December 8, 2021


With so much at stake for women and for equality, Ms . will be reporting on policy initiatives and progress within Congress and the Biden-Harris administration—as well as tracking the backlash to equality. Every Wednesday, we will keep you updated, informed and ready to push forward!


The Supreme Court’s Vision of Equality Likely Means the End of Abortion Rights—But It Could Mean Much More [[link removed]]

BY MARY ZIEGLER | Since the 1980s, feminists have argued that abortion rights would have a firmer foundation if the Supreme Court grounded them in concerns about equality of the sexes. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who famously argued that the Court in Roe v. Wade had decided too much too soon, also stressed the connection between equality and access to abortion. Other feminist scholars amplified and nuanced this argument.
Last week, during oral argument in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court seemed ready to hold that there was no right to abortion at all, much less one connected to equality for women and others who can become pregnant. But new ideas about equality emerged from the hearing that may foreshadow what the Court’s conservative supermajority is planning next.

The main argument for saving Roe at oral argument centered on precedent—and the idea that the Court’s institutional legitimacy depends on some fidelity to past decisions, even after the Court’s membership changes significantly. This strategy may be no surprise—the conservative justices are unlikely to believe that there is any constitutional protection for abortion itself.

But competing ideas about equality still emerged during the argument. Justice Sonia Sotomayor emphasized the risks that states like Mississippi would force pregnant people to take by criminalizing abortion, including a higher risk of poverty and medical complications. Julie Rikelman, the attorney for Jackson Women’s Health Organization, contended that “abortion has been critical to women’s equal participation in society.” Elizabeth Prelogar, the solicitor general, warned that the Court had never “revoked a right that is so fundamental to so many Americans and so central to their ability to participate fully and equally in society.”

Sotomayor, together with Rikelman and Prelogar, suggested that the business of equality for pregnant people was unfinished. While data suggested that access to abortion had made a difference to the economic flourishing of women, these advocates suggested that abortion access mattered because there was so much work to be done when it came to equality—high rates of maternal mortality, poverty for single parents of color, sexual violence and a lack of government response to it, and structural racism.

( To read more, click here. [[link removed]] )


Read More

Conservative Justices Show Contempt for Women’s Rights in Dobbs v. Jackson Hearings [[link removed]]

The Supreme Court Must Not Reward Anti-Abortion Violence [[link removed]]

The Real Reason Childcare Doesn’t Work? It Isn’t What You Think. [[link removed]]

Too Often, Daughters Are Family Caregivers. Better In-Home Care Options Would Change That [[link removed]]


The Global State of Women: WPS Index Documents Women’s Status Around the World [[link removed]]

Without Women Leaders, We Won’t Have The Bold and Concrete Climate Actions Our Planet Requires [[link removed]]

What we're reading
We know it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. That's why going forward, we'll provide a weekly roundup of the stories we think are important that Ms. may not have covered. Here's what we're reading this week:
"Women still have to worry speaking up about abuse will cost them their lives.” — The Guardian [[link removed]]
"Republicans Will Be Sorry if the Supreme Court Overturns Roe” — Slate [[link removed]]
"The escalating costs of being single in America” — Vox [[link removed]]
"The Policing of Native American Pregnancies Has to Stop” — Jezebel [[link removed]]

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Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
As the December oral arguments date for Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case fast approaches, all eyes are on the Supreme Court. But we’re wondering — what’s happening at the on the ground, at clinics that provide abortions and reproductive health services where persistent, even daily violence against patients and providers goes overlooked and under-addressed?
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!



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