[[link removed]] Weekly Digest
Weekly Digest
Letter from an Editor | December 9, 2023
Dear John,
In a rare abortion rights victory out of Texas this week, a state court judge granted a pregnant woman her request for an emergency abortion. The plaintiff, Kate Cox, had received a diagnosis that her fetus has a chromosomal anomaly, trisomy 18, incompatible with life, and her physician had recommended an abortion. Carrying the pregnancy to term would put Cox’s health and future fertility at great risk, including gestational hypertension, diabetes and other complications. But thanks to Texas’s strict abortion bans, she was unable to obtain an abortion—despite the fact that continuing the pregnancy is putting her life and health at risk.
“It is not a matter of if I will have to say goodbye to my baby, but when,” Cox said in a statement. “I’m trying to do what is best for my baby and myself, but the state of Texas is making us both suffer.”
On Thursday, Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble issued a temporary restraining order that will allow Cox to receive an abortion. "The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice,” said Gamble.
The ruling applies exclusively to Cox, as well as her husband and her OB/GYN Dr. Damla Karsan, both of whom could have potentially been prosecuted under the S.B. 8 “bounty hunter” abortion ban. It comes just days after oral arguments were held before the Texas Supreme Court in a case brought by a number of Texas women who found themselves in similar situations as Cox—but who were denied abortions, and suffered medical complications as a result. As I wrote in last week’s newsletter, the case seeks to clarify the scope of Texas’s “medical emergency” exception under its state abortion bans. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks or months.
To go more in-depth on the latest abortion news, check out the articles below—or, pick up a copy of the Ms. Winter issue—available for order in our store, and on newsstands in January. In our cover story, investigative reporter Amanda Robb takes you inside a violent attack on an abortion clinic in the nation’s capital. Her article reveals, for the first time, how a clinic invasion was planned and executed—piecing together court testimony, FBI agents’ forensic analysis of the social media and cell phone records, footage obtained from the clinic’s security cameras and responding police officers’ body cameras, as well as the extremists’ own Facebook livestream. Explore Robb’s piece and so much more in the Winter issue.
At a conference this week at the United Nations headquarters in New York, people who witnessed the horrors of what happened on Oct. 7 in the brutal Hamas attacks in Israel shared harrowing firsthand accounts. Feminists have long been sounding the alarm on rape as a weapon of war—and the testimonies are spurring an urgent conversation once again, reminding us that the battle to secure justice for the victims of rape through war crimes prosecutions continues to this day. We’ve curated some Ms. reporting from the last decade, to help readers better understand the feminist fight to designate rape as a war crime and a crime against humanity. And we will continue to monitor the current conflict in Gaza and other conflicts around the world in which women are being disproportionately targeted and victimized in violation of international law.
Finally, be sure to check out our Torn Apart podcast series, which concluded this week. In the final episode, Prof. Dorothy Roberts makes the case for the abolition of the child welfare system, and lays out a vision for the more just and equitable society that could replace it. Listen now at MsMagazine.com/series/torn-apart/ [[link removed]] , or wherever you get your podcasts.
Onward,
[[link removed]]
Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor
This Week's Must-Reads from Ms.
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Texas Judge Allows Kate Cox to Abort Fetus With Lethal Abnormality [[link removed]] Rape as a Weapon of War: A Ms. Reading List [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
The Constitution as a Homicide Pact [[link removed]] Ms. Magazine’s Prison and Domestic Violence Shelter Program: Let Women on the Inside Know They Are Not Alone [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on
Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
As various wars and conflicts continue to mount around the world, from Ukraine to Gaza, to Sudan and beyond, we’re wondering: where are the women at the negotiating table? The number of women and girls living in conflict-affected countries continues to mount, reaching 614 million people in 2022—a 50-percent increase from 2017. What do governments and NGOs need to do to make sure that women’s needs do not fall through the cracks?
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms . has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you [[link removed]] . We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity .
[link removed] [[link removed]]
READ THE REST [[link removed]] | GET THE MAGAZINE [[link removed]] | SUPPORT MS. [[link removed]]
[[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Enjoy this newsletter? Forward to a friend!
Was this email forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe [[link removed]] .

Ms. Magazine
1600 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 801
Arlington, VA 22209
United States
Manage your email subscriptions here [[link removed]]
If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please
unsubscribe: [link removed] .