Tag: Young Women and Girls

Will Young Women Be Her Superpower? Harris Energizes Young Voters, Who Support National Abortion Rights

During her short campaign for the White House, Vice President Kamala Harris has reinvigorated the nation’s youngest voters—particularly women under 30, who support her by a massive 3:1 margin, according to a new national poll released Tuesday by the Institute of Politics at Harvard.

A longtime advocate for abortion rights, Harris appears to be benefiting from Americans’ overwhelming support for restoring the protections lost after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Abortion has been a motivating factor in elections the past two years and is likely to be so again, especially in states where abortion initiatives are on the ballot. The key issue already has been at the center of the presidential campaign, with Trump taking credit for the Court’s ruling and Harris laying blame for the resulting abortion bans at his feet.

For Most Americans, Election Day Is in October

There’s about seven weeks till Election Day, but voters in most states—except those in Mississippi, Alabama and New Hampshire—will have the opportunity to vote in mere weeks.

For some states, the last day to register to vote is less than a month away. Currently 21 states and D.C. allow voter registration on Election Day, meaning that you can wait until Nov. 5 to register and vote. However, many states require registration as early as the first week in October. 

Do Parents Have the Right to Control Their Daughters’ Sexuality?

Title X, the federally funded family planning program that provides confidential family planning services to teens has once again come under attack. In separate lawsuits, two Texas parents have alleged that by allowing their daughters to obtain contraceptives in the absence of their consent, the program has effectively divested them of their “God-given right to ensure their daughters remain virgins until marriage.”

This attack is on Title X is nothing new. The rights of parents to control the upbringing of their children has long been a rallying cry of Christian conservatives as they battle against the ostensible indoctrination of their children “with a secular worldview that amount[s] to a godless religion.” As they see it, a particularly pernicious aspect of this “godless religion” is the belief that  “’teen promiscuity is … normal and acceptable conduct.”

Over the course of four decades, courts have consistently held that although Title X encourages parental involvement, it does not require it based on the recognition that “confidentiality [is] a crucial factor in attracting teenagers to Title X clinics and reducing incidence of teenage pregnancies.”

The Beauty of Being ‘Young and Dumb’: A Review of ‘My Old Ass’

My Old Ass
starts like a classic teen comedy but resolves with a more poignant message about growing up—no matter what age you are.

In many ways, this story seems a familiar one about discovering oneself and falling in love. Yet the film resists a traditionally simplistic message about sexuality, gender and love—and in doing so, My Old Ass is a refreshing new take on the genre.

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.”

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.

Youth Are Protecting Our Democracy. We Need to Invest in Them.

For centuries, girls and gender-expansive youth have been engaging in democracy through their communities, developing social contracts and mobilizing for civic engagement.

Despite their crucial role, they remain undervalued and underfunded. Grantmakers for Girls of Color (G4GC) is working to change this by mobilizing resources for youth-led organizations across the United States. Investing in these young leaders and their initiatives will foster a more equitable and just democracy.

“Just because we can’t vote yet doesn’t mean we don’t care!”

(This essay is part of a Women & Democracy package focused on who’s funding the women and LGBTQ people on the frontlines of democracy. We’re manifesting a new era for philanthropy—one that centers feminism. The need is real: Funding for women and girls amounts to less than 2 percent of all philanthropic giving; for women of color, it’s less than 1 percent. Explore the “Feminist Philanthropy Is Essential to Democracy” collection.)

A New Tennessee Law Claims to Protect Parental Rights, Leaving Teens Without Routine Healthcare

In addition to enacting a strict abortion ban and trafficking law to punish those who assist minors with abortion access, Tennessee has also taken Justice Thomas’ injunction to heart that the time has come to reassess constitutional protections for birth control. Towards this end, on July 1, the state’s newly enacted Family Rights and Responsibilities Act aimed at bolstering parental authority went into effect with minmal fanfare.

Public healthcare providers may no longer provide teens with routine sexual and reproductive healthcare, including birth control, pregnancy testing and treatment of STIs, in the absence of parental consent.