Dear John,
Taking advantage of the government shutdown, this week the Trump Administration effectively closed the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs—which oversees a $300 million family planning program. In addition to providing contraception for millions of low-income women, the program offers crucial services like STI testing, LGBTQ+ health initiatives and infertility care.
“The high-quality, confidential care they have relied on may disappear overnight,” Jessica Marcella, a former deputy assistant secretary for population affairs under the Biden administration, told the New York Times. “If there’s no one there to run it, then functionally the program ceases to exist.” While a federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump from conducting widespread layoffs during the shutdown, it's unclear if the office’s employees will be covered under the injunction.
Further threats on our rights came this week in the form of the Supreme Court case Louisiana v. Callais, which justices heard oral arguments in on Wednesday. The case, which challenges the congressional map that Louisiana adopted in 2024, could have significant implications for the already-weakened Voting Rights Act. If the court sides with Louisiana, and overturns the map that created the state’s second majority-Black congressional district, the ruling could result in the redistricting of as many as 19 majority-minority House seats in states across the country, according to a report from Fair Fight Action and Black Voters Matter Fund.
In arguments, the Court’s conservative majority signaled willingness to weaken or eliminate Section 2 of the VRA, the section challenged in the case. But liberal justices countered that just because race-based redistricting has been successful in increasing equality does not mean that its work is done. “Race is always a part of these decisions, and my colleagues are trying to tease it out in this intellectual way that doesn’t deal with the fact that race is used to help people,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said. “What you’re saying to us: ‘If you use it to remedy past, lingering discrimination, intentional discrimination, then you can’t use it. You can use it to help yourself achieve goals that reduce a particular group’s electoral participation, but you can’t use it to remedy that situation.’”
As Cynthia Richie Terrell explains in Ms. this week, “When those protections are strong, women of color are better positioned not only to participate in elections but also to win them, bringing new perspectives and priorities into government. Weakening Section 2 would silence voices already underrepresented in power, particularly those of women whose leadership has long been the backbone of democratic progress.”
We’ll be following that case, along with many of the other important cases on the docket this term—stay tuned to MsMagazine.com for more.
Finally, I hope you’ll join us in the streets for the next No Kings Day demonstrations this Saturday, as we rally for healthcare, for immigrants, for women’s rights, voting rights, racial justice and so much more—you can click here to find a rally near you.
I’ll see you out there!
