Hi John,

I’m allergic to the month of April.

Physically, for the obvious reasons (pollen, mold, the fact I live in a city someone decided to build on a stinking, sweating swamp).

But mentally, I’ve been congested too. Waking up in a fog, with a pounding headache, wondering what the hell is going on in our country, in our Congress, and in our court systems.

Let me be your Benadryl as I debrief and de-congest everything that’s gone down this month.

Medication Abortion Is… Not Banned?

On April 7, extremist Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas issued a decision trying to eliminate access to mifepristone—a drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A.) that is safer than Tylenol and used in over half of all abortions in the United States.  

This ruling was baseless and lawless. Last Friday, April 21, the Supreme Court blocked the decision, which is good news. For now. Mifepristone will still be available for medication abortions while we wait for the case to be heard in the lower court and through future appeals.

While this is the outcome we wanted, we should not be in a position where anti-abortion extremists and partisan judges can blatantly disregard science, laws, and the will of the people to advance their dangerous agenda.

Our democratic systems are not functioning—and we know extremists will continue to push our country to the breaking point while trying to ban every kind of abortion care.

If You’re Straight, Your Fertility Treatments Are Covered. If You’re Queer, You’re Out of Luck.

June knew within 5 seconds of meeting Mara that she was her person.

So, they went out for a drink. And then another drink. And then a five-hour walk around San Francisco’s Marina until somehow, the sun was rising just as the Golden Gate Bridge came into view.  

Since that night, the now-married couple has been inseparable—and immediately after their honeymoon, they began trying to have kids.

But Aetna, their insurance company, uses discriminatory coverage policies that require LGBTQI+ people seeking to get pregnant through fertility treatments to pay more and wait longer to access the fertility benefits covered by their health plans.

On April 17, we filed a nationwide class action lawsuit with Mara Berton as the plaintiff, with the hopes of ending this discrimination, not just for Mara and June, but for any queer couple who wants to grow their family—without being punished for who they are or who they love.

Must-Do's:

• Tell your senators to confirm judicial nominees Nancy Abudu and Julie Rikelman, who have spent their entire careers protecting the rights of everyone, no matter their income, race, or background.
• Tell the courts to stop the attack on access to mifepristone.
• Send a direct comment to the Department of Education, urging them to protect trans students from discrimination in school sports.

Must-Reads:

This month, I’m going rogue again, and stealing a wonderful idea from my colleague Hallie (who, fun fact, helps get this newsletter 🙏 out to you every month).

For decades but especially over the past few years, extremists have been banning thousands of books, with the intention of eradicating our country’s rich diversity, and creating a singular, white, and straight story of who an American is or should be.

Well, today, I want you to tap into your 13-year-old, you-can’t-tell-me-what-to-do self… and read (with a smuggled flashlight under contraband covers) Beloved by Toni Morrison, a novel that interrogates our country’s history of racism and slavery, and how sexual abuse was wielded as a tool of power to subjugate and terrorize Black women.

Stories are the very fabric by which we understand one another. If we pretend racism don’t exist in works of fiction, we will ignore it—and enable it—in real life, too.

And I think that’s exactly what these bigots are aiming for.

This Gets a Bit Personal*

*Content warning for sexual assault

Here’s why stories matter.

My mom and I are close (as in, watch Vampire Diaries together on a Friday night while dipping Oreos into red wine).

We talk and text about everything (ex-boyfriends, depression and hair loss probably caused by ex-boyfriends, etc.), but when I first told my mom that I had been assaulted, she said something that shocked me:

“Oh, that happened to me, too. We just didn’t talk about it back then.”

In that moment, I wished I had been my mom’s college roommate, so I could ask her what she has never once failed to ask me: “Are you okay?”

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and what I want for all survivors, this month and always, is to know that they are not alone.

My colleagues at the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund have written moving pieces about what drew them to fight against sexual harassment; and my impeccable colleague Shreya has wielded her pen against Law and Order: SVU, calling attention to the fact that not just the stories we tell—but how we tell them—matters.

Feminist Moment of Joy

“We lost my mother in February 2020 at age 77. Diego Maldonado lost his compass, his reason to get up every morning, and his beautiful nurse of a wife, Anne. I didn’t realize, until after she was gone, that they were both caregivers to each other.”

April is Care Workers Appreciation Month, and my colleagues have taken pen to paper to express their love and gratitude for the caregivers who have impacted and shaped their lives.

Get ready to cry—but this time, not from allergies.

Thank y’all for sticking with me through this doozy of a newsletter, and here’s to a better, brighter May!

Gemma Simoes Decarvalho
she/her/hers
Writer and Editor
National Women’s Law Center