She Said, He Said: Your Fast Feminist Guide to the Harris-Trump Debate

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris had their first and only debate on Tuesday night in Philadelphia. According to CNN, Trump spoke for about 42 minutes and 52 seconds, while Harris spoke for 37 minutes and 36 seconds. Trump spoke 39 times to Harris’ 23 times.

Here’s what each candidate said on some of the issues feminists care about—including access to abortion and other reproductive healthcare, the Affordable Care Act, childcare, immigration, racial unity and the economy.

New Yorkers Can Vote ‘to Protect Abortion and Reproductive Freedom’ Through an ERA Ballot Measure

This November, voters in New York state will have the chance to weigh in on Proposal 1, the first U.S. constitutional amendment of its kind, which will establish comprehensive safeguards against discrimination and explicitly protect reproductive rights, including the right to abortion for state residents. According to New Yorkers for Equal Rights (NYER), a broad coalition of more than 300 diverse groups that support the initiative, the effort is different from other equal rights amendments because it includes protections for reproductive rights.

NYER campaign director Sasha N. Ahuja spoke to Ms. two months before Election Day: “We have to set the path for other states to pursue equality and provide the strongest possible protections in their constitutions.”

Misogynist Manifesto: Project 2025 Says Yes to ‘Biblically Based Marriages’ and No to Reproductive Rights

Part one of a three-part series about the 900-plus-page right-wing “misogynistic manifesto”:

Project 2025 promotes traditional heterosexual marriage, stigmatizing single parenthood and same-sex spouses, and cutting programs to support single mothers and their children. It directs the next president to develop policies and programs to “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.” Proposals to restrict reproductive rights pervade Project 2025’s policy agenda, focused not only on abortion but also on contraception, sex education and gender-affirming healthcare.

(This article originally appears in the Fall 2024 issue of Ms. Join the Ms. community today and you’ll get issues delivered straight to your mailbox!)

I Refused to Let Texas’ Abortion Ban Decide My Life. Other Women Aren’t So Lucky.

The following is Madysyn Anderson’s personal story, as told to Courier Dallas:

“SB 8 became Texas law on Sept. 1, and I found out about my pregnancy just a couple of weeks later. I didn’t want an unwanted pregnancy to prevent me from completing the biggest achievement in my life thus far. I decided that I wanted to share my experience with abortion and be an educational resource.

“Unless our country gets a reality check about who we elect to office and we educate ourselves on their positions, we women have no hope of deciding whether we want to start a family or not—or if we want to carry a rapist’s child. We stand no chance unless we fight for what we believe in.”

I’m a Queer Nurse, Pick Me Up at the Abortion Clinic

As a gay woman, abortion wasn’t something I thought about too often; but the lawmakers in my home state were villainizing and legislating abortion the same way they villainized and disenfranchised the LGBTQ+ community, so I figured it was my turn to be an ally. 

As of this month, 22 states have banned some or all abortions. If you’re like me and your home state has closed your local abortion clinic—well they’re probably anti-LGBTQ too, and this is your call to get involved: to volunteer, donate and fight abortion stigma wherever you can. But if you’re a queer person with a nursing license looking for somewhere to work where you can be yourself and make a profound impact, check to see if your local abortion clinic is hiring.

Decisions Belong to the Pregnant Teen: Montana Court Strikes Down State’s Parental Consent Act

The Supreme Court of Montana used state constitutional grounds to strike down the Consent Act, which required minors to obtain parental consent for an abortion. The court’s analysis of these justifications determined that they were clearly intended to obfuscate the antiabortion animus behind the Consent Law.

Having revealed the baselessness of the underlying justifications for discriminating against teens who choose abortion over childbirth, it becomes readily apparent that these are antiabortion laws—plain and simple—that aim to divest teens of control over this reproductive choice.