More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Late Thursday, a three-judge panel of the Tennessee Chancery Court unanimously agreed that the unclear exception to Tennessee’s abortion ban is preventing women in the state from getting medically necessary abortion care. This decision means that Tennessee physicians can treat their patients who are experiencing certain dire pregnancy complications and fetal diagnoses without fear of disciplinary action.
Transition documents, the Republican Party platform and policy statements demonstrate that a new Trump administration intends to take actions that would ban or severely restrict abortion access in every state.
Since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision gave states the authority to decide whether women can access legal abortions, state supreme courts are emerging as vital arenas in the battle over bodily autonomy. This November, 82 supreme court seats are up for an election or retention vote, across 33 states. This number includes judges who voted to uphold abortion bans in Florida and Arizona.
(This article originally appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)
The deadliest school shooting in Georgia’s history last month shows a shocking reality: People in Republican-led states face a significantly higher risk of gun violence than those in blue states.
Vice President Harris’ gun violence prevention agenda, centered around red flag laws, could potentially save more lives in red states where such measures are often lacking.
In their groundbreaking new book, Framed: Women in the Family Court Underworld, Dr. Christine M. Cocchiola and Amy Polacko expose the gender biased injustice in family courts. Through the stories of 22 real women from the U.S., U.K., Canada and Australia the authors shine a light on how women are accused, arrested, abused and can even lose custody of their children—to their abusers.
“Most people have no idea what really happens when you get divorced—until they find themselves entering the world of family court. It is an abuser’s playground,” said Polacko.
Tuesday’s vice presidential debate brought exchanges over the question of asylum and border security, with Sen. JD Vance lying—without real-time fact-checking—about the ease of obtaining asylum. He offered a baseless assertion that people can be “granted legal status at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand.”
Winning asylum is extremely difficult, and the horrific conditions forcing women to seek protection from gender-based violence in Central America and Mexico show no signs of abating.
Kyleigh Thurman and Kelsie Norris-De La Cruz are the latest Texan women to file complaints or lawsuits after suffering harm to their reproductive health after the state enacted a near-total abortion ban.
“These women are examples of how scared, terrified and confused providers are even with the Texas law redefining that it’s legal that an ectopic pregnancy is a medical exception,” said Austin Dennard, a Dallas OB-GYN. Abortion bans in states like Texas are making doctors hesitate to provide life-saving care and “stealing the joy out of pregnancy,” she said.
The Supreme Court of Georgia will reinstate the state’s six-week abortion ban starting 5 p.m. Monday, just a week after a trial court struck down the law.
Some abortion providers in the state had resumed offering abortions past six weeks of pregnancy since the state’s lower court struck down the ban. The lower court ruling had temporarily allowed legal abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. Monday’s decision means the ban will remain in effect while the case challenging Georgia’s law makes its way through the state court system.
More than 8,000 Catholic employers across the country will not be required to provide accommodations for workers needing abortion or fertility care following a ruling in North Dakota. An estimated 162,000 workers are on these health plans.
Abortion access, IVF treatment and gender-affirming care have all become major talking points in an election that may be defined by them. Vice President Kamala Harris, who supports all three, has been critical of Trump’s stance on abortion and IVF in particular.
Rachel Pickrel-Hawkins was jailed for objecting to court ordered “reunification therapy” that sought to mend the relationship between her children and their father, a man charged with sexually assaulting three of their daughters and physically abusing their son.
As a divorce coach and coercive control expert, who are both domestic abuse survivors, we see these mind boggling, trauma-inducing decisions by family courts every day. This Colorado mom could be any mom. That’s why it’s time that America deals with our family court crisis head on.