The Contrarian

Vile Reactions to Strong Women Can’t Silence Our Voices

PUBLISHED 9/18/2025 by

Being on the receiving end of yet another violent and targeted email from a stranger hit a little differently this week, as the nation grapples with the murder of Charlie Kirk and its fallout.

Mostly what I’m feeling since receiving an email from Robert G. Smith—who signs off as “Bonecrusher Bob”—is a deep sense of obligation to the girls and women in my life. In his message, he attacked me with grotesque language, mocking my intelligence, my sexuality and my writing on menopause, telling me to “stick to brainwashing the little insurrectionist bastards who attend [my] shithouse skool.”

Much of my work is about developing leaders—running a law school center and fellowship program, mentoring high school and college students to become public writers, and helping grassroots leaders use the op-ed as a tool for advocacy. My own writing shines a light on women’s health issues that have long been ignored, like menopause, highlighting not just problems but solutions lawmakers can get behind.

The Bonecrusher Bobs of the world will not deter me, and I see the same resilience in those around me.

Just this past weekend, a teenager I mentor asked how to handle an op-ed she’d drafted about aggressive masculinity at her school; my answer was simple: We keep raising our voices with conviction, exposing lies, and showing up fully as ourselves. And when necessary, yes, we share screenshots.

Texas Loves Its Bounty Hunters and Hates Its Women

PUBLISHED 9/5/2025 by

Over Labor Day weekend, Texas quietly rolled out yet another measure to restrict reproductive freedom. Senate Bill 33, which took effect Monday, bans municipal funding for abortion support—stripping cities like Austin and San Antonio of the ability to allocate local dollars to abortion funds, even for residents forced to travel out of state for care. The law denies “millions of Texans the opportunity” for their communities to support safe, legal abortion access, according to Jane’s Due Process, a nonprofit serving young people navigating the state’s bans.

It’s a playbook Texas has perfected. Four years ago, the state’s SB 8 created the infamous “bounty hunter” model, empowering private citizens to sue anyone who helps a person get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and rewarding them with $10,000. That law went into effect while Roe v. Wade was still technically the law of the land, an early harbinger of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Since then, Texas has become the national laboratory for copycat measures that push the boundaries of authoritarian control—from targeting trans people to censoring librarians.

The toll is devastating. Maternal deaths and infant mortality are on the rise; patients risk sepsis because doctors fear prosecution; and the cost of accessing abortion care has skyrocketed. Advocates like Jane’s Due Process warn that these laws are not just about abortion—they are about consolidating state power, silencing local communities and testing the limits of democracy itself. “This is another attack on democracy in an antiabortion disguise,” said Lucie Arvallo, the group’s executive director.

Of Course Trump Threatened Ballot Access on the 19th Amendment’s Anniversary

PUBLISHED 8/21/2025 by

The 19th Amendment turned 105 this week. Instead of marking progress, we’re watching Trump officials entertain the idea that women’s right to vote is negotiable. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amplified a pastor calling for repeal of the amendment, and when pressed, his office issued a half-hearted “of course” women should vote. We’ve seen this playbook before: Roe was safe, contraception wasn’t at risk—until both were.

Trump himself piled on this week, vowing to eliminate mail-in ballots and voting machines ahead of the 2026 midterms. He can’t legally do it, but the threat is the point. Combined with the SAVE Act, which could disenfranchise married women who changed their names, the message is clear.

The anniversary of women’s suffrage is not just history—it’s a warning flare. The right to vote is under attack, and the fight this time is for all the marbles.

‘It Was Never Mine’: August, Autonomy and the America We’re Losing

PUBLISHED 8/7/2025 by

Welcome, August! When my kids were young, I used to refer to it as the juiciest month of the year, loving its bloated days, all sunshine and sweat.

In 2025, I have to admit this month is yet another joy I am doing my best not to let the relentless news-and-doom cycle ruin. Curating a round-up of breaking headlines about gender and democracy is surely not for the faint of heart or spirit.

I’ll be doing all I can to channel Taylor Swift (Trump only wishes he could) and trying to salvage August so that it is “sipped away like a bottle of wine.”

Pregnant and Unmarried? In Tennessee, That’s Now Grounds for Denial of Care.

PUBLISHED 7/24/2025 by

This week marked the first reported case of a woman being denied prenatal care for being unmarried in the state of Tennessee and the country. And it is the direct result of the state’s 2025 Medical Ethics Defense Act, which went into effect in April. The law enables physicians, nurses, hospitals and insurers to invoke religious, moral or ethical objections to the provision of care and treatment, with no legal requirement to provide patients with a referral or alternative.

Menopause Finally Gets a Seat at the Table

PUBLISHED 7/18/2025 by

On Thursday, July 17, the FDA held a two-hour briefing featuring political leadership and a panel of doctors to focus on menopausal hormone treatments. Among the issues addressed was a decades-old labeling requirement for estrogen products—a.k.a. the “black box warning.”

FDA commissioner Martin Makary appears willing to consider scrapping it on packaging for localized vaginal estrogen treatment. The FDA should do so: The label is inaccurate and utterly alarming.

In the case of menopause, a rare combination of bipartisan commitment and robust public attention reflect not just heightened interest among constituents, but also proof of the democratic process actually working.

Five Ways the GOP Is Quietly Paving the Road to a National Abortion Ban

PUBLISHED 7/5/2025 by and

The vast majority of Americans support abortion and reproductive freedom, yet state lawmakers continue to introduce and pass laws stripping citizens of these rights. Providers face confusing, punitive rules that might lead them to delay or deny care. Planned Parenthood and other providers face budget cuts that threaten to restrict healthcare access for millions of Americans.

These are not isolated outcomes. Rather, they reveal a coordinated national strategy. Here are five myths we believe need to be dispelled to counter the challenges that lie ahead.

A Bill That Rips Away Food, Healthcare and Dignity From Millions—So Billionaires Can Get Richer

PUBLISHED 7/2/2025 by

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and others can repeat the lie that no one will lose coverage, but it does not make it so. Seventeen million people will lose healthcare (including 11 million Medicaid beneficiaries). Millions will lose food assistance. The debt will grow by over $3 trillion.

It is hard to find anyone outside the MAGA cult who thinks this will benefit America. Republicans respond by lying about the bill even when confronted with the misery their handiwork will cause.

Republicans refuse to admit that they are hurting ordinary, hard-working Americans trying to provide for themselves and their families. To do otherwise would be a confession of their inhumanity. Instead, using well-worn authoritarian techniques (e.g., demonization, dehumanization and marginalization), MAGA politicians convince themselves that those who rely on vital benefits are unfit and undeserving. Republicans dub them “rats” or “vermin” or “murderers.”

If the bill passes the House, the pain in all 50 states will no longer be abstract. MAGA Republicans’ betrayal will hurt and, yes, kill tens of thousands of Americans. And everyone will know which party is responsible. Republicans have no plausible excuse for putting the interests of billionaires over those of ordinary people.

$133 Billion in Economic Loss. Tens of Thousands Forced to Flee. This Is Post-Roe America.

PUBLISHED 6/27/2025 by

It has been exactly three years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and sent abortion rights back to the states. Amid myriad reflective headlines this week—what the ruling has meant for real people’s lives, for the trajectory of the Court and other established liberty rights and for our democracy—are numerous reports detailing in stark numbers the nationwide impact of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

The number of abortion patients who traveled out of state for care is nearly twice the pre-Dobbs baseline. New data released by the Guttmacher Institute shows that in 2024 the number dropped from the prior year—155,000 patients versus 170,000 in 2023—but still reflects a massive jump from 2020, when 81,000 abortion patients traveled out of state.

Political Violence Is Becoming America’s New Normal

PUBLISHED 6/20/2025 by

Among the myriad headlines that roiled the nation last week, rising political violence in the United States was a sickening drumbeat—one that culminated and resounded most loudly during a weekend of targeted shootings directed at two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses.

Though the shooter’s motivations are still unconfirmed, news reports reveal that notebooks found in his car were “full of plans, lists of names, surveillance efforts and home addresses.” Among those listed are Democratic elected officials, including state Rep. Kelly Morrison, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, as well as state and federal leaders from other states; and local Planned Parenthood contacts, including abortion providers and advocates. Accounts by the shooter’s friends as well as his social media footprint indicate his vehement opposition to abortion and LGBTQ rights—an opposition he made especially clear.

All of it is worrisome, but the combination of antiabortion extremism, anti-democratic fury and actual violence is growing exponentially more potent. The federal government is communicating with utter precision that abortion is the exception, the excuse, the issue for which violence is an acceptable response. We ignore that message at our collective and societal peril.