Medical Sexism

Medical sexism—the systemic bias, discrimination, and mistreatment of women in healthcare settings—has a long history, and remains pervasive. Medical researchers historically excluded women from experiments. As a result, the male body has been treated as the biological default. This healthcare gender prejudice has left gaping knowledge gaps around how illness and pain impact women.

The Blueprint Reclaimed: Why America Needs More Black Midwives

PUBLISHED 9/29/2025 by

Black women are three to four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than white women. And yet, the very people we know we can rely on to protect us the most—Black midwives—have been nearly erased from the national birth narrative.

We must train more Black midwives and re-educate the public about midwifery practice. We also need funding, mentorship pipelines and community investment. We need our stories told, our legacy restored and our futures protected.

To become a Black midwife in America today is to resist and reclaim what was stolen. It is to plant seeds in soil that tried to bury us and watch them bloom anyway.

Every Black mother deserves someone who sees her. And every Black baby deserves to be welcomed into the world by someone who believes in their right to thrive.

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)

The War on Drugs Was a War on Black Mothers

PUBLISHED 9/29/2025 by

In the late 20th century, the so-called “crack baby epidemic” became a media obsession. Politicians, prosecutors and even physicians bought into a false narrative: that poor Black women who used cocaine during pregnancy were dooming their children to lives of permanent brain damage, misery and crime. The stories were sensational—and wrong. What these accounts ignored were the actual conditions of women’s lives: poverty, lack of healthcare, untreated trauma and mental illness. Instead of compassion, women like Regina McKnight—raped, grieving, depressed and self-medicating—were met with prosecution, prison sentences and public shaming.

The truth is, there was no epidemic of “biologically inferior” babies. Rigorous scientific research—largely disregarded by mainstream media—showed that cocaine exposure did not cause the catastrophic outcomes predicted by pundits. Yet the racialized panic over “crack babies” justified criminalizing pregnancy, targeting Black mothers, and fueling the broader war on drugs. These myths, and the policies they spawned, continue to shape how our legal and healthcare systems treat women—especially women of color—today.

[An excerpt from Michele Goodwin’s book Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood, published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.]

***

The road to recovery—and the right to recovery—is essential to a free and fair democracy. This essay is part of a new multimedia collection exploring the intersections of addiction, recovery and gender justice. The Right to Recovery Is Essential to Democracy is a collaboration between Ms. and the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health at Georgetown Law, in honor of National Recovery Month.

Facing Our Violent Histories: Teaching Empathy in a Divided World

PUBLISHED 9/18/2025 by

One of my international conflict management students at Kennesaw State University recently approached me with a question: How can they be sure that they are not—like the “white theory” dudes they study—imposing their own worldview on the Global South communities they are researching?

As a woman of color from the Global South whose scholarship and practice centers around decolonial feminist peace, my response to my students and others who ask me: Your whiteness does not affect the good work you do; however, not understanding and fully accepting this whiteness as it informs your work probably does.

Decolonial feminism calls for critically reflecting on our own role in generating knowledge (aka conducting research) within the academy, as well as the changes that our scholarship hopes to effect in the real world. When applied to our everyday practice, such reflexivity can minimize the harm we sometimes inadvertently inflict on vulnerable communities and violence-affected people.

How Texas Abortion Restrictions Are Driving Doctors Away: ‘By Following the Law, I Was Doing the Wrong Thing Medically’

PUBLISHED 9/2/2025 by

Texas’ abortion bans have driven hundreds of physicians to leave the state, retire early, or avoid practicing and training there altogether. Dr. Lou Rubino is one of many doctors forced out, unable to provide not only abortion care but also life-saving emergency treatment.

“I remember very clearly the moment I knew I was done. I could no longer practice as a women’s healthcare doctor in Texas.

“I had a patient, probably 18 or 19 years old. I was doing an ultrasound, and she told me she needed an abortion for her safety. She said, ‘I’m too young. I don’t feel safe with my partner. I’m scared. I need an abortion.’

“When a patient tells me they feel unsafe with a partner, I take that very seriously. Pregnant people are at high risk of harm from abusive partners. It’s a dangerous time. She knew what she needed, and I knew it was wrong for me to say no. … I asked myself: Am I the kind of doctor who does the wrong thing? I’m not. And Texas couldn’t force me to be.

“Not long after, my husband and I moved to Virginia, where I now practice.”

Birth Control Fear-Mongering Prevents Women From Achieving Informed Bodily Autonomy

PUBLISHED 8/28/2025 by

The Republican attorneys general of Missouri, Kansas and Idaho—recently joined by Florida and Texas—are suing the federal government to restrict access to mifepristone, which is used in combination with misoprostol to terminate an early pregnancy, arguing that the abortion medication has lowered “birth rates for teenaged mothers” and is contributing to a population loss in their states, leading to a loss of political representation and federal funds.

You read that right: They want more teen pregnancies. It would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. 

So where does that leave us? We must continue to fight all of these insidious tentacles as we work to ensure that women and gender non-conforming people of all races, ages, backgrounds and abilities can continue to tear down the systemic barriers that try to keep us from thriving and taking our rightful place in every arena.

Sacrificing Women for the Church of Men: Medical Conscience Rights and Christian Hypocrisy

PUBLISHED 8/9/2025 by

The Woman grew up in a small Christian town in northeastern Tennessee. Community values—kindness, compassion, love—are deeply cherished. She’s never moved; why would she? She enjoys the simplicity of her little community.

But the tide turns with a growing political movement seemingly predicated on bigotry and punitive, hypocritical morality. The news cycle churns frenetically, each day bearing more distressing confusion.

Her state representatives are unresponsive to your concerns, and she has a serious one: She’s pregnant and unmarried in post-Roe America, and cannot get care in her state. Legally, a doctor can decline to provide care for you.

She’s not trying to cause problems. But she’s terrified and she wants answers. How did we get here as a nation? And can we ever go back?

A grave truth transcends: Christian fundamentalism has insidiously inserted itself into American policy, perverting its own values to legalize discrimination.

Bigotry doesn’t always present as a Unite the Right rally or violence in our nation’s capital. Sometimes, it comes with a demure smile and a sweet, “It’s just my personal belief.” It’s still bigotry.

I’m a Texas-Born OB-GYN—But Abortion Bans Are Forcing Me Out

PUBLISHED 7/26/2025 by

Vi Burgess is a resident physician in Colorado, in training to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. The Texas resident went to medical school in the Lone Star State, but says she’d be terrified to return home to practice medicine.

“I’d be terrified to go back to Texas to practice as an OB-GYN after I finish my residency. I’d be absolutely terrified. It’s not so much that I’d be terrified of getting thrown in jail, but terrified that I won’t be able to provide care to a woman—and that would lead to serious harm or death.

“I think that’s every doctor’s biggest fear—not being able to help and ultimately ending up hurting someone. But that’s the situation that OB-GYNs and other doctors are now in, in Texas.”

‘Giving Women a Chance to Choose When the World Didn’t’: Massachusetts Doctors Provide Telehealth Abortion in States with Bans

PUBLISHED 7/25/2025 by

As abortion bans have swept the country, Massachusetts doctors are stepping up by providing thousands with lifesaving telehealth abortion care, regardless of their ability to pay. 

On July 12, reproductive health advocates and local office holders filled the common room of a Northampton, Mass., co-housing community to celebrate and support the vital work of The Massachusetts Medication Abortion Access Project (The MAP). Based in Cambridge, the MAP is one of a handful of medical practices in the U.S. providing telehealth abortion care to patients in states with abortion bans or severe restrictions. Each month, MAP provides abortion pills to 2500 patients—nearly a third from Texas—using an asynchronous telemedicine platform built to provide prompt, private and convenient abortion care that is affordable to all.

“I want to thank The MAP from the depths of my soul,” one patient said. “You have saved me.”

Menopause Finally Gets a Seat at the Table

PUBLISHED 7/18/2025 by

On Thursday, July 17, the FDA held a two-hour briefing featuring political leadership and a panel of doctors to focus on menopausal hormone treatments. Among the issues addressed was a decades-old labeling requirement for estrogen products—a.k.a. the “black box warning.”

FDA commissioner Martin Makary appears willing to consider scrapping it on packaging for localized vaginal estrogen treatment. The FDA should do so: The label is inaccurate and utterly alarming.

In the case of menopause, a rare combination of bipartisan commitment and robust public attention reflect not just heightened interest among constituents, but also proof of the democratic process actually working.

Women’s Health Needs Are Ever-Changing. It’s Time for Flexible Benefits That Meet Us Where We Are.

PUBLISHED 7/15/2025 by

With traditional group insurance, employees typically have just a few plans to choose from, none of which are a guaranteed fit. As a result, many women are forced onto a plan that fails to meet their medical needs, leaving them with high costs but still missing the support that matters most.

By switching group insurance to an Individual coverage health reimbursement arrangement (ICHRA), companies can provide the flexible and affordable benefits that meet women where they are. 

One-size-fits-all group insurance, selected by employers, no longer makes sense for female employees with unique and ever-evolving health needs. As employers across sectors embrace this new, flexible approach, more women stand to benefit from customizable coverage.