[[link removed]] Ms. Memo: This Week in Women's Rights
February 15, 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.
Grassroots Progress to Hold Anti-Abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers Accountable [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]]
Kellyn Nettles and Colleen McGrath hold up a sign during a rally to protest the closure of the last abortion clinic in Missouri on May 30, 2019 in St. Louis. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, abortion is now completely banned in Missouri. (Jacob Moscovitch / Getty Images)
BY CARRIE N. BAKER and JENIFER MCKENNA | In the wake of the Supreme Court’s elimination of federal constitutional abortion rights established over 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade, the anti-abortion movement is expanding its network of “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) designed to interfere with women’s access to reproductive healthcare using deceptive advertising; disinformation about abortion, contraception and pregnancy; and non-medical ultrasounds to persuade women to carry to term and falsely signal medical legitimacy—while collecting their personal and health information, with no privacy protections.
In response, grassroots reproductive health advocates are taking action to counter CPC disinformation and abuse by advocating for state and local laws to prohibit deceptive advertising, protect health data privacy, advance public education about CPCs, and create avenues for consumer complaints about their deceitful and dangerous practices.
In 2022, advocates in several states won passage of local ordinances against CPC deceptive advertising, including in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Somerville, Mass. New York City passed a law mandating a public education campaign about CPCs, and Columbus, Ohio, authorized “an examination into the activities of crisis pregnancy centers.”
At the state level, Connecticut passed a 2021 law prohibiting “limited services pregnancy centers” from making deceptive statements about pregnancy-related services. Following the June 2022 Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe, attorneys general and state agencies in multiple states issued CPC consumer advisories and established consumer complaint lines, including California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada and New Jersey.
In Massachusetts, which has the highest concentration of CPCs in New England, state health offices issued their own CPC warnings after Attorney General (now Governor) Maura Healey published her consumer advisory encouraging residents to file a civil rights complaint if they have concerns about a CPC experience. The state Department of Public Health now alerts consumers that CPCs are not reproductive healthcare clinics, as does the state public insurance program, MassHealth. And the state’s new attorney general has publicly pledged to protect consumers from CPCs.
(Click here to read more) [[link removed]]
Read more
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Front and Center: Guaranteed Income Helped This Mom and Her Kids ‘Actually Enjoy Life a Little’ [[link removed]] Telehealth Providers Prepare for the Future [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
The Abortion Pill Court Case We’re All Waiting For [[link removed]] The Same Dark Money Groups That Helped Overturn Roe Are Also Behind Attacks on Abortion Pill [[link removed]]
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:
*
"Federal
appeals
court
strikes
down
domestic
violence
gun
law”
—
AP
[[link removed]]
*
"Google
targets
low-income
US
women
with
ads
for
anti-abortion
pregnancy
centers,
study
shows”
—
Guardian
[[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] 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]] .
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?
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
READ THE REST [[link removed]] | GET THE MAGAZINE [[link removed]] | SUPPORT MS. [[link removed]]
[[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
Enjoy this newsletter? Forward to a friend!
Was this email forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe [[link removed]] .

Ms. Magazine
1600 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 801
Arlington, VA 22209
United States
If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please
unsubscribe: [link removed] .