Dear John,

On Friday, we were thrilled when the House passed President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) Act, which includes elements that feminists have worked literally decades for: historic investments in child care, paid family and medical leave; universal pre-kindergarten for every 3- and 4-year-old in the country; and an extension of the child tax credit that has already cut child poverty in half this year. Additionally, the BBB expands the Pell Grants program for college, and makes significant investments in fighting climate change. 

Speaker Nancy Pelosi fought the proposals through to victory early on Friday – despite last-minute delay tactics overnight by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Now the legislation moves to the Senate where the paid leave provision has been a sticking point for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). Recent polling from Global Strategy Group and the Paid Leave for All Campaign documents that majorities of voters want paid leave included in Build Back Better, particularly voters living in battleground states. This support extends to one key demographic — suburban women, who were called a “​​must-win audience in the wake of Virginia’s elections” in a memo attached to the poll.

In advance of the December 1 Supreme Court hearing in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a new poll confirms that Americans overwhelmingly support abortion: Sixty percent of Americans believe the Supreme Court should uphold its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, while just 27 percent believe it should be overturned.

The poll, conducted by the Washington Post and ABC News, also documented widespread opposition to Texas’s S.B. 8 abortion ban—65 percent think the Supreme Court should reject the law. While the Supreme Court held emergency hearings earlier this month in two cases challenging the ban, it still has yet to determine whether the federal court challenges will be allowed to move forward. This while public approval of the Supreme Court has reached a record low—the Court’s current approval rating stands at just 40 percent, the lowest number since the poll began tracking in 2000. 

Ultimately, the numbers speak for themselves: 75 percent of Americans think the decision whether or not a person should have an abortion “should be left to the woman and her doctor.” We agree—and hope that the Supreme Court will continue to affirm the fundamental right it established nearly 50 years ago.

As usual, you can count on our feminist reporting and analysis to keep you informed as BBB continues to make its way to Biden’s desk, and as the courts continue to deliberate the status of Roe.

For equality,

Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor

P.S. — Today, we recognize Trans Day of Remembrance, and remember the countless lives that have been lost to anti-trans violence — including at least 47 people this year alone, a number that represents an all time yearly high with over a month still to go in 2021. Fatal violence against trans and gender nonconforming people is an epidemic in the U.S. — one that urgently needs to be addressed.