Dear John,

“A breathtaking act of defiance.” In her blistering dissent from the Supreme Court’s refusal to stay SB8, Justice Sonia Sotomayor points out what we already knew, and what Biden’s Department of Justice confirmed when it sued Texas to stop enforcement of the new law: SB 8, which bans virtually all abortions after 6 weeks, is unconstitutional.

Yet the five conservative justices based their decision on what they said was their inability to rule on “complex and novel antecedent procedural questions” presented by the challengers to the law, even while acknowledging the “serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law at issue.” 

In our new Fall issue, we ask, “Is Roe v Wade disappearing?”

Constitutional law scholar Michele Goodwin delves into the Supreme Court’s Texas decision, concluding, “[t]he result of the Court’s shadow docket opinion is to … set in motion a workable blueprint for all other conservative state legislatures bent on stripping away abortion rights.”

And we take Ms. readers inside the Jackson, Mississippi clinic challenging that state’s law that bans nearly all abortions after 15 weeks. A challenge to the Mississippi law, unquestionably a violation of the nearly 50-year-old Roe v. Wade ruling, will be heard by the Supreme Court in its coming term.  

There could not be a more important time to become a member of the Ms. community. When you become a member of Ms., you get the magazine in print or on our app, or both—and you’re the first to get information alerts and event invitations from our team. When you become a member, you're supporting independent, feminist media—and becoming part of a global community of feminists who care about the issues that matter to you.

Also inside the upcoming Fall issue of Ms.:

• We look back at a devastating, decades-old Supreme Court decision on sexual assault to show just why we need the Equal Rights Amendment now.
• In a special feature, Afghan women discuss their fears now that the Taliban has regained control, and the 17-year chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission warns that “[w]ithout peace in Afghanistan, the problem will reach other countries as well, the history has shown.”
• An economic justice group in Mississippi proves how life-changing it can be to just give mothers money – with no strings attached. 

Support independent, feminist media—and become part of a global community of feminists who care about the issues that matter to you.  Join today to get our newest issue delivered straight to your mailbox—and fuel our reporting, rebelling and truth-telling. 

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor