Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade (1973) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case affirming the right to abortion and upholding the right to make personal decisions about their family, relationships and bodily autonomy. In a devastating 2022 decision, the Court reversed Roe v. Wade, abandoning almost 50 years of precedent on the fundamental right to privacy. Overturning Roe v. Wade has had catastrophic consequences for people across America, as over a dozen states issued trigger bans.

There’s a Growing Movement to Recognize Abortion as a Human Right. A Recent Supreme Court Case Shows How Necessary This Is.

The election of Donald Trump to a second term has abortion rights advocates across the country worried about a renewed assault on abortion access. These fears are well-founded, but they must also account for successful ballot measures and other victories that demonstrate sustainable, popular support for abortion rights expansion. This enthusiasm for progress is perhaps best encapsulated by the movement to recognize abortion as a human right.

In October, members of Congress introduced a resolution that commended state and local governments for “championing reproductive rights as human rights.” These efforts represent a growing movement that rejects past compromises on abortion rights and sees human rights recognition as the only path forward for safe and accessible abortion care in the United States. Given the Supreme Court’s recent failure to rule definitively on the right to abortion during life-threatening health emergencies, this movement couldn’t come at a more critical moment.

‘Forced to Return to the Butcher’s Lair’: The Reality of Abortion Before Roe and the Fear of What’s to Come

and

Abortions are sought by a wide range of people for many different reasons. There is no single story. Telling stories of then and now shows how critical abortion has been and continues to be for women and girls. (Share your abortion story by emailing myabortionstory@msmagazine.com.)

“Instead of protecting our right to freedom of choice, they would have women go through what I went through and perhaps die in the process.”

“The night before the procedure, the nurse gave me a sleeping pill and as I became sleepy, I shed a few tears. But, I knew that it was the only decision for me as the baby was unplanned. I was too young and my spirit had to be eternally free to create and experience my own type of utopia.”

‘Critical as We Move Forward’: Reproductive Rights and Voter Advocacy Leaders Reckon With 2024 Election

Dr. Lauren Beene was still processing the election outcome when she spoke with Ms. magazine the morning after Donald Trump had been declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election. Dr. Beene, co-founder and Vice President of Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, had successfully led the fight a year ago to pass an amendment that enshrined the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. Yet Dr. Beene now worried that under Trump, a national abortion ban may be in the not-so-distant future, and Ohio’s win to protect abortion rights could be in jeopardy.

What Renee Bracey Sherman Wants You to Know About Liberating Abortion and the People Who Make It Possible

Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone recently released their co-authored book, Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve. In it, they offer a new perspective on the history of abortion and imagine a future where reproductive justice is realized.

Bracey Sherman and Mahone ask us to build a better future that begins with building community around abortion and reproductive freedom now.

Ms. sat down with Renee Bracey Sherman to discuss her new book, Liberating Abortion, the history of abortion and where we go from here.

Abortion Funds in Pennsylvania, N.Y. and N.J. Are ‘Moving Millions of Dollars to Get People Basic Healthcare’

and

This piece, based on three funds in the Northeast, is the fourth in a series of articles spotlighting interviews with fund representatives across the U.S.

We interviewed representatives from the New York Abortion Access Fund (NYAAF), New Jersey Abortion Access Fund (NJAAF) and Abortion Liberation Fund of Pennsylvania (ALF-PA). Activists at each of these funds noted the delicate balance between supporting abortion seekers from their home states and helping the influx of folks traveling to “blue states” for abortion care.

The Next President Will Decide Domestic Violence Policy for Millions of Survivors

Survivor Justice Action, alongside survivors and allies across the country, is taking the conversation about domestic violence beyond individual homes, ensuring it’s heard loudly throughout the halls of Congress.

We refuse to settle for a world that enables, perpetuates and ignores the root causes of domestic violence. We will always make survivors voices a priority, and we won’t stop until domestic violence ends.

After Losing a Constitutional Right, America Picks a President

Americans are picking their first president after the Supreme Court overturned their constitutional right to an abortion.

Now, two-and-a-half years later, with near-full abortion bans in 13 states, deaths confirmed because of them, and a smattering of states that have enacted protections via the direct democracy of ballot initiatives, the country has a choice: to reelect Republican Donald Trump, whose pledge to undo Roe helped fuel his first ascent to the White House; or to elect Democrat Kamala Harris, who is running on resurrecting abortion rights as she aims to be the first woman to win the presidency. 

Harris Campaign’s Message to Women: Vote Your Consciences

Even as one of their own vies to be the first female president, even with abortion rights high on the list of campaign issues, even after more than a century of suffrage, some women still look to their husbands and other trusted men before casting their ballots.

The phenomenon is not new, but it could make the difference in a presidential race that is projected to be unusually tight. And because polls predict what could be a record-setting gender gap—with the majority of women voting for Harris and most men backing former President Donald Trump—the possibility that even a small number of women will vote like their men has Harris supporters nervous.

The ‘Pro-Life’ Party Has a Funny Way of Respecting Women

Tony Hinchcliffe’s categorically unfunny appearance at Donald Trump’s recent rally in Madison Square Garden leaves me wishing that whoever discovered him left him sleeping in his car behind The Comedy Store in Los Angeles. (It’s how he opens the 12-minute set.)

Most of the ensuing backlash targeted Hinchcliffe’s puerile reliance on racism as humor. But another underreported moment that caught my attention was Hinchcliffe’s “joke” about Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce becoming “the next O.J. Simpson,” referencing Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder, widely believed to be the responsibility of her known abuser.

The joke hinges on the idea that Kelce might murder his girlfriend, Taylor Swift. Hinchcliffe referenced Swift’s political endorsement of Kamala Harris immediately after this joke. His punchline: If a woman voices her opinion, intimate partner violence is a hilarious solution. It’s an interesting stance for the so-called pro-life party to broadcast publicly.