Hi John,
When I first worked at the Law Center from 2018 to 2020, getting to write our newsletter was the best part of my job. It meant I got to combine two of my favorite things: writing about issues I care about and connecting with our incredible supporters (you!).
Every response in our inbox cheering on a recent win energized me and sparked a sense of collective power. Every person who took the time to reply with a personal story detailing how our issues show up in their lives made me feel like I was part of something bigger than myself.
Now, five years and one law degree later, I’m back at the Law Center as our Writer/Editor. This time, equipped with a better understanding of how the law works and how it can be wielded as a tool for justice—or a weapon for injustice.
And I’m so excited to be back in your inboxes every month, navigating this complex, frustrating, sometimes beautiful world together.
What Is Pronatalism and Why Do I Keep Hearing About It?
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Home-made granola. Picture-perfect large (white, straight, cis) families. Stay-at-home moms and working dads fulfilling “traditional” household and gender roles.
This is what pronatalism looks like , and it’s been taking over Instagram feeds and conservative policy agendas. As my incredible colleague Sydney broke it down [[link removed]] : pronatalism is the belief that our society, including our government, has a duty to encourage people to have more babies. These are the folks behind “baby bonuses” (money for every child you have) and “motherhood medals” (rewarding parents who have a certain number of children).
Let’s be super clear: making it easier for people who want to have kids to be able to reach that goal is a good thing. But the key phrase here is “want to have kids,” which is not part of pronatalists’ vocabulary (see: supporting restrictions on birth control and abortion). And putting government in the business of encouraging people to have children is dangerous—that’s a decision for you and your family alone, not the government.
What’s more, even though they won’t say it aloud, pronatalists care a heck of a lot about who is having kids. Because they’re not making it easier for queer and trans families to have kids, they’re not making it easier for low-paid people or non-European-immigrants to have kids, and they’re certainly not making it easier for people who fall outside their traditional, Christian, white worldview to have kids.
Need proof? Here are just a few of the other policies pronatalists support:
* Restricting access to birth control [[link removed]] and abortion [[link removed]] (no, thank you!);
* Rolling back gender protections in the workplace [[link removed]] (once again, no!);
* Cutting the basic needs programs [[link removed]] like SNAP and Medicaid [[link removed]] that make it possible for low-paid people to have families (nope!).
Behind the homemade sourdough and freshly grown produce, the pronatalist movement marks a worrying resurgence of a limited, constrictive worldview of the role women should play in society. We’re keeping an eye on it, and you should too. Read my colleague Sydney’s blog post [[link removed]] diving into more of the details (and if you’re thirsting for more after that, you can read her brief too [[link removed]] !).
Must-Dos and Must-Reads
* Remember how we just talked about the regressive movement to pull women back into traditional roles and outside of the workforce? I’m sure that has ~absolutely nothing~ to do with the news that the gender wage gap just widened for the second year in a row (the first time that’s ever happened since the U.S. started tracking that data). This backslide also affected Black women who now make just 65 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men. READ MORE. [[link removed]]
* Public pressure WORKS. The Department of Energy issued some direct final rules that threatened to roll back civil rights protections for women, girls, and communities of color (and all without going through the standard rulemaking process). After public pushback in the form of 12,500 comments against these rules, the Department withdrew one of the rules. READ OUR STATEMENT. [[link removed]]
Pop Culture, Meet Popular Policies
Grab your popcorn and lock in: it’s time to talk about my favorite topic of conversation (pop culture) and what it means for society.
Today I want to tell y’all about Dying for Sex , which begins when its main character, Molly (played by Michelle Williams), finds out her cancer has not only come back—it’s terminal. She uses the revelation to completely reconfigure her life in pursuit of the dreams she’s been afraid to follow. I won’t spoil what comes next, but I do want to talk about the show’s revolutionary portrayal of autonomy and self-advocacy in medicine.
We know the medical field does women dirty: health care providers ignore our pain more, leading to worse health outcomes; pharmaceutical companies fail to properly test their drugs on women, leading to less effective treatments; the list goes on and on [[link removed]] . And these problems are even worse for Black women, who are even less prioritized and taken seriously, because of their gender and their race.
That’s why watching Molly and her best friend-turned-patient-advocate (played by Jenny Slate, no less!) flip the script blew my mind. They make Molly’s doctor call her by her first name. They make him say hello to her before diving into the latest medical updates. They demand he translate his medical jargon-laced sentences into real-person speak. They insist he tailor Molly’s treatment to her goals (which, per the show’s title, is having a lot of sex with a lot of different people in a lot of different ways) instead of assuming what she wants.
Together, Molly and her best friend reject the medical system’s dismissal of women and women’s wants, needs, and desires. It’s a beautiful thing to see, especially knowing that the show is based off real-life events. It’s worth pointing out, though, that in real life medical providers might have a very different reaction to patients who aren’t white trying to change the dynamics of the patient-provider relationship.
I’ve droned on for long enough now, so I’ll wrap things up here. I wanted to sign off with a few things you should know about me—and I’d love to hear from you! Feel free to reply and introduce yourself or tell me your favorite part of Jessica’s newsletters so I can make sure to try to fill the void as best I can!
* If you couldn’t tell from the prior (new) section, pop culture takes up about 95% of my thoughts and time (especially reality television [[link removed]] and contemporary fiction [[link removed]] , with a soft spot for speculative fiction). I’m obsessed with how pop culture reflects societal attitudes and values and how it can be used to shift our hearts and minds.
* My dog, Peter, is a 🐾male ally 🐾 in the fight fur gender justice and you will likely hear many mentions of him (you may also recognize him as the author of our National Pets Day email this spring! Another writer in the family!)
* As our Writer/Editor, I get to have a hand in every single blog we publish and I love having a hand in bring people’s unique perspectives, experiences, and stories to life. Whether it’s a piece interviewing the author’s own mom [[link removed]] about her experience as part of the “sandwiched” generation juggling dual caregiving or an explanation of the real issues plaguing women in sports [[link removed]] (hint: it’s not trans athletes), I’m excited to highlight some of our compelling pieces that you might have missed!
See y'all next month!
In solidarity,
Hannah Finnie
she/her
Writer/Editor
National Women’s Law Center
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