Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is a U.S. nonprofit organization that offers sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortions, contraception, STI testing and treatment, gender-affirming hormone therapy, cancer screenings and more. The organization has long been a target of anti-abortion violence as it is the largest single reproductive health provider in the country, founded in 1916.

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.

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.

The Supreme Court Doesn’t Really Care About Originalism. ‘Medina v. Planned Parenthood’ Just Proved It.

By upholding a South Carolina order that strips Medicaid funding from abortion providers, the Supreme Court abandoned both patient choice and the original civil rights vision behind Medicaid.

Medicaid funding is crucial for low-income Americans—it’s the vital thread that connects them with healthcare in a society where universal healthcare does not exist. 

Supreme Court Allows States to Exclude Reproductive Health Clinics From Medicaid

In a landmark decision released Thursday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of South Carolina in Medina v. Planned Parenthood, granting states the authority to exclude reproductive health clinics from their Medicaid programs—even when those clinics provide essential care such as cancer screenings, birth control and STI testing. This decision could embolden Republican-led states to “defund” Planned Parenthood across the country.

Three Years After Dobbs, Abortion Numbers Have Surprisingly Gone Up

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After the Supreme Court paved the way for a dozen or more states to ban abortion for the first time in almost half a century, abortion access is thriving in ways no one predicted.

How did such a counterintuitive phenomenon happen? Our recent book, After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe but Not Abortion, helps explain what’s going on behind the numbers. In simplest terms, this increase came about through a combination of an extraordinary mobilization on the part of abortion providers and their allies, the grit and determination of people who decide to have an abortion, and the massive amount of money poured into pro-abortion groups after Dobbs.

‘An Abortion Saved My Life After I Got Leukemia’

Mom Abby Blum tells why she was forced her to end her much-wanted pregnancy. She warns that an unexpected tragic event can happen to any woman—even if they think they’ll never need an abortion.

“It felt like an impossible choice, but I decided to go ahead and have the abortion to end my pregnancy so I could start the treatment I needed to save my life. … For me, the abortion was a medical necessity. And, in hindsight, I realize that in the post-Roe v. Wade era, I was lucky to be in a state where I had access to an abortion and to all the healthcare that I needed. ….

“If I had lived in a state like Texas, which bans abortion in nearly all cases, my story would have had a very different ending. I didn’t choose to get cancer and to have to make the decision to end my pregnancy, but that’s what can sometimes happen in life.”

Republican Efforts to Defund Planned Parenthood Would Increase Budget Deficit $300 Million

The House Rules Committee is set to meet at 1 a.m. ET on May 21 to discuss Medicaid funding cuts that would essentially defund Planned Parenthood. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that blocking patients from using their Medicaid insurance plan to obtain sexual and reproductive healthcare at Planned Parenthood clinics would increase the deficit by $300 million.

“The fact of the matter is, if Republicans get their way—if they succeed in shutting the doors of Planned Parenthood clinics across the country—millions of women will have nowhere else to turn,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). “After all, two-thirds of Planned Parenthood health centers are in rural and medically underserved areas—places where there’s already a shortage of clinics and healthcare professionals. And for a lot of these patients, Planned Parenthood is literally the only provider in reach and in budget. They literally can’t afford to lose this care.”

Worldwide, Many Women Relied on the U.S. for Financial Support. This Afghan Woman Dares to Speak Out.

I’ve been writing for decades about America’s on-again-off-again support for the reproductive healthcare of women around the world, focusing on the Republican presidents who have slashed funding and jeopardized women’s lives.

When I spoke by phone to Seema Ghani in February, there was something more. Unlike many women I had reached out to this year in countries that have relied on the United States for financial support, Ghani was not afraid to speak to me—even though her homeland, Afghanistan, is the world’s most oppressive for women.