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
“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for a people to break from a leader who governs with cruelty, contempt, and corruption, a decent respect to the opinions of humankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
“The current holder of high office has shown himself to be unfit to lead a free and just society. Time and again, we have protested peacefully, spoken truthfully, and appealed to our shared humanity. We have been met with indifference, hostility, and violence. A leader who governs through hatred and greed is unfit to govern at all.
“Therefore, we, the people of conscience and conviction, do solemnly declare our independence from this tyrant and all he represents.”
—Excerpt from ”A New Declaration of Independence from Tyranny” by writer and comedian Andy Borowitz
“Trump and Republicans’ Betrayed for Billionaires Bill rips away health care, food, and reproductive care from women and families to give tax breaks to billionaires, all while raising the national deficit by over $3.9 trillion. It’s morally bankrupt, downright cruel, and the consequences are devastating.
“We’ve heard from pregnant women who are terrified because they access reproductive care at rural hospitals, many of which could close without Medicaid reimbursements. From young women who won’t be able to access cancer screenings, STI testing, or birth control without Planned Parenthood centers. From moms who worry about how they’ll pay for their children’s next meal without nutrition assistance. From women who work in health care terrified to lose their jobs when health centers and hospitals close. Once again, Republicans folded and put Donald Trump and billionaires before hard working women and families.”
—Democratic Women’s Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.) and Vice Chairs Emilia Sykes (D-Ohio) and Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.).
“Republicans will stop at nothing in their crusade to take control of women’s bodies and deny them the right to make their own health care decisions. Republicans are trampling the law to force their extremist ideology onto the American people.”
—Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley criticized the reconciliation bill that prevents Medicaid funding from going to Planned Parenthood, putting at least 200 health centers at risk.
“Let’s call this what it is: a calculated, coordinated attack on poor women and families. While Trump slashes funding for evidence-based, regulated health providers, state lawmakers are steering desperate patients toward clinics that pretend to offer care—but lack the training, oversight, and medical staff to handle basic complications, let alone emergencies like ectopic pregnancy.
“This is not freedom. This is a trap. A two-tiered system where low-income women lose access to doctors and facilities equipped to care for them and are funneled into ideological storefronts dressed up as health centers. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. And the consequences will be deadly. This isn’t just reckless policy—it’s a manufactured and completely avoidable public health crisis.”
—Reproductive Health and Freedom Watch executive director Debra Rosen. Lawmakers in 15 states are putting almost $300 million into antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), as the federal government cut Medicaid funding for clinics that provide abortion care.
“We created our books for all children. We believe young people need to see themselves and families like theirs in the books they read; this is especially true for LGBTQ+ children and LGBTQ+ families. And all children need to learn how to share their classrooms and communities with people different from themselves. Books can help them understand one another and learn to treat each other with acceptance, kindness and respect. This decision will inevitably lead to an increasingly hostile climate for LGBTQ+ students and families, and create a less welcoming environment for all students.”
—The author and illustrator plaintiffs of the Mahmoud v. Taylor case. The Supreme Court ruled that public schools must allow parents to “opt out” their children from LGBTQ-related books.
“They say they’re pro-life because they want the baby to be born, go to school and get shot in the school. Die in the school, die on the streets.”
—Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) called out the hypocrisy of “pro-choice” members of Congress in a House Rules committee meeting.
“This budget is an affront to our biblical values to care for the most vulnerable among us. We urge our members and people of faith not to stay silent on the harms this budget will create. It rewards tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and instead increases funding for ICE to enforce unjust immigration policies that destroy families. We are called to break, not tighten, the bonds of injustice.”
—Elizabeth Chun Hye Lee, director of mobilization and advocacy at United Women in Faith.
Milestones
+ Congress passed the “Big Beautiful” reconciliation bill and it was signed into law by President Trump.
- The bill includes nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, which will take healthcare from 17 million Americans.
- Over 300 rural hospitals are at risk of closure, and states will be forced to cut optional programs like home and community care for seniors and people with disabilities. Food assistance programs will also be devastated, with one in eight SNAP participants at risk of losing benefits.
- The bill also defunds Planned Parenthood, which could force a quarter of the country’s abortion providers to close, the majority of them in states where abortion is legal. Federal dollars already could not go to abortion care, but birth control and sexual healthcare access will be affected.
- The bottom 40 percent of American households will lose income because of the bill, while the top 0.1 percent gain an extra $118,000.
- The administration falsely claims it strengthens paid family leave, but the tax credit they point to would not meaningfully expand access to workers. “Nor does it make it truly affordable for most businesses— and especially small businesses— to provide this critical benefit to their workers… this paid leave “victory” represents nothing but smoke and mirrors,” says A Better Balance president Inimai Chettiar.
- It gives over $170 billion for immigration enforcement, tripling the ICE detention budget. Vice President Vance admitted this was a main goal, saying “Everything else—the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy—is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions.”
+ Twelve states with Republican governors opted out of the SUN Bucks program that provides grocery benefits for children while school is out. More than 40 percent of the beneficiaries are aged 5 to 8, and tens of thousands will now go hungry.
+ The new free confidential Reproductive Health Hotline (ReproHH) offers clinical information on sexual and reproductive health to healthcare providers. It is staffed by University of California San Francisco (UCSF) physicians and providers can contact 1-844-ReproHH with questions.
+ The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down an 176-year-old abortion ban. The ruling named women who have died preventable deaths since Roe was overturned, and explained “Severe abortion restrictions operate like death warrants… [they] revive a time in our history driven by misogyny and racism, divorced from medical science; it is a world that must be left behind.”
+ After their Skrmetti decision ruled that states can ban gender-affirming care for minors, the Supreme Court sent several anti-trans laws back to lower courts to be reconsidered or reopened. This may create a pathway to reinstate bathroom bans, prevent birth certificate corrections or even rule that anti-trans laws don’t count as sex discrimination.
+ Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty of lesser charges of transportation to engage in prostitution, but not guilty of sex trafficking or racketeering.
“Our criminal justice system failed yet again today. It failed to protect survivors and it failed to hold accountable serial abusers—often wealthy, powerful men like Diddy,” said Arisha Hatch, interim executive director of UltraViolet. “We must continue to fight to build a culture in which women and victims of sexual assault are believed, and where justice is truly brought to fruition so that survivors can heal.”
+ USAID has officially been dismantled, with most remaining staff fired. Just 17 percent of programs were transferred under the State Department, which also fired a significant number of employees. A recent study found that USAID funding helped prevent over 90 million deaths since 2001, and this year’s cuts could lead to more than 14 million deaths over five years.
+ 27 states have introduced bills requiring proof of citizenship documents to vote, mirroring the federal SAVE Act bill. Indiana and Wyoming have already enacted the laws, which could make voting more difficult for millions of citizens without access to their documents, or who have changed their names.
+ Horrific flooding in Texas has killed at least 120 people, with over 170 still missing. The all-girls summer camp Camp Mystic was hit hard by the flash floods, with 27 deaths reported and six still missing. Kerr County had previously debated installing a flood warning system along the Guadalupe River, but the costs were too high.
+ A group of actors including Jane Fonda and Rosario Dawson wrote a letter to Amazon, after allegations that the company has frequently refused to accommodate pregnant workers.
+ A second preliminary injunction was issued in Missouri, allowing clinics to once again provide abortion care. The state’s Supreme Court had temporarily reinstated a total abortion ban in May.
+ A coalition of mayors and health professionals sued to block the Trump administration’s attempt to decimate the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Their new rule would add fees and cause 2.2 million Americans to lose their health coverage, disproportionately hurting low-income families.
+ Following similar restructurings across the country, Indiana University Bloomington is eliminating more than 100 academic programs, including degrees in Gender Studies, Fine Arts, Comparative Literature and African American and African Diaspora Studies. Teacher education degrees and public health degrees will also be discontinued.
+ Athletes at Stephen F. Austin University are suing the school for cutting the women’s beach volleyball, bowling and golf teams. According to the suit they prove women hundreds fewer opportunities than male athletes, violating Title IX for more than a decade. Women’s sports make up just 42 percent of the athletic program, while the undergrad population is 63 percent women.
+ The bipartisan CREEP Act was introduced in New York. If passed, it would help harassment and stalking victims get a protective order without having to wait for charges to be filed. It also updates protections for online harassment.
+ The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) honored Sana Atef, Juliana Dal Piva, Yousra Elbagir, Maritza L. Félix and Aynur Elgunesh with this year’s Courage in Journalism Awards. These heroic journalists risk their lives to reveal human rights abuses, cover warzones or amplify migrant voices.
+ A Trump-appointed Appeals judge ruled that forcing a teacher to misgender herself is not a First Amendment violation. This means that states could control the names, pronouns and honorifics teachers use in the classroom. It also clashes with a different Circuit ruling that allows teachers to misgender their trans students because of their First Amendment rights.
+ Vice President Vance called Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), “Jose Padilla,” and accused him of purposefully being handcuffed at a press briefing for “political theater.” More than 180 Democrats, led by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, signed a letter calling the use of force against Padilla “shocking and deeply troubling mistreatment.”
+ A federal judge rejected some Trump administration cuts to “DEI”-related NIH grants, saying they were racial and anti-LGBTQ discrimination. The administration had targeted hundreds of grants focusing on researching the health of Black communities, women and LGBTQ people.
+ California lawmakers have introduced a bill requiring doctors to study menopause to renew their licenses. Under a third of OB-GYN residency programs currently offer training on menopause, but 13 states have introduced bills related to menopause this session.
Advocates note Black women disproportionately experience medical discrimination during menopause, and face issues like fibroids at higher rates than white women.
+ Detainees in the Trump administration’s “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility have reported dangerous and dehumanizing conditions. They include inconsistent electricity and temperature, swarms of mosquitoes and lack of showers and food.
Twenty-four Democratic members of Congress demanded the closure of the facility. “This kind of cruel rhetoric and deliberate endangerment further exemplifies the administration’s shameful, dehumanizing approach to immigration— an approach rooted in anti-immigrant hostility that is morally indefensible and in clear violation of fundamental human rights,” they wrote.
+ Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced a bill requiring immigration enforcement officers to clearly display their agency name and badge number. It also prohibits non-medical face coverings that hide their identity.
+ Mahmoud Khalil is suing the Trump administration for $20 million. The Palestinian activist was targeted for his role in campus protests, and was imprisoned for 104 days and almost deported despite not being accused of any crime. Instead of a settlement, he would also accept an official apology and changes to the administration’s deportation policies.
+ Iowa became the first state to remove transgender civil rights protections. The law went into effect on July 1, removing gender identity protections from the Iowa Civil Rights Act that were previously put in place in 2007.
How We’re Doing
+ Trump’s reconciliation bill is opposed by the majority of Americans, and Republicans oppose it three to one when they learn about the bill’s impact. Sixty-four percent of all Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the bill, while around 75 percent view Medicaid favorably.
+ A measles outbreak in the U.S. is the worst since it was declared eliminated in 2000. It has hospitalized over 160 people. The spread of the contagious disease is directly related to low vaccination rates.
+ Lesbian bars are disappearing. Just 37 remain in the U.S.
+ July 10 was Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, marking when Black women’s earnings catch up to what white men earned in 2024. Black women are paid 66 cents on average for every dollar paid to white men.
+ People are increasingly getting news from AI, and click-throughs to news sites are going down. News-related prompts in ChatGPT increased by 212 percent from January 2024 to May 2025. Finance and sports make up the majority of those prompts, but political questions are increasing.
+ In 2023, more than 700 people were pregnant while incarcerated. An analysis of 35 births in jails found that at least 25 happened in jail cells and at least 24 involved jail staff ignoring cries for help and medical assistance. Nine of the babies were stillborn or died within two weeks.
Most prison systems train staff on pregnancies, have on-call medical care and allow prenatal vitamins and lower bunk accommodations. But while medical appointments are almost always available, there’s little data on how often they are actually used.
Six states do not provide any staff training on pregnancy. Accommodations like doula support and lactation programs are not common. And only 11 states have prison nursery programs. One-third of incarcerated participants experienced moderate or severe postpartum depression, but four states don’t provide pregnancy or postpartum depression screenings.
Overall, Nevada, Hawaii and Wyoming are the worst states for pregnant inmates. In many cases they fail to provide staff training, postpartum medical care or special pregnancy diets.
+ Parents opposed to comprehensive sex education in schools are less likely to discuss sex, consent, contraception or romance at home. They are more likely to believe misinformation that sex ed encourages early sexual activity, and condoms are not effective.
As sex ed programs are being attacked by conservative policymakers, young people account for almost half of all STIs in the U.S., and nearly three quarters of teens have been exposed to porn. LGBTQ students are particularly vulnerable to STIs and lack of education. But students who receive inclusive sex ed experience less depression and bullying.
+ Young workers are less likely to have access to paid leave. They are also more likely to have expansive chosen families, while policies often only cover nuclear family units. In 2024, a survey of likely voters in battleground states found more than 90 percent support ensuring access to paid family, parental and medical leave.
Black and Latino workers are disproportionately affected, and LGBTQ people are more likely to need time away to care for friends or family, but less likely to work jobs with paid leave.
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