Rolling Up Our Sleeves, Part 3: Fighting the Trump Administration with State Constitutions

A fierce feminist resistance is ready to defend women’s rights at the federal level—and creatively expand equality protections in the states. This is the third in a four-part series on the steps activists are taking to fight for our rights amid Trump’s attacks on democracy.

(This is the third in a four-part series on the steps activists are taking to fight for our rights amid Trump administration’s attacks on democracy.)

Pa. Court to Hear Arguments *Feb. 5* on State Ban on Medicaid Coverage for Abortion and Equal Rights Amendment

In January 2024, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that abortion providers can challenge the Pennsylvania’s Medicaid coverage exclusion on abortion for violating the state’s Equal Rights Amendment and Non-Discrimination Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution.

On Wednesday, Feb. 5, lawyers for Pennsylvania’s freestanding abortion clinics will argue before the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court that the ban discriminates on the basis of sex in violation of these constitutional provisions.

The case is the first Pennsylvania state court proceeding challenging an abortion restriction since the state Supreme Court restored the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment last year.

In North Carolina, an Attempt to Overturn a State Supreme Court Election

The losing candidate for a seat on the high court is trying to have more than 60,000 valid votes thrown out.

In a dispute that is attracting national attention, Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court and judge on the state intermediate court, is seeking to invalidate more than 60,000 votes and overturn the electoral win of his opponent, Justice Allison Riggs.

The dispute stems from November’s state supreme court election, which Griffin lost by just 734 votes. The crux of Griffin’s argument is a claim that the state board of elections has been breaking state election law for decades by following an incorrect process for registering voters, including failing to require voters to provide a driver’s license or social security information and wrongfully allowing certain overseas and absentee ballots to be submitted without photo identification.

Meet the New Feminists in Congress Who Are Fighting Back

The progressive women newly elected and sworn into office—including three non-incumbent senators and 16 representatives—offer a glimmer of “bright hope” as the country enters a second Trump administration.

All of these women know that they’re entering a complicated political landscape, one that’s heavily partisan and disheartening to many of their constituents. They’re also experienced and driven, ready to work across the aisle as necessary while remaining dedicated to important causes, from protecting abortion rights and supporting the LGBTQ+ community to advocating for gun control, judicial reform, affordable healthcare and public education. These women come from all walks of life, sectors of the workforce and backgrounds. Some worked retail or food service jobs to pay their way through school. Others have been lifelong public servants or dedicated themselves to volunteering. They’ve been working physicians, engineers, attorneys, climate change activists, CIA analysts, mayors, state representatives and senators, education advocates, executive directors of nonprofits and small-business owners. They are Black, white, Latina and Middle Eastern. Some are proud members of the LGBTQ+ community. Many are from working-class backgrounds. Some are mothers and even grandmothers. Several are first-generation college graduates or the children of immigrants.

N.C. Democrats Rally for Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs After Opponent Jefferson Griffin Denies Her Win

Republicans are once again denying election results after a defeat, subverting democracy to try to hold onto power.

This November, abortion-rights voters in North Carolina hoped to reelect Supreme Court justice Allison Riggs. She ran against Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, who ruled in a case in 2023 that life begins at conception. Griffin and other Republicans are fighting to have more than 60,000 ballots thrown out, hoping that challenging thousands of voter registrations will help him gain the Supreme Court seat.

‘Guerilla Storytelling’ and Joyful Resistance: Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández and the DWC’s Plan to Combat Project 2025

The Democratic Women’s Caucus (DWC) this week announced the election of Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) as DWC’s chair for the 119th Congress, which starts in January. Leger Fernández served as the DWC vice chair in the 118th Congress and will now lead the largest ever DWC, which includes a record-breaking 96 members in the new Congress. 

Ms. executive editor, Kathy Spillar, sat down with Rep. Leger Fernández, to discuss priorities for the DWC—both to fight back against what will be repeated attacks by the Trump administration on women’s rights and programs benefiting women and their children, as well as strategies for moving forward toward equality. 

Mifepristone Access, and What Comes Next for the Medication Abortion Drug

The future of mifepristone access is up in the air on multiple fronts right now—just five months after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s treatment of the medication abortion drug.

Now, though, Donald Trump has won election to the presidency—and questions about what his new administration will do to federal policy surrounding the drug are front and center.

The Same Conservative Playbook That Overturned Roe Is Now Coming for Trans Healthcare

2024 marks the first time in several years that the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear a significant case relating to abortion rights—but the question of the constitutional right to bodily autonomy remains on the docket. On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case challenging Tennessee’s ban on healthcare for trans youth. The case is the first of its kind to be heard by the nation’s highest court—and as such will likely set an important precedent for future trans rights cases.

“The Court has the opportunity and duty to apply the law fairly, which means returning medical decisions to where they rightfully belong: to parents, their children and their doctors.”

Here’s What the Biden Administration Can Do About Abortion Before Trump Takes Office

Though President-elect Donald Trump has waffled on how his administration might handle abortion policy, antiabortion activists are already exerting a pressure campaign for the incoming Trump administration to take a hardline approach and undo many of the policies set in place by the Biden administration.

Still, with two months left before Biden leaves office, there are some areas where legal scholars and attorneys suggest the outgoing administration could still take action, even if the impact may be narrow or short-lived.

Through the Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative, Jhody Polk Is Building Legal Empowerment from the Inside Out

Jhody Polk was arrested, convicted and jailed in 2007. She served the majority of the seven-year sentence at Gadsden Correctional Facility in Quincy, Fla., where she met a group of women called Law Clerks who had been trained to help others: doing legal research, filing appeals and applications in addition to assisting other incarcerated women with the paperwork needed to request a pardon, early release or lodge a complaint about dangerous conditions or abuse by correction officers or others.

Although all of the Clerks at Gadsden were serving life sentences and she was not, Polk says that the prison’s librarian—a civilian employee—encouraged her to join their ranks. She did, studying to become a “jailhouse lawyer,” a shift she considers life-changing.