Tag: Voting Rights

‘Black Women’s Bodies Have Always Been Under Attack’: Marcela Howell on Reproductive Justice and Why We Must Listen to Black Women

Marcela Howell, an advocate and policy strategist, is retiring after 35 years of advocating for women’s rights and reproductive freedoms. The founder and former president of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda, Howell spoke with Ms.’ Janell Hobson about the current state of affairs, reproductive justice, and why more of us need to listen to Black women.

“If Black women in their full force come out and vote in elections, conservatives lose; their policies lose. If you want to control Black women, you control their bodies, control their votes, control what they learn in school, control their history.”

When Voters Vote, They Vote for Abortion—So Republicans Want to Make It Harder to Vote

Where voters are allowed to have a say, they give a resounding “yes” to abortion rights. Instead of adjusting their politics accordingly, the GOP just makes it harder for voters to vote.

There is a direct relationship between authoritarianism and opposition to abortion rights. After all, what is more authoritarian and more a rejection of basic individual freedoms, than believing the government should be able to force you into pregnancy and motherhood?

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group.)

Are Women’s Rights the Canary in the Coal Mine of a Democracy in Decline?

The tenets of reproductive health, rights and justice—and those of a healthy democracy—are not only inextricably interconnected, but essential to our nation’s promise.

(This essay is part of Women’s Rights and Backsliding Democracies project—a multimedia project made up of essays, video and podcast programming, presented by Ms., NYU Law’s Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network and Rewire News Group.)

How the Supreme Court Endorsed the Authoritarian Behavior of State Legislatures

In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled along political lines that it could not review disputes over partisan gerrymandering. The conservatives in Rucho v. Common Cause insisted that the question of how state legislatures draw their maps is a “political” question and thus “nonjusticiable” by the Court.

The truth is more that the Court silenced the Constitution and set our democracy on a destructive course. As Justice Kagan wrote in the liberals’ dissent, the Court had “encouraged a politics of polarization and dysfunction.” The resulting “unchecked” gerrymanders, she warned, “may irreparably damage our system of government.”

Weekend Reading on Women’s Representation: How Feminism Benefits Men; Republican U.S. House Member Blasts Party’s ‘Silence’ on Guns and Abortion

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week: Kasandra Gandara may be the first woman mayor of Las Cruces, N.M.; Nancy Mace, a Republican House member from South Carolina, criticizes her party for their resistance to gun control and abortion access; at the current rate of progress, it will take 140 years to reach gender balance in the global financial sector; and more.

How Republicans Force Pregnant Women to Fight for Their Lives: ‘I Found Out I Was Pregnant in June 2022’

I found out I was pregnant in June 2022. My husband and I were thrilled—and at 42 years old, we understood that I was embarking on a high-risk pregnancy. I was also leading the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee at the time. I certainly did not anticipate that my personal and professional worlds were about to collide in a historic political year.

Weeks after I learned I was pregnant, the conservative U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Some people believe that abortion laws and pregnancy have nothing to do with one another. Those people have no idea what they’re talking about—and they’ve probably never been pregnant.

In Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, Abortion Rights Prove Decisive

If the fall elections weren’t enough to prove that abortion rights are driving elections, the Wisconsin supreme court election this week is yet more evidence that American voters will show up at the polls to defend abortion rights. Janet Protasiewicz’s victory gives Democrats a chance to re-establish not only reproductive rights, but also labor rights and fair elections devastated by over a decade of Republican domination in the state.

War on Women Report: World Athletics Bans Trans Women; Maternal Mortality on the Rise; E. Jean Carroll’s Rape Case Against Trump

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U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

This month: The FDA is set to review the application for the first over-the-counter birth control pill; World Athletics voted to ban all trans women from elite athletics; Republicans have introduced bills that would bring homicides charges for abortion; and more.

What’s at Stake in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Election

On April 4, Wisconsin will hold an election for a seat on its state supreme court, which has had a clear conservative majority since 2008. Two candidates—judicial conservative Daniel Kelly and progressive Janet Protasiewicz—have advanced out of a four-way primary and are vying to replace a retiring conservative justice. The election, which has already broken records for spending and primary turnout, represents liberals’ first chance in a decade to break the conservative lock.

Media accounts say Wisconsin’s high-profile supreme court election is primarily about two issues: abortion and gerrymandering. That’s true, but the race also tells a broader story about the influence state courts are wielding in the face of divided government and eroding federal rights. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is resolving issues that federal courts and the state’s political branches can’t (or won’t) tackle. Abortion access, electoral maps and executive powers all hang in the balance.