Medicare and Medicaid

America’s Healthcare Crisis Is Coming for All Women

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Less access to healthcare—either by cutting Medicaid benefits or discouraging doctors from practicing in restrictive states—will affect antiabortion and pro-abortion women equally.

This is about far more than abortion. There will be more maternal deaths. There will be more deaths from cervical and breast cancer. More women will die from complications of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. There will be more suffering from infertility, endometriosis and fibroids.

Does anyone in power care? We certainly do. And we better make sure our voices are heard. All of our lives depend on it.

Historic Cuts to SNAP Deepen the War on Women

 Republicans in the House and Senate scrambled to pass legislation that will cut $184 billion from SNAP through 2034—by far the largest cut to SNAP in the program’s history—to finance tax cuts for the wealthy big businesses. They also hope to increase funding for pursuit of immigrants. 

This extremist budget will drive millions of people into poverty and hunger. It also represents a full-throated assault on women—particularly single mothers, for whom SNAP has been a lifeline.

Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Create a Disaster for Rural Mothers and Babies

Women and babies who live in areas that voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump are likely to suffer some of the Big Beautiful Bill’s most sweeping and damaging effects.

The historically brutal Medicaid cuts—a staggering $930 billion slashed from the program over the next decade—could force as many as 144 rural hospitals around the U.S. to close their labor-and-delivery units or drastically scale back services.

A Bill That Rips Away Food, Healthcare and Dignity From Millions—So Billionaires Can Get Richer

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and others can repeat the lie that no one will lose coverage, but it does not make it so. Seventeen million people will lose healthcare (including 11 million Medicaid beneficiaries). Millions will lose food assistance. The debt will grow by over $3 trillion.

It is hard to find anyone outside the MAGA cult who thinks this will benefit America. Republicans respond by lying about the bill even when confronted with the misery their handiwork will cause.

Republicans refuse to admit that they are hurting ordinary, hard-working Americans trying to provide for themselves and their families. To do otherwise would be a confession of their inhumanity. Instead, using well-worn authoritarian techniques (e.g., demonization, dehumanization and marginalization), MAGA politicians convince themselves that those who rely on vital benefits are unfit and undeserving. Republicans dub them “rats” or “vermin” or “murderers.”

If the bill passes the House, the pain in all 50 states will no longer be abstract. MAGA Republicans’ betrayal will hurt and, yes, kill tens of thousands of Americans. And everyone will know which party is responsible. Republicans have no plausible excuse for putting the interests of billionaires over those of ordinary people.

War on Women Report: MAGA Republicans Hope to Turn Miscarriage Into a Crime and Gut Planned Parenthood

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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:
—On June 14, between 4 and 13 million people attended No Kings rallies nationwide to protest President Trump’s immigration and economic policies.
—Four states—California, Massachusetts, New York and New Jersey—have petitioned the FDA to undo restrictions on the abortion pill mifepristone.
—Some good news out of Montana: This month, the state supreme court struck down three abortion restrictions that Republican lawmakers passed in 2021.

… and more.

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.

Moms and Caregivers Protest Proposed Medicaid, SNAP Cuts Amidst Disapproval for Budget Reconciliation Bill Measures

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A crowd of mothers, caregivers and children dressed as bees entered the Hart Senate Office building on Wednesday morning to call out Republican senators, who are rushing a budget reconciliation bill that would drastically reduce the number of people eligible for Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In addition to its Medicaid and SNAP cuts, MomsRising members in attendance on June 25 said they were concerned about the bill’s immigration provisions (it aggressively funds ICE), its impact on education, its reproductive healthcare cuts and its decimation of gun control measures.

The Big Beautiful Bill? A Big Bad Blow to Maternity Care

The “Big Beautiful Bill” is really a Big Bad Blow to millions suffering an already inadequate and inequitable maternity care system.

While policymakers debate in distant chambers, local organizations and midwife-led community-based initiatives are bracing to weather the coming storm.

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

Keeping Score: Americans Oppose Mass Deportations; Supreme Court Upholds Free Preventive Care Under ACA

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—marking three years since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade
—”Deep cracks are showing in the Trump and Miller mass deportation agenda,” said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice.
—Rest in power, Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were assassinated in an act of political violence. “Political violence of any kind has no place in our democracy,” said Democratic Women’s Caucus chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.).
—The Supreme Court upheld bans on gender-affirming care for minors.
—Harvey Weinstein was again convicted of a criminal sex act.
—raising awareness for LGBTQ Equal Pay Day
—82% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans believe funding for childcare should increase. 

… and more.