[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
May 8, 2024
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.
Most Americans Support Abortion. The Political System Is Failing Us. [[link removed]]
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Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2024, as the Court heard arguments on whether to limit the use of mifepristone, a medication that’s used in nearly two-thirds of all abortions nationally. (Michael Nigro / Pacific Press / LightRocket via Getty Images)
BY STEPH STERLING | After the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent and ended the constitutional right to abortion, it unleashed a new era of abortion bans in nearly two dozen states. Now even more extreme policies are the new reality—like the Alabama Supreme Court banning IVF. Just last month, the Supreme Court heard arguments on whether people experiencing medical emergencies in states with abortion bans can be blocked from receiving life-saving care. And it’s going to keep getting worse.
Following the Dobbs ruling, abortion advocates turned to ballot initiatives to protect or expand access to abortion in states across the country. These measures are an important way for voters to express their will and secure rights in the face of ongoing attacks. But the fact that voters have to rely on ballot initiatives, rather than being able to rely on their elected representatives, highlights a powerful truth about America today: The structure of our political system prevents the will of our feminist, multiracial majority from being translated into policies—like access to legal abortion—that most Americans want from the government.
Most Americans want abortion to be safe and legal. About two-thirds (65 percent) oppose the 2022 Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, and 62 percent think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In a functioning democracy, government policies would reflect this popular support. But our political system—our governing institutions and electoral rules—fails to translate the public’s strong support for legal abortion into policy.
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Drawing the Line: How Gerrymandering Determines Whose Votes Have Power [[link removed]] Texas AG Blocks Harris County Guaranteed Income Program—A Setback for Racial and Economic Justice [[link removed]]
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Backsliding Democracies and Women’s Rights in the U.S. and Around the Globe [[link removed]] How Derivatives Blew Up Our Economy—And Just Might Again [[link removed]]
What we're reading
Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:
*
“Texas
man
files
legal
action
to
probe
ex-partner’s
out-of-state
abortion”
—
The
Washington
Post
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"We
all
thought
women’s
rights
were
a
done
deal.
We
thought
wrong.”
—
Michigan
Advance
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[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]] .
In this episode, taped in front of a live audience at Georgetown Law in Washington, D.C., a panel of health and legal experts unpack what’s happening around the world—from Gaza, to Afghanistan and beyond. How can governments and NGOs best act to preserve health, enforce legal norms, and protect humanity in times of conflict, and what can we learn from the doctors and human rights advocates who have been on the ground in these situations?
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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