Hi John,

Here at the National Women’s Law Center, we’re celebrating a few things:

1. It’s Friday (obvi).
2. We made it through January (almost).
3. Oh, and we got a HUGE win in our birth control case against the University of Notre Dame and the Trump administration (YUP).

IN CONTROL: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ALL THINGS BIRTH CONTROL

We’ve been fighting the University of Notre Dame and the Trump administration for a while now for illegally teaming up in a backroom deal to deny Notre Dame students and staff the birth control coverage they’re entitled to under the Affordable Care Act. And even though it feels like we’ve been waiting to find out what would happen to this case as long as we’ve been waiting for the latest season of Insecure, we finally got a decision!

WE WON.

The University of Notre Dame and the Trump administration tried to get the case dismissed, arguing it shouldn’t move forward. The judge sided with us, allowing the case — and our efforts to get the students at Notre Dame access to the birth control they’re legally entitled to — to move forward. The judge also agreed with us that you can’t make federal law in backroom deals (again...obvi), and with most of our arguments against the Trump-Pence administration’s birth control rules.

Speaking of, the day after we got the good news in the Notre Dame case, the Supreme Court decided it would take on the question of the Trump-Pence birth control rules. That means we’ll likely have a ruling before the end of June. The decision will rule on whether or not Trump’s awful rules that would let just about any CEO or university president deny you your birth control coverage can go into effect. Don’t worry — you’ll hear from us long before then on how to take action because we know how much access to birth control means to you and your community. And we’ll keep fighting so that everyone has access to birth control through our Notre Dame case.

• READ: Learn more about our case and what the Supreme Court decision to take on the birth control rules mean.

SAME E.R.A, NEW ERA 🎉🎉

Virginia ratified the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) this week, becoming the 38th — and final — state needed to pass a constitutional amendment (wo)mandating gender justice! We love to hear it.

But what we don’t love to hear is that the Trump administration is arguing the ERA can’t go into effect because of a missed a deadline for ratification that Congress passed. The Trump administration has tried time and time again to stifle women and their families, from attacking their health care, including birth control and abortion, and their health care providers, to cutting SNAP, to undermining equal pay initiatives. Of course now they’re trying to stop the ERA. But we won’t let them era-se us (had to).

The Trump administration can’t put a deadline on gender justice. Not now, not ever. Tell Congress: lift the deadline on the ratification of the ERA. We can’t afford to wait for equality.

• TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress: Gender justice doesn’t have an expiration date. Lift the deadline on ratifying the ERA.
• READ: Virginia is the 38th state to ratify the ERA.

Must-Dos:

• Twenty women have come forward saying that Russell Simmons, a powerful person in the music industry, abused and sexually assaulted them. Send a message of support to these survivors that we hear them and we’re with them. Our president, Fatima Goss Graves, will be delivering the messages to some of the survivors.

Must-Reads:

• Abortion must be safe, legal, and accessible. That’s why California requires health insurance plans to cover abortion — but now the Trump administration is threatening to take away California’s federal funding if it doesn’t stop. 🙄
• Here in D.C. we may not have any representation in the Senate, but we do have an incredible bill moving forward that would protect doctors and nurses who provide abortion care and often face discrimination because of it. The bill would ensure that they can’t be fired simply for providing or having provided abortion care, among other important protections.
• Transition-related care saves lives. So why did the South Dakota House of Representatives just pass a bill making it a felony for medical professionals to provide gender-affirming care for trans youth?

Your Feminist Moment of Joy

When Katie Sowers was a kid, she kept a journal. She wrote about how she wanted to grow up to be a good football player. Today, she’s not a player, but she is the first woman and openly gay coach to appear in a Super Bowl, on behalf of the San Francisco 49ers. She’ll be with the team this weekend as they look for their last win of the season, but in our minds, Katie’s already won. Out of all things Super Bowl, we think you’re the most ~super~, Katie.

Still waiting for that new season of Insecure,
Hannah Finnie
Senior Manager of Campaign and Digital Strategies
National Women’s Law Center