More Than A Magazine, A Movement
As policymakers begin to think about the operationalization of expanded IVF access and how to help families who want to have children, they must not overlook the foundation it rests on: the right to make personal medical decisions, free from political interference.
That includes protecting access to abortion, in every state.
The vast majority of Americans support abortion and reproductive freedom, yet state lawmakers continue to introduce and pass laws stripping citizens of these rights. Providers face confusing, punitive rules that might lead them to delay or deny care. Planned Parenthood and other providers face budget cuts that threaten to restrict healthcare access for millions of Americans.
These are not isolated outcomes. Rather, they reveal a coordinated national strategy. Here are five myths we believe need to be dispelled to counter the challenges that lie ahead.
Mom Abby Blum tells why she was forced her to end her much-wanted pregnancy. She warns that an unexpected tragic event can happen to any woman—even if they think they’ll never need an abortion.
“It felt like an impossible choice, but I decided to go ahead and have the abortion to end my pregnancy so I could start the treatment I needed to save my life. … For me, the abortion was a medical necessity. And, in hindsight, I realize that in the post-Roe v. Wade era, I was lucky to be in a state where I had access to an abortion and to all the healthcare that I needed. ….
“If I had lived in a state like Texas, which bans abortion in nearly all cases, my story would have had a very different ending. I didn’t choose to get cancer and to have to make the decision to end my pregnancy, but that’s what can sometimes happen in life.”
A new survey reveals that a majority of likely voters oppose policies that grant legal rights to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. They also oppose the criminalization of pregnancy loss, denial of emergency medical care and broader threats to reproductive freedom.
Yet here we are, with bills to codify those rights brewing in a quarter of U.S. states this year.
Even when they do not succeed, we cannot simply ignore them or hope their proponents call it quits. Rather, this is a prime opportunity to double down on educating people and harnessing public opinion.
MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
Since our last report:
—A judge struck down federal regulations that required U.S. employers to give workers paid time off for abortions.
—Catholic cardinals elected the first American pope, Chicago-born Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. He has strongly opposed abortion and expressed hesitancy over IVF.
—Some good news out of North Carolina: After a six-month legal battle, Republican Jefferson Griffin has conceded the North Carolina Supreme Court race to Democrat Allison Riggs.
—Earlier this month, the FDA approved the first at-home replacement for Pap smears.
… and more.
Eighty-three percent of queer women reported birthing complications. From systemic bias to outdated medical policies, lesbians face a maternal health system that was never designed with them in mind.
Could a system that was more responsive to parents’ needs improve their relationships, their children’s lives, even their sense of self? I began to report on that question and my book, Four Mothers: An Intimate Journey Through the First Year of Parenthood in Four Countries, is the result. It follows four women—from the U.S., Japan, Kenya and Finland, who all had babies around New Year 2022—through their first year of motherhood, to draw an intimate portrait of their lives and compare the support they received.
Read an excerpt from the book about one new mother’s experience in Kenya, where laws promise breastfeeding protections but workplaces often ignore them.
The Trump administration wants to juice the birthrate. This isn’t surprising: Vice President JD Vance is an ardent pronatalist. So is shadow president Elon Musk, who seems to be working on populating Mars with his own progeny.
Abortion opponents, who make up a solid chunk of Trump’s base, want to see women have more babies whether we like it or not. Republicans and the Christian conservatives who elect them have generally been on the “be fruitful and multiply” side of things.
What’s different this time around, though, is that the Trump team is looking at carrots, not just sticks, in their baby-boom strategy. While the old way was to restrict abortion and make contraception harder to get, some of the proposals now include things like cash for kids, mommy medals, reserving scholarship program spots for young people who are married with children and (somewhat bizarrely) menstrual cycle education so women can figure out when they’re fertile and a national medal for motherhood for women with six or more children.
The administration is also considering policies that would effectively punish people for being single.
In a terrifying escalation of the post-Roe crackdown, Republican lawmakers in multiple states are pushing laws that would allow women to be charged with murder—and even face the death penalty—for having an abortion.
The 2022 passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) did not happen in a vacuum. It was a culmination of a decade of direct advocacy in Congress paired with great momentum at the state level, especially in the South. Now as we look ahead to defending and enforcing the law, the South’s crucial role cannot be understated.
Progress in the South, whether legislative or in the courts, is a long road—one that takes an army of on-the-ground advocates, elbow grease and patience. But we know that the need for the PWFA and its robust enforcement is vital for women and their families in the South because, despite progress, many Southern states still do not have state-level protections and must rely only on federal protections. And too many corporations that put profits above people have made their home in the South in order to escape government regulations in a race to the bottom—a troublesome environment for workers seeking to vindicate their rights.
(This essay is a part of Ms. and A Better Balance’s Women & Democracy installment, all about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act—a groundbreaking civil rights law ensuring pregnant and postpartum workers have the right to reasonable workplace accommodations. Bipartisan, pro-family and boldly feminist, the PWFA is both a lesson in democracy and a battleground for its defense against antidemocratic attacks.)