Real Stories. Real Action.

Felicia Ray Owens at the Center of It All.

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

Lest We Forget

“Political violence of any kind has no place in our democracy. The targeted attacks in Minnesota this weekend were absolutely heartbreaking and horrifying. We stand in solidarity with all those affected and keep their loved ones in our hearts.

“In 2025, women in elected office and across our communities already face far too many threats to our safety—it is unacceptable that we should be targeted for doing our jobs and standing up for our constituents. We call on the administration to join us in denouncing this surge in violence and to protect, not threaten, peaceful civic engagement.”

—Democratic Women’s Caucus chair Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) after the assassination of former Minnesota Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.

“If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question … you can only imagine what they’re doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers. We will hold this administration accountable.”

—Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was handcuffed and forcibly removed from a Department of Homeland Security news conference led by Secretary Kristi Noem. He was shoved and forced to the ground while trying to ask a question about Noem’s defense of immigration raids in Los Angeles. 

“Thanks to November 2024 voters, Missourians have a constitutional right to abortion, but that right is being violated by anti-democracy politicians’ weaponization of the courts. Missourians should know that their Attorney General is spending their tax dollars to deny their constitutional rights— the exact type of political interference we rejected at the ballot box.

“Today on this anniversary of the total abortion ban going into effect, Missourians are gearing up for the latest fight to defend against a deceptive ballot question that would ban abortion again. The first to ban abortion, the first to end an abortion ban by a vote of the people, Missouri will mark another national first when we again make history defeating the first legislative attack on an abortion freedom ballot win.”

—Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Abortion Action Missouri on the third anniversary of the Dobbs decision.

“Deep cracks are showing in the Trump and Miller mass deportation agenda. Their violent and ugly scheme is rightly unpopular and is sparking business and community outcry. Key agricultural and Latino dominated congressional districts—and Members—are feeling the political heat as they should be. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle need to speak out and denounce Trump’s agenda. They must turn their concern into firm opposition by rejecting the $150 billion in the pending budget bill that would turbocharge the Trump-Miller mass deportation devastation and costs to all Americans.”

—Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director of America’s Voice. The reconciliation bill currently in the Senate would increase ICE funding while cutting lifesaving programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

“While EMTALA remains binding federal law, the rescission will create further confusion for hospitals and providers, especially in states with abortion bans, and will result in medically-necessary care being withheld from pregnant patients in crisis. This abrupt decision will further the chaos and confusion that hospitals, physicians, and patients have experienced since the Dobbs decision and will result in negative and deadly consequences for women and families across the United States.”

—Sens. Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and eight colleagues in a letter condemning the Trump administration’s rescission of guidance that explicitly confirmed hospitals must provide emergency abortion care.

“While Juneteenth is a celebration of the liberation from centuries of bondage, it also serves as a reminder of the painful history of slavery endured by countless women, men, and children—a history from which the effects are still felt by their descendants 160 years later. Black women in America still receive worse health care, make less money, and face greater barriers to voting than white women.  

“This year, Juneteenth is especially somber as the Trump administration destroys programs and agencies designed to eliminate discrimination and advance opportunities in the workplace, at schools, and in our communities. These cuts are a direct attack on Black communities and they hurt everyone. We know that lifting up Black Americans makes our whole country stronger.”

—Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) and Democratic Women’s Caucus vice chairs Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) and Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.).

“Already, we have seen with painful clarity, how—on a daily basis—Republican abortion bans are putting women’s lives in danger, forcing providers to close their doors, decimating access to maternal health care, and forcing women to remain pregnant, no matter their personal circumstance.

“And since Republicans know they do not have the votes right now to pass a national abortion ban outright, they are slowly, but surely, advancing a backdoor nationwide abortion ban, and chipping away at access to reproductive health piece-by-piece— even in states where abortion is protected.

“Republicans are hoping no one will notice these attacks— as if people don’t care when their rights are stripped away. As if it’s easy to miss the moment your health care decisions are out of your control. As if someone forced to stay pregnant because of Republican bans might just forget about it.

“Republicans may be silent, but women across the country are speaking up about the suffering and heartbreak Republicans’ draconian anti-abortion policies are causing. We will keep fighting tooth and nail against every new strategy Republicans cook up to ban abortion and shutter the doors of health care providers in our country.”

—Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) at a forum she hosted on the three-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision.

Milestones

+ Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were assassinated in their home by Vance Luther Boelter. Also targeted by Boelter, state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were shot, leaving them injured. Hortman was a longtime champion of reproductive justice, racial equity and other progressive causes, and was the third woman to lead the Minnesota House.

+ Boelter posed as law enforcement and had a target list of abortion rights advocates and other Democratic lawmakers, including Reps. Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) and Sens. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).

+ The Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Skrmetti that banning gender-affirming care for minors is constitutional, allowing the 25 states with anti-trans laws to continue to restrict needed medical care. The decision used similar logic as Dobbs to weaken, but thankfully not completely destroy, protections against sex discrimination.

+ Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a strong dissent to the Skrmetti ruling, reading aloud in Court that they “abandon[ed] transgender children and their families to political whims.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the dissent fully, and Elena Kagan joined in part.

+ In their 6-3 Medina v. Planned Parenthood ruling, the Supreme Court allowed states to deny Medicaid funding to reproductive health care clinics that include abortion care, violating patients’ rights to choose their providers.

+ While the White House claimed 250,000 people attended Trump’s military parade, experts estimated it was significantly less. Meanwhile, between 4 and 13 million people attended No Kings rallies across the U.S.

+ Planned Parenthood funding is at risk if the budget reconciliation bill becomes law. Almost 200 health centers could be forced to close, eliminating one in four abortion providers in the U.S.

+ A new executive order allows Veteran Affairs doctors to refuse to treat veterans if they dislike their political party, marital status or union activity. The effects will likely disproportionately affect women, LGBTQ veterans and those in rural areas with fewer doctors.

+ Harvey Weinstein was again convicted of a criminal sex act in his New York retrial. However, he was acquitted of one of his charges, and another was ruled a mistrial when the jury couldn’t agree. Weinstein remains incarcerated under California convictions of rape and other sex crimes.

+ TikTok is promoting antiabortion propaganda. Searches for “medication abortion” or “mifepristone” result in a top result from a right-wing Christian organization that lies about the abortion process.

+ The nonprofit behind period tracking app Euki launched a social media and billboard campaign in the Midwest and South. It emphasizes the importance of apps that resist surveillance and protect user’s privacy around sexual and reproductive health.

+ The Supreme Court issued an order this week allowing the administration to continue to send refugees and immigrants to countries that aren’t their own, without giving them a chance to contest it.

“It is appalling that the Supreme Court has, for now, greenlit the administration’s cruel and lawless actions,” said Blaine Bookey, legal director at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies.“It will embolden the administration to ramp up the cruelty in the meantime. More people will be sent to countries where they face grave danger. More families will be separated and traumatized. And more of us will be left to wonder just how far the courts will let the Trump administration go in its crusade to dismantle the fundamental right to due process enshrined in the Constitution.”

+ The Common Good Cyber Fund was created to support cybersecurity nonprofits that protect civil society organizations and advocates from online harassment and harm. The U.K. and Canada have already invested in the Fund.

+ Democratic Women’s Caucus chair Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) led two letters to the administration. They oppose attempts to dismantle protections for STEM and technical education programs for girls, and prevent women and girls trying out for boys’ athletic teams if no girls’ teams are available.

“The proposed DFR hinders women’s and girls’ access to programs that would boost their participation in underrepresented fields, including STEM fields, deepening existing inequalities and intensifying the gender gap. The underrepresentation of women and girls in historically male-dominated fields reinforces harmful stereotypes about women’s and girl’s abilities and keeps the workforce divided by gender, contributing to the gender pay gap,” the letter rebukes.

+ As the Trump administration continues attacking higher education, Harvard’s president and almost 100 professors have voluntarily taken pay cuts to support the university. 

Institute of World Literature director David Damrosch explained, “…trying to appease an authoritarian government is never really going to work. [I]t’s just an endless process that’s unlikely to produce a good result. I think Harvard and Columbia are doing their best …and the [presidential] administration is using this as an excuse to have this frontal attack on liberal education overall.”

+ June 26 was the 10-year anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide in the United States.

+ Three-time Olympic gold medalist Faith Kipyegon ran the fastest mile ever by a woman on June 26 in Paris with a time of 4:06.42. Kipyegon did so in an attempt to break the four minute barrier. Although her new time will not be counted as an official world record due to a team of pacers, her time shows significant gains for women in sports.

+ On June 27, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act’s preventative-care mandate in a 6-3 vote. The decision ensures that roughly 150 million Americans will continue to receive free, preventative services.

How We’re Doing

+ June 24 was the three-year anniversary of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Since then, 20 states have banned all or some abortion care.

+ The most restrictive abortion bans are responsible for over $64 billion in economic losses in 16 states. When including state-level restrictions like waiting periods and provider limits, the economic cost reaches $133 billion. Without abortion bans, over 556,000 more women would be in the workforce, boosting the GDP by 0.5 percent.

+ Fifty-nine percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, a steady increase from 54 percent in 2019. During the 2024 election, 62 percent of voters agreed.

Sixty percent oppose further nationwide restrictions on abortion, and two-thirds of Americans would not support an elected official who supported bans on abortion, contraception or IVF. But almost 70 percent believe abortion will become even harder to access in the next five years.

+ New polls show that mass deportation is extremely unpopular. Fifty-four percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration enforcement. More Americans oppose than support the Trump administration sending the National Guard and Marines to the LA protests. Several House Republicans have expressed concerns, urging the administration to focus on convicted criminals instead of longtime community members and laborers.

+ Overall, only 39 percent of Americans approve of how Trump is conducting his presidency, and 64 percent say he is going too far in efforts to expand presidential powers. The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) thinktank found that 52 percent agreed Trump was “a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy”.

+ June 16 was LGBTQIA+ Equal Pay Awareness Day, created to draw attention to the pay gaps for LGBTQ people, as well as the lack of research to quantify those gaps. The U.S. government has not studied the exact wage gap, but research suggests LGBTQ women earn just 87 cents for every dollar earned by other workers, and LGBTQ households are more likely to experience poverty.

+ Eighty-one percent of parents believe expanding access to affordable, quality childcare should be a priority for federal and state lawmakers. Eighty-two percent of Democrats and 68 percent of Republicans believe funding for childcare should increase. 

+ A majority of parents find it difficult to find high-quality and affordable childcare. In 49 states and D.C., childcare for two kids costs more than rent. The average childcare cost for a baby exceeds in-state college tuition in 41 states.