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By Cynthia Richie Terrell | From governors’ mansions to city halls, legislative chambers to ballot measures, voters across the country affirmed a simple but powerful truth: When we design systems that work for women, women lead and democracy strengthens. 

This year’s races showcased both the momentum and the mechanics of progress. Record numbers of women ran in state legislative contests. Cities across the country tested reforms like ranked-choice voting to create fairer elections. And two of the most closely watched gubernatorial races in the nation—in Virginia and New Jersey—produced groundbreaking results for women’s representation that will reverberate far beyond their state lines.

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By Carrie N. Baker | Following eight years of litigation, a federal trial court in Hawaii ruled the FDA violated federal law by imposing medically unnecessary restrictions on mifepristone, which is used for early abortion. Ruling in Purcell v. Kennedy, the court held that the FDA has a legal obligation to fairly evaluate and weigh the decades of extensive research affirming mifepristone’s safety, noting the agency had failed to justify its restrictions on access to mifepristone.

The court’s ruling requires the agency to consider the peer-reviewed evidence proving mifepristone’s safety, including its use via telemedicine, and to assess how the agency’s restrictions burden patient access. The ruling does not immediately change access to the medication, but it puts pressure on the FDA to follow the science rather than be swayed by political pressure.

“The FDA’s needless restrictions on mifepristone make our jobs harder without any safety benefit,” said Dr. Lisa Folberg, chief executive officer of the California Academy of Family Physicians. “We appreciate that the court recognized how FDA failed to consider the toll its restrictions take on physicians trying to provide a safe and effective medication to their patients.”

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By Bonnie Fuller | Apprehensive OB-GYNs across the country are alerting Americans that Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may withdraw abortion pill mifepristone from the market.

The threat follows the publication of a discredited study on mifepristone by a Project 2025 “think tank.” Medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have called the report “seriously flawed” and accused it of manipulating data. So why would RFK Jr. believe it?

Kennedy “is not a scientist and is entirely political. It’s hard to watch someone with such an important role in this country, who is in charge of some of the most vulnerable people in this country, have a complete lack of respect for the things we hold dear,” said Dr. Kristin Lyerly, a Wisconsin OB-GYN who also practices across the state border in rural Minnesota.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, plans to pour millions of dollars into House and Senate races in the 2026 midterms, in hopes of securing a “trifecta of pro-life administration, House and Senate.”

That’s a complete reversal from what voters have said they want: Since Roe was reversed in 2022, voters in every state with an abortion protection measure on its ballot have overwhelmingly passed it, enshrining the right to abortion into their state constitution—even in deep red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio. 

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We know there’s a long way to go when it comes to addressing the domestic violence crisis in our country. From pandemic-era spikes in violence to the Trump administration’s recent budget cuts and their impact on support for women and girls experiencing domestic violence, how are advocates and policy experts addressing the ongoing crisis?

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