They Never Deserved to Be Called ‘Pro-Life’

Less than three weeks after Alabama’s State Supreme Court unleashed massive chaos and hardship by ruling that frozen embryos created through in vitro fertilization (IVF) must be considered children, the state legislature passed a bill providing immunity to clinics that provide IVF and people who access that care. Alabama’s stridently anti-abortion governor hastily signed the legislation into law. Are we supposed to be grateful?

Protecting and supporting families is not the focus of the Republican Party. They prove that every day by opposing food and nutrition assistance, childcare subsidies, paid family leave, Medicaid expansion and other programs that help families be healthy and thrive.

The False Promise of Split-Shift Parenting

In a country where roughly two out of every five parents struggle to afford care for their kids, many couples have resorted to parenting in shifts: One parent looks after the kid(s) while the other works, and then they swap.

I asked my social media followers: What is split-shift parenting like in 2023? One word popped up over and over again: exhausting. And when the whole family is stretched thin, we know exactly who picks up the slack: moms.

Moms deserve more options. Better options. Sustainable options—and they need them urgently. 

We Still Have A Caregiving Crisis. Let’s Solve It

Around 43.5 million caregivers provide unpaid care to an adult or child each year, and 61 percent of them are women. Work isn’t working for most people—and when work doesn’t work, families become financially unstable and women leave the workforce.

I implore Congress to focus on this issue in 2024, to make it a reality for workers across the country. Millions are waiting. 

Under the Threat of Another Government Shutdown

The government might shut down this week (again). At the same time, House Republicans are trying to abolish the Women’s Bureau; cut the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; slash maternal and child health support from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); eliminate funding for Title X family planning; *and* reverse the FDA decision on the abortion pill mifepristone.

‘Who Cares?’: The Unequal Burden of Care Work on Women

The U.S. needs a future of care fit for 21st-century feminism. This excerpt from Emily Kenway’s newest book: Who Cares?, is a look into the lives of women who have been relegated to the home in order to provide care to others and the experiences of women of color and working class women, who need the freedom to care in the first place.

“We shared the sadness of watching a loved one in anguish, but our caregiving experience was completely different. … We need to witness both care worlds to create solutions that work for all women, not just some.”

A Prison Guard Was Forced to Stay at Her Post During Labor Pains. Texas Is Fighting Compensation for Her Stillbirth.

The pregnant officer reported contraction-like pains at work, but said she wasn’t allowed to leave for hours. Her baby was delivered stillborn. If Issa had gotten to the hospital sooner, medical personnel told her, the baby would have survived, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and prison officials.

But the prison agency and the Texas attorney general’s office, which has staked its reputation on “defending the unborn” all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, are arguing the agency shouldn’t be held responsible for the stillbirth because staff didn’t break the law. Plus, they said, it’s not clear that Issa’s fetus had rights as a person.

What’s on the Horizon for Working Women?

One year ago this week, I was elected as the first woman to lead the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor federation—consisting of 12.5 million workers across 60 unions.

The past 12 months have been nothing short of historic in how workers—from nurses in New York, to teachers in Minnesota, to warehouse workers at Amazon, to baristas at Starbucks—have risen up and seized our collective power. As working people continue to push for more, I’ll be focused on how we can continue to build a bold, inclusive and modern movement, empower working women through unions and unleash a wave of grassroots organizing that will put all working people on the path to a better life. And gender equity is essential to the future of our movement.