More Than A Magazine, A Movement
“We got here because we have the gender ruling class desperately holding onto their privilege—using any means necessary,” said WLP executive director Susan Frietsche on the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward.
Listen to the second episode —”Inside the Feminist Fight to Reclaim Our Reproductive Freedom (with Renee Bracey Sherman, Michele Goodwin, Angie Jean-Marie and Amy Merrill, Susan Frietsche, and Gov. Maura Healey)”—on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Drawing on histories of war, displacement and resistance, Southeast Asian organizers expose how patriarchy fuels violence, erasure and division—and why intersectional justice must lead the way forward.
“Patriarchal power is regrouping, seeking to reassert its grip. If we do not recognize and resist this realignment, we risk losing hard-won resources, protections and, most importantly, people.
“As a community, Southeast Asians’ trauma is compounded by war and displacement. Nearly 16,000 Southeast Asian refugees face deportation; many live in poverty and fear, underserved by traditional systems and are often overlooked in broader Asian American narratives. As the United States expands its deportation machine, refugees from the U.S.-backed wars in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are being re-criminalized and forcibly removed. These deportations fracture families, destabilize communities, and retraumatize those already targeted by the carceral state. Gender-based violence and anti-queer violence only intensify those challenges.”
(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)
It seems like with each week, Trump just keeps getting more and more unpopular—even among those who are most primed to like him. Trump’s approval rating is currently the lowest it’s been this term, seeing a significant decline among Independents and even some decline among Republicans.
And the “Big Beautiful Bill” has played no small role: Polling shows that majorities of voters continue to disapprove of the Republican economic plan. Seventy percent are concerned about cuts to Medicaid (which, by the way, remains overwhelmingly popular in the polls), regardless of when those cuts go into effect—indicating that the Republican strategy of delaying the cuts’ implementation till after the midterm elections might not be working.
Regardless of how dark things feel, there are countless feminist battles in our past, both near and far, that we can draw hope and strength from.
On July 30, Medicare and Medicaid turn 60. The anniversary probably won’t receive much celebration, not even a decent sheet cake at Costco. But for those of us who’ve ever been sick, broke or chronically both—and let’s be real, that’s most of us—these two programs are more than government policies. They are lifelines. Feminist infrastructure. Miracles wrapped in red tape.
Medicaid and Medicare are the government’s half-hearted whisper of “okay, fine, you can live,” buried under broken fax machines and six hours of hold music—and still, they are miraculous.
So let’s get to work with petitions, protests, poetry and better policy. When we fight for these programs, we’re not begging for scraps. We’re demanding infrastructure for care. We’re saying, Our dignity is not a rounding error. We are not too complicated or too expensive or too much. We are exactly the point.
Happy birthday Medicaid and Medicare, the baddest Leos in American policy—dramatic, protective, always carrying us all on their backs while being called “too much.” We see you. We need you. And we’ll fight for you. How dare we not?
(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)
Medicaid is a cornerstone of maternal healthcare, providing coverage for nearly two-thirds of women of reproductive age and financing 42 percent of all births in the United States, according to an analysis by KFF. That means almost half of all new parents—disproportionately low-income—depend on it for prenatal care, safe delivery and postpartum support.
Unfortunately, pregnant and postpartum people are at the center of the crisis created by the One Big Beautiful Bill—recently passed by both the House and Senate and signed into law by Donald Trump—which guts Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.
If clinics are shuttered, hospitals are closed and providers are stripped from Medicaid, what happens to people forced to carry pregnancies without care? They will face unmanaged labor, untreated postpartum depression, and dangerous complications alone.
In a nation that mandates childbirth but slashes access to care, the question isn’t whether outcomes will worsen. It’s how many will suffer—and how many won’t survive.
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.
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:
—Trump’s reconciliation bill will prevent millions from accessing healthcare and food assistance.
—IWMF announced this year’s Courage in Journalism Awards.
—Many prison systems lack accommodations for pregnant inmates.
—Sean “Diddy” Combs found not guilty of sex trafficking.
—The Supreme Court’s decision on LGBTQ books in public schools lays the foundation for new assault on books of all kinds in schools.
—Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) called out the hypocrisy of “pro-choice” members of Congress in a House Rules committee meeting: “They say they’re pro-life because they want the baby to be born, go to school and get shot in the school.”
—A group of actors including Jane Fonda and Rosario Dawson wrote a letter to Amazon, after allegations that the company has frequently refused to accommodate pregnant workers.
—Mahmoud Khalil is suing the Trump administration for $20 million.
—July 10 was Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, marking when Black women’s earnings catch up to what white men earned in 2024.
… and more.
The United States has long failed to adequately support its expecting mothers. Across the country, pregnant women face increasing barriers to essential care, resources and mental health support. Rates of postpartum depression are on the rise, maternal mental health is plummeting, childbirth-related death rates are climbing and women of color continue to suffer disproportionately due to entrenched racial disparities. The maternal health crisis is urgent—and long overdue for meaningful change.
Virginia took a significant step forward late last month, signing into effect a bundle of new laws and precautions created to improve maternal healthcare and offer support to pregnant women statewide. The legislation, dubbed the Virginia Momnibus, was championed by Democratic government officials, including Virginia state Delegates Don Scott and Destiny LeVere Bolling, and signals a historic step forward in Virginia’s approach to maternal health.
We take a closer look at some of these measures.
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.
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.