As Support for Abortion Grows, the Court Doubles Down on Restricting Care

In its Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic ruling last week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a devastating blow to reproductive health clinics across the nation. A substantial slate of decisions issued by the Court Friday dealt several more severe blows to the rule of law and our constitutional rights—though a silver lining was the Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act’s preventive-care mandate.

Trump Is Gutting Healthcare—But Women’s Health Was Already Disastrously Underfunded

For the past few decades, women’s healthcare has been under increasing attack across the country. Even states like New York, often perceived as a beacon of women’s healthcare, are backsliding, increasingly unable to address women’s health challenges adequately. Indeed, the lack of funding and legislative support isn’t limited to rural areas or red states; it is everywhere.

As the Trump administration threatens to accelerate this decline even further, we must come to terms with how little our cities, states and federal government have valued and prioritized women’s health for more than 30 years and begin fighting back against this renewed assault.

Our Abortion Stories: ‘I Have the Privilege to Live in a State Where I Am Safe’

“If she could have put off the baby for two more years, she could have saved up a nest egg and created her family the way she wanted. Instead, she was trapped with a baby too soon.”

Abortions are sought by a wide range of people for many different reasons. There is no single story. Telling stories of then and now shows how critical abortion has been and continues to be for women and girls. (Share your abortion story by emailing myabortionstory@msmagazine.com.)

“Seven more days. To find out what is happening inside my body. What is poisoning my body. Starving my body. Starving my life of joy and laughter.”

Defunding and Refunding the Women’s Health Initiative: Why States Must Focus on Menopausal Women’s Health

The ongoing decimation of the federal funding landscape brings some good(ish) news for women: the role of state legislatures in stepping up to help improve and advance the health of menopausal women.

Thus far, 13 states—a record one in four—have introduced more than 20 bills focused on menopause care, proposing changes that could permanently reshape insurance coverage and educational and health care resources. Public officials in Michigan, Illinois and West Virginia announced support for menopause reforms. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently hosted a roundtable for leaders and a statewide listening tour. The latest slate of bills—introduced in red and blue states alike—would bolster workplace supports and dedicate resources to public education. The bills are being proposed at such a fast clip that menopause was named on a “Ones To Watch: Legislation Landscape for 2025” list.

Critical Programs for Women and Families Face Deep Cuts in House Budget Bill

A sweeping budget bill moving quickly through the House threatens to make draconian cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—two of the nation’s most vital programs for women and children.

The bill is being framed as “all or nothing” legislation by Republican leadership—a vehicle designed to pass the entire Trump agenda without needing Democratic votes. And the changes are being presented as necessary for fiscal responsibility—but here is what they won’t say out loud.

Medicaid Cuts Will Raise Costs for Millions of Women

Over 70 million people, including 13 million women of reproductive age, are enrolled in Medicaid—America’s biggest single health insurance program. Now, congressional Republicans are ready to take an axe to it. Proposed Republican cuts to Medicaid would strip millions of women of affordable access to birth control, prenatal care, STI treatment and other essential healthcare services.

New York Times’ Shameful Reporting on Planned Parenthood Bolsters Right-Wing Attacks on Reproductive Healthcare Access

The New York Times recently published a 3,000-word investigative report claiming to have found “scores of allegations” against Planned Parenthood for misconduct, medical malpractice, mismanagement and labor violations. Released within a month of Trump’s inauguration, the article appears timed to provide ammunition for the ongoing right-wing attack on reproductive rights. 

The NYT could have invested its significant resources into investigating how Planned Parenthood plays a unique and irreplaceable role in the U.S. healthcare system as the nation’s leading provider of sexual and reproductive healthcare and largest sex educator. By choosing to publish what reads as a hit job on Planned Parenthood at this political moment, while failing to devote any resources to investigating the opaque and unregulated antiabortion industry vying to defund and replace Planned Parenthood, the NYT has done a grave disservice to readers, especially women and girls who need reproductive healthcare.

Mifepristone as Weekly Contraceptive Performs ‘Beyond Expectations’ in Clinical Trials

For decades, research has indicated that mifepristone may be a safe and effective contraceptive, but no one has conducted a large clinical trial to produce the evidence required to form the basis for government approval of the drug for this use—until now.

Pioneering reproductive health advocate Dr. Rebecca Gomperts recently announced preliminary results of a large clinical trial in Moldova showing that a 50 mg dose of mifepristone is very effective as a weekly contraceptive pill.

Finding a Snowball in a Blizzard: The State of Breast Cancer Screening

Approximately 50 percent of women (or those assigned female at birth) have dense breasts, and having dense breasts automatically puts them at a higher risk of cancer. Most significantly (and independent of the higher cancer risk), both dense breast tissue and cancer show up as white in a mammogram, which means that mammograms are unable to properly view 40 to 50 percent of breast tissue.

So what are we left with? A reality in which millions of women are left uncovered and unprotected against early detection for breast cancer.

(This article originally appears in the Summer 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

How Does Your State Rank on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care?

A new state-by-state women’s health scorecard released this week by the Commonwealth Fund reveals mounting disparities in women’s health and reproductive care across the U.S.

Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island top the rankings for the scorecard, which is based on 32 measures of healthcare access, quality and health outcomes. The lowest performers were Mississippi, Texas, Nevada and Oklahoma.

The findings raise concerns over the state of women’s healthcare and the ripple effects of the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which has significantly altered access to critical reproductive health care services.