From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a march for abortion rights in front of City Hall in Los Angeles, on April 15, 2023. “This moment, I believe, is the next phase of a movement,” Harris said at the speech. “And we have all been called to help lead this movement, to fight on behalf of all of the people who have so much at stake.” (Apu Gomes / AFP via Getty Images)

BY CARRIE N. BAKER and ROXY SZAL | As the Supreme Court weighs its options on the abortion pill mifepristone, abortion and women’s rights supporters across the U.S. are protesting the latest efforts to restrict access to abortion. Protests took place this weekend in small and large cities, including Amarillo and Dallas, Texas; Chicago; Detroit; Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Calif.; New York City; Seattle; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Tallahassee, Fla.; and Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital.

The continued contradictory orders of various courts have escalated the issue to the Supreme Court. A decision could come any day.

The dueling rulings on mifepristone are as follows:

• Friday, April 7: In a much-awaited decision, Trump-appointed federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the Northern District of Texas ruled that the FDA improperly approved mifepristone—setting off a chain of responses from various other courts.
• Friday, April 7: Less than an hour later, Judge Thomas O. Rice of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington issued an injunction blocking the FDA from “altering the status quo and rights as it relates to the availability of mifepristone.”
• Wednesday, April 12: The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on mifepristone limiting its use up to just seven weeks of pregnancy, which reproductive advocates warn would significantly impair access to abortion. (The appeals court concluded that the plaintiffs had waited too long to challenge the original approval of mifepristone in 2000, but were timely in their challenges to modifications of the approval in 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Those modifications included allowing use of the medication through 10 weeks of pregnancy, lowering the recommended dosage to decrease side effects, allowing nurses and midwives to administer mifepristone, decreasing the number of appointments required to prescribe the medication from three to one, allowing the medication to be prescribed by telemedicine and mail, approving a generic version of mifepristone produced by GenBioPro and allowing certified pharmacies to dispense mifepristone.)
• Thursday, April 13: Rice ruled that the FDA must maintain full access to mifepristone in 17 states plus Washington, D.C.—a response to a lawsuit filed by attorneys general of those jurisdictions.
• Friday, April 14: An order from the Supreme Court preserved the status quo on abortion pills until this Wednesday, giving the justices time to study the case.

The Supreme Court has two options: allow the Fifth Circuit ruling to take effect, or maintain the previous status quo on mifepristone.

(Click here to read more)

Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:

• "How Janelle Jones’s Story About Black Women and the Economy Caught On” — New York Times
• “The Logic of Slavery Reparations” — Guardian
• "Virtual Reality Promised us a New World. Instead, It's Become a Breeding Ground for Harassment.” — ELLE

Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts + Spotify.

In 2022, women voters across the U.S. made their voices heard, demanding access to safe reproductive healthcare. And yet, state legislatures—which purport to represent the people—continue to attack reproductive rights, proposing increasingly restrictive bans on abortion. In the face of these challenges, how can we work towards a government that truly represents us—and protects us?

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