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Plaintiffs Damla Karsan, Austin Dennard and Samantha Casiano outside the Travis County Courthouse in Austin on July 20, 2023. (Suzanne Cordeiro / AFP via Getty Images)

BY  ROXY SZAL | Late on Friday, Judge Jessica Mangrum ruled in favor of the 15 plaintiffs suing Texas for the state’s abortion bans, who almost died during pregnancy due to grave complications. Mangrum’s ruling granted a temporary injunction to block Texas’ abortion bans, but only as they apply to severe pregnancy complications, including life-threatening fetal diagnoses. The ruling says that doctors can use their own “good faith judgment” to determine when to offer abortion care, without fear of prosecution. 

Mangrum also ruled that Texas’ Senate Bill 8—the six-week abortion ban with the “bounty hunter” provision that allows citizens to sue anyone who aids and abets abortion—is unconstitutional. The ruling is the first blow to the law since it took effect in 2021.

The narrow victory was short-lived, as the state of Texas has already appealed the ruling to the Texas supreme court. According to Texas state law, as soon as an appeal is filed, a ruling is stayed.

Still, the plaintiffs and the Center for Reproductive Rights, who filed the lawsuit, are celebrating the decision. “This is exactly why we did this,” said lead plaintiff Amanda Zurawski. “This is why we put ourselves through the pain and the trauma over and over again to share our experiences and the harms caused by these awful laws.”

(Click here to read more) 

Qween Jean, a costume designer and LGBTQ rights activist, helps to lead the annual Queer Liberation March on June 25, 2023, in New York City. (Andrew Lichtenstein / Corbis via Getty Images)

BY PAMELA SHIFMAN | Connecting the dots between attacks on abortion rights, trans communities and communities of color—and tying them to the democratic freedoms of everyone—is not just good policy, it’s a path to victory.

(Click here to read more)

From left, top row: Tionda Bradley, Rajah McQueen, Sacoya Cooper, and Nefertiri Trader. From left, bottom row: Lashaya Stine, Diamond Bradley, Arianna Fitts, and Kierra Coles.

BY CAPITAL B STAFF | The case of Carlethia “Carlee” Russell has taken an even more unsettling turn as she apologized through her attorney and admitted that she was not kidnapped in a hoax that flooded social media and dominated national news. The headlines that Russell received were not the norm for missing Black people, especially Black women, who disappear or are kidnapped. It was an “unprecedented” level of news and social media coverage, said Natalie Wilson, co-founder of the Black and Missing Foundation.

(Click here to read more) 

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

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In early June 2023, for the second time in two months, Trump was indicted—this time on 37 felony counts for allegedly mishandling sensitive, classified government materials and obstruction of justice. What does this most recent indictment mean for Trump, the 2024 elections, and the future of American democracy as a whole?

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