Menstruation and Menstrual Equity

Five Things to Know About Missed Period Pills

PUBLISHED 10/14/2025 by

If your period is late and you don’t want to be pregnant, do you really have to wait for a positive pregnancy test before you can act? The answer is often no. Increasing availability of “period pills” means you don’t have to wait or sit in uncertainty.

As missed period pills change how people stay in control of their bodies—and how early abortion care may be accessed—we see more questions and, unfortunately, more attacks from those who don’t support a full range of pregnancy options.

Here’s what’s important to know.

‘We Need Equal Rights in the Constitution’: NOW’s New Leaders Kim Villanueva and Rose Brunache See ‘a Lot of Energy for Advocacy’

PUBLISHED 9/30/2025 by

Almost 60 years ago, in 1966, Pauli Murray, a queer Episcopal priest and legal scholar, approached noted feminist Betty Friedan about the need for an organization to push the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to enforce the Civil Rights Act. Although the Act had passed in 1964 and banned discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, and religion, Murray understood that the law’s promise would remain unfulfilled without vigilance and pressure from activists. Friedan agreed, and later that year, the National Organization for Women (NOW) was created.

Newly-installed president Kim Villanueva—the former president of NOW’s Illinois chapter, cofounder of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Caucus and chair of the National Election Committee—and vice president Rose Brunache, former president of the DC chapter, spoke to Ms. reporter Eleanor J. Bader one month after taking office.

Keeping Score: Democrats Fight Republican Redistricting; Periods Make College Students Miss Class; Costco Refuses to Sell (Safe, Legal) Abortion Pills to Appease Antiabortion Politics

PUBLISHED 8/25/2025 by

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:
—“I am deeply alarmed by news reports that Costco is refusing to sell safe, effective, and legal medication for no other reason than to appease the politics of antiabortion fanatics,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
—The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee called for Democrat-led state legislatures to pursue redistricting: “The DLCC refuses to allow Republicans to rig the maps to keep themselves in power.”
—“A troubling shift is underway: Women are leaving the U.S. workforce in unprecedented numbers. But this isn’t a choice; it’s a consequence,” warned Catalyst president and CEO Jennifer McCollum after a report showed 212,000 women have left the workforce since January.
—A third of college students have missed class because of their period.
—The Trump administration is planning to restrict coverage of abortion care for veterans in almost all circumstances.
—RFK Jr. takes aim at antidepressant use during pregnancy, despite American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ approving of their usage.
—Texas’ abortion ban has made miscarriages more dangerous.
—A federal court blocked the Trump administration’s restrictions on grants from the Office on Violence Against Women. Seventeen states had challenged the restrictions, and the order is a temporary win for organizations supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence. 

… and more.

Gender-Based Violence Rises in Gaza, Case Workers Tell of Harrowing Conditions: ‘There Aren’t Enough Safe Spaces for Women and Their Children’

PUBLISHED 7/22/2025 by

“There’s been a sharp increase in survivors seeking help,” said Suhair, who works at a safe space for women and girls in Gaza’s central Deir El-Balah Governorate.  “We’re working under extremely difficult conditions, including repeated incursions. There aren’t enough safe spaces for women and their children,” she told UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. 

Repeated, forced displacements, movement restrictions and a prolonged lack of fuel and electricity have also made it more difficult to help those most at risk. “We’re providing services over the phone because survivors can’t reach safe spaces,” added Suhair.

Widespread illness, poverty, mass displacement and depleted healthcare and social services are all heightening stress levels within households. These exacerbated conditions have led to rising reports of increased domestic violence, sexual exploitation and abuse. Many are turning to child labor and forced marriages to cope with devastating levels of hunger.

With over 714,000 people—one third of Gaza’s population—forced to move again over the past three months, families are being separated and the local support structures they once relied on have crumbled. Women and girls in particular describe feeling afraid on the street, at aid delivery points and in overcrowded, makeshift shelters that lack privacy, sanitation or basic security measures.

From Natural Process to Nightmare: How Gaza’s Women and Girls Cope With Their Periods in a War Zone

PUBLISHED 6/5/2025 by

Since March 2, 2025, Israel has imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza that has caused the complete depletion of hygiene supplies, including sanitary pads for menstrual health. Almost 90 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza has been either destroyed or partially damaged, and fuel for water pumping and distributions has now run out. 

As nine in 10 households face severe water shortages, women and girls are forced to manage their periods without clean water, soap, supplies or even privacy. Many now describe menstruation as a source of anxiety and isolation.

One adolescent girl expressed the deep frustration and helplessness so many feel: “Every time my period comes, I wish I weren’t a girl.”

Childcare Won’t Be Fixed Until Moms and Dads Join Forces

PUBLISHED 6/5/2025 by and | UPDATED 6/11/2025 at 3:19 P.M. PT

The Trump administration would have you believe they’ll try anything to have more babies. Their proposed list of incentives include medals for mothers who have more than six children, classes to educate women about their menstrual cycles and special seats reserved in the Fulbright program for applicants with children. Anything, that is, except the glaringly obvious solutions: affordable, accessible childcare and paid parental leave.

If we want to secure policies that will benefit all parents, then we need to come together, breaking down the silos between those advocating for men and those advocating for women. After all, we want the same things: affordable childcare, paid leave and a living wage for all families.

When News Out of the Nation’s Capital Feels Like Too Much to Bear, Take the Fight Local

PUBLISHED 5/30/2025 by

Last week was another raucous week in Congress, with continued discord over the fiscal, social and societal implications of President Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” as it heads to the Senate.

Meanwhile, the wheels continue to spin in dozens of statehouses across the country, many of which are at the height of their own legislative sessions. And it’s not all doom and gloom—which is one of the exciting aspects of state politics.

Either way, state legislatures offer an extraordinary window into the good, the bad and the ugly of the democratic process—a laboratory for what robust, participatory democracy can and often does achieve.

The Data We Don’t Collect Is Killing Women

PUBLISHED 4/24/2025 by

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, at least 10 women have died as a direct result of their inability to access healthcare. But this number is only a guess, because there’s no single place that records and tracks these tragedies. And that’s not just an oversight—it’s a choice. At the same time, women seeking reproductive care are more digitally surveilled than ever before.

Without a national system to track the consequences of abortion bans, preventable deaths are disappearing into the void—by design.

A Post-Dobbs Alternative for Reproductive Autonomy? Menstrual Regulation.

PUBLISHED 4/9/2025 by

Menstrual regulation, or bringing back a missed or late period, is a common cultural practice across the globe, including the United States. It typically involves “period pills” to induce a period, such as mifepristone and misoprostol, and can be practiced legally in countries where abortion is illegal, like Bangladesh and Cuba. Offering a method to manage menstrual cycles openly grants reproductive autonomy, without shame or taboo. Critically, menstrual regulation is not viewed as an abortion, even though mifepristone and misoprostol are involved.