Hi John,

There is a lot going on this week, so I’ll just say this: it’s week who knows what of quarantine, you’re doing great. It’s also Star Wars Day. I haven’t seen Star Wars, but May the Fourth be with you or something like that. Let’s dive in!

Featured: Lose Control for Birth Control!

AKA, we’re holding a virtual party/rally TOMORROW in advance of Wednesday’s Supreme Court case on birth control! We’re going to dance! We’re going to rally! We’re going to have fun! While recognizing I just sounded dangerously close to an overzealous Soulcycle instructor, we really are planning to have a good time rallying in support of birth control. If we’re going to have to constantly fight for our rights, we might as well make it fun, right?

Tomorrow we’ll hear from the lawyer who’s protecting birth control in front of the Supreme Court, have tunes from DJ Hannah Bronfman (name competition is tough but since she’s a DJ, I think she wins), and have a host of storytellers, partner organizations, and elected officials who have all come together to say: #HandsOffMyBC. RSVP today for access to the Zoom link! You’ll get the link and access to some snazzy new Zoom backgrounds. P.S: Zoom maxes out at 1,000 people, so we recommend you be like my mom and RSVP early (yes, this is really in her calendar, and yes, I really tried to stop her)! If you’re person 1,001, don’t sweat it, you can watch it streamed live on our Facebook page.

Judgment Day

No, not the movie. Here’s the deal: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is diverting Senate time from dealing with the worst pandemic in recent history in order to confirm more extremist judges. Yes, you unfortunately read that correctly. Here are some real things he’s truly actually recently said:

• “As soon as we get back in session, we’ll start confirming judges again. We need to have hearings, and we need to confirm judges. The pandemic will not prevent us from achieving that goal." As an aside, this pandemic has depleted my energy for accomplishing literally any of my goals, why is Mitch the one who still has energy?!
• “Of course, we will go back to judges…My motto for the rest of the year is leave no vacancy behind.” Cool cool cool.

And of course, those aren’t just words — McConnell has already started working to confirm judges.

Mitch, I didn’t think I had to say this, but now’s not the time to push lifetime judicial appointments through the confirmation process because, well, there’s kind of this whole global pandemic going on. So, here’s something we’re truly actually really saying: no more judicial appointments during the COVID-19 crisis. Say it with us and email your senators today!

We De(wo)mand More

Yes, I wanted that pun to be part of the campaign. Yes, I was overruled.

Anyway! A few weeks ago we here at NWLC put Congress on notice: Women are at the front lines of this crisis. Women are bearing the brunt of the pandemic, from disproportionately occupying front-line jobs, to taking on even more caretaking duties than normal*, to suffering from vast inequities in the health care system that affect all women, but particularly Black and indigenous women. Congress’ “solutions” have not reflected this fact. (And yes, it’s a fact).

Last week, alongside some other pretty incredible organizations, we launched the We Demand More campaign. Of course, what we’re really demanding is equality, since our government’s response has failed to grant women and their families resources and support equal the level of harm we’ve experienced. Now it’s your turn: demand more today by calling on Congress to start taking the way this crisis is harming women seriously.

*Just feel compelled to say the division of caretaking in this country was never normal.

Must-Dos:

• Watch: Last week we brought together a panel of our experts to parse through all of the different things Congress is doing in response to COVID-19, and what all that means for you.
• Listen: It’s Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month! We’re kicking it off by listening to this sweet sweet playlist of AANHPI artists our co-workers put together. Look out for forthcoming blogs, recipes, and book recommendations too, and in the meantime check out some of our content from past years!
• Save the date: More birth control content incoming! After the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on Wednesday morning on birth control, tune in at 8 p.m. eastern to hear from experts from us, Demand Justice, and the Center for Popular Democracy about how the case went and what we’re expecting!
• Pop, lockscreen, and drop it!: We’ve got a brand new Abortion Actually-themed lockscreen you can download and save as your phone’s background, and we promise it won’t have any of those weird formatting issues that happen every time I try to post a picture to my Instagram story.
• Give: Speaking of moms, if you need a Mother’s Day gift for the maternal or parental figure in your life, consider a donation to a certain gender justice organization that fights for the same feminist values they imparted in you. We’ve even got ecards you can send, since so many of us aren’t able to be with family in person these days.

Must-Reads:

• Workers accused Walmart of denying them pregnancy accommodations. We represented them (alongside our great co-counsel!). And the judge in our case just finalized the settlement agreement to the tune of $14 million dollars, becoming one of the first-ever pregnancy accommodation lawsuits to settle as a class-action.
• “Governors can reopen all they like. Without child care, parents can’t work.”
• Burying the lede: what happens when women lead. (That’s not the title of the article, I just really think it should be).

Feminist Moment of Joy: We unionized, y’all.

We’ve long believed that labor organizing and the gender justice movement go hand in hand, and now we’re excited to be living and working at the intersection of these two incredible movements because we just unionized! We’re pretty dang excited.

In even more solidarity than usual (you know, because of the whole union thing),
Hannah Finnie (she/her/hers)
Senior Manager of Campaign and Digital Strategies
National Women’s Law Center