use how they wish. We know this feminist funding model works, even under repressive regimes, and even in Afghanistan.