How to Have Effective Conversations About Abortion at Family Gatherings

Even though I work to advance reproductive rights for a living, it can still be incredibly difficult to have meaningful conversations with them about abortion. I know it’s going to come up, though, and I need to be prepared.

Open, civil dialogue is the best way to make your voice heard and hopefully change hearts, minds and cultures. We must arm ourselves with facts, and not automatically write people off. Here’s what else I’m keeping in mind as I go into holiday gatherings with my family.

It’s 2023. It’s Time to Do Better for Travelers With Disabilities

Last year, I watched in horror as an officer for the Transportation Security Administration at JFK tossed aside my son—who has a rare disease and uses a wheelchair—as if he were a piece of discarded luggage. He started crying. As did I. Eventually, an attendant said he was sorry for the inconvenience and suggested we write a letter. “That’s the only way the system will change,” he said. So, here’s my letter. 

It’s 2023. It’s time to do better for travelers with disabilities, TSA.

To Change the World, This Year’s Feminist Wins and Losses Must Fuel Us Forward

If 2022 proved anything, it’s that we must continue to organize and channel the collective rage that was triggered by the Court’s reversal of Roe, to not only restore abortion rights across the nation but to push forward toward our goal of full equality. There is no way the movement can be stopped.

It’s important to celebrate our wins and take stock of our losses at a time like this—because they are what will fuel us as we move forward into the new year and meet the new challenges it will bring.

‘It Helped Ease My Burden’: Seven Moms on What a Year of Guaranteed Income Meant to Them

It’s time to celebrate another year of the Front and Center series—a Ms. and Springboard to Opportunities’ Magnolia Mother’s Trust (MMT) collaboration that provides a national platform for low-income Black women in Jackson, Miss., to share their experiences receiving a guaranteed income.

As guaranteed income continues to enter mainstream political conversations and media coverage, it’s important to center the voices of those most affected—like the MMT recipients highlighted here.

Stop Making Women’s Equality a Political Question Mark

Looking back on 2022, we moved through multiple Equal Pay Days and April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month… July’s Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention… August’s Women’s Equality Day… October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month… and, just last week, United Nations Human Rights Day. Maybe one day, we won’t need all these special monikers (and painful reminders of just how unequal women are) for these months of the year.

Correct the record, and publish the 28th Amendment once and for all.

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: Georgia Considers Ranked-Choice Voting, Not Runoffs; Biden Confirms Most Women Judges in History

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: Feminist icon Dorothy Pitman Hughes was a critical voice for issues of race, class and motherhood; Georgia could save voters and taxpayers time, energy and money with ranked-choice voting, rather than runoffs; South Korea’s new president is trying to end the Gender Equality Ministry; remembering feminist icon Dorothy Pitman Hughes; and more.