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MORE THAN A MAGAZINE, A MOVEMENT
Today at Ms. | August 18, 2025
With Today at Ms. —a daily newsletter from the team here at Ms. magazine—our top stories are delivered straight to your inbox every afternoon, so you’ll be informed and ready to fight back.
RFK Jr.’s HHS Slashes Healthcare Access and Safety Net, Putting Both Citizens *and* Immigrants at Risk [[link removed]]
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(Najlah Feanny / Corbis via Getty Images)
By Mary Giovagnoli | The Trump administration has pulled the rug out from under America’s safety net: In mid-July, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Education and Agriculture issued notices barring many legal immigrants, as well as those without legal status, from using numerous public services funded with federal dollars. Should these policies go into effect—reversing 30 years of law—critical programs including Head Start, community mental health services, suicide hotlines and emergency housing assistance could be shuttered, and millions, including U.S. citizens, could be denied help when they need it most.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the policies necessary to end the diversion of “hardworking Americans’ tax dollars to incentivize illegal immigration.” A coalition of state attorneys general has called the revision an unmitigated crisis in public health and safety, bringing suit to block the changes, which are temporarily on hold until mid-September.
The new rules mark a dangerous and seismic shift in interpretation of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, legislation born of a broader agenda to vilify the poor and others accused of gaming the system.
At its core, this is an extension of the administration’s relentless desire to close the border—a tool to sow discord and consolidate power.
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Gender-Based Violence Is Everywhere. What Will It Take to Break the Cycle? [[link removed]]
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(JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)
By Carmen Rios | In the fourth episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward , advocates and experts name the sociopolitical factors that fuel gender-based violence, and outline what it will take—in the courts, legislatures and our communities—to finally break the cycle.
“What does it mean that so many women, in particular, have to shoulder the burdens of violence and abuse in our day-to-day lives?”
“We’re in the middle of this terrible backlash because patriarchy does feel so threatened … It’s terrible, and it’s getting worse, but it’s because we have been so successful so far.”
Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward , “How Feminists are Breaking the Cycle of Gender-Based Violence and Harassment (with Ellen Sweet, Jane Caputi, Vanessa Tyson, Victoria Nourse, and Debra Katz)” on Spotify [[link removed]] , Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Why Is the U.S. Paying to Burn Birth Control? [[link removed]]
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(Luc Claessen / Belga / AFP via Getty Images)
By Jennifer Weiss-Wolf | The birth control blaze was set to take place in July, but there is no evidence it has happened yet. Reports indicate that there is another warehouse of USAID-purchased contraceptives in the United Arab Emirates, which is why I am writing this today; and why we need to get loud and stay loud.
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Listen to the latest podcast from Ms. Studios! The latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward is out now on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
This episode traces 50-plus years of feminist writing and advocacy focused on naming, confronting, and preventing sexual harassment, rape culture and intimate partner violence—and the urgency of acknowledging the violence of patriarchy, white supremacy and other social forces in our everyday lives and building a future without fear.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
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