Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights

January 11, 2023

From the ongoing fight for abortion rights and access, to elections, to the drive for the Equal Rights Amendment, there are a multitude of battles to keep up with. In this weekly roundup, find the absolute need-to-know news for feminists.

Meet the New Feminists in Office

Gov. Maura Healey was declared the victor in Massachusetts minutes after the polls closed (Erin Clark / Getty Images); Gov. Katie Hobbs defeated Trump-backed opponent Kari Lake in Arizona. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

BY CAMILLE HAHN | Meet the diverse group of progressive women being sworn in this month—from governors to legislators and more.

After three feminists won gubernatorial contests in the midterms, a record-breaking 12 women will lead U.S. states in 2023, according to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University. This means, of course, women will serve as governor in about a quarter of states.

The 2022 midterms also saw a net gain of two additional women serving in Congress, with 16 feminist women newly elected to the House.

And in statehouses across the nation, women made slight gains, though they still make up a mere 32.2 percent of state representatives and senators in 2023, according to the CAWP.

(Click here to read more)

Denying Access to Abortion Is Femicide

FDA Allows Pharmacies to Sell Abortion Pills—But Requires Unnecessary and Burdensome Certification Process

We Need to Push Harder for Women’s Representation in Leadership

Biden’s Budget Is an Opportunity to Promote and Protect Abortion Access

What we're reading

Because it's hard to keep up with everything going on in the world right now. Here's what we're reading this week:

"Arizona Prison Is Reportedly Inducing Early Labor in Pregnant People Without Consent” — Jezebel

Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on Apple Podcasts + Spotify.

Before Roe v. Wade, if you were in need of an abortion in Chicago, there was a number you could call, run by young women who called themselves Jane. They’d provide abortions to women who had nowhere else to turn. It was started by Heather Booth when she was 19 years old. In this episode, Booth joins Dr. Goodwin to discuss the history of the Jane Collective and the connections between our pre-Roe past and post-Roe future. Where do we go from here?

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