MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
Since our last report…
+ A judge in Missouri is currently deciding whether a proposed amendment that would ban abortion in the state’s constitution can appear on the 2026 ballot—even though Missourians voted just last fall to keep abortion legal in the state. Judge Daniel Green already ordered the first amendment of the ballot to be revised because the ballot language failed to mention the amendment would repeal abortion rights, seemingly in an attempt to trick voters.
+ The Trump administration announced in August that it would remove gender-affirming care from the health services offered to federal workers under the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program. The cut, slated to begin in 2026, will limit healthcare coverage for the more than 8 million federal employees who rely on FEHB while targeting trans workers.
+ Mississippi declared a public health emergency as the state’s infant mortality rate soars to a rate nearly double the national average with roughly 10 deaths out of 1,000 live births.
+ The Trump administration issued a new rule barring U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals from providing abortions. The ruling excludes exceptions in the case of rape and incest, despite more than one in three women having experienced sexual assault while serving.
Let’s not forget what else was sent our way in August and September …
Thursday, Aug. 14: Costco Announced It Will Not Sell Abortion Pill Mifepristone Following Pressure From Conservative Groups
In a statement, Costco cited “lack of demand” as their reasoning behind not dispensing the drug. In reality, medication abortion accounted for two-thirds of all U.S. abortions in 2023. Costco’s decision was likely influenced by antiabortion campaigns from groups like Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal organization behind the Dobbs decision.
Members of Congress, including Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), are pushing for FDA commissioner Marty Makary to stop federal attacks on mifepristone misinformed by junk science and “follow the science and the facts, not the demands of far-right antiabortion extremists.”
Tuesday, Aug. 26: Trump Administration Threatens Sex Ed Funding Cuts over ‘Gender Ideology’ Content
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has threatened to take millions of dollars in funding for school sex education classes from states that include “gender ideology”—information about transgender people—as part of the curriculum. HHS’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF) put 46 states, U.S. territories and Washington, D.C., “on notice,” giving them 60 days to remove “all references to gender ideology” from their public school sex ed classes.
The states and territories could lose $81 million in federal grant funding for schools if they don’t comply with the administration’s demands to change their curricula. Currently, schools receive this funding from the Personal Education and Responsibility Program (PREP), an Affordable Care Act, sexual health and teenage pregnancy prevention initiative. Earlier in August, PREP cut California’s sex ed funding after the state refused to remove “radical gender ideology” about transgender people from its curricula.
According to an HHS news release about the new demands for additional states: “This action reflects the Trump Administration’s ongoing commitment to protecting children from attempts to indoctrinate them with delusional ideology.”
Monday, Sept. 1: At Least 835 Laws Took Effect in Texas, With Consequences for Healthcare, Free Speech, Education and LGBTQ+ Rights
Here are just a few of the prominent Texas laws that will have implications for freedom of expression, abortion access, education and more:
- SB 2880 further restricts access to abortion pills by making it a felony to fund an abortion. The law will directly impact abortion funds and targets telehealth providers.
- Additionally, SB 33 prohibits public funds from local governments going toward abortions.
- SB 17 restricts noncitizens and companies from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea from purchasing Texas land, in a move by Gov. Greg Abbot many view as promoting anti-Asian discrimination. (A lawsuit challenging this law is currently pending at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.)
- SB 12 bans LGBTQ+ and DEI clubs from K-12 public schools. The law is blatant censorship, barring any extracurricular program from discussing race, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation, including Gender Sexuality Alliances (GSA) organizations. The ACLU of Texas is challenging this law in court, citing first amendment violations.
- SB 10 mandates the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. The law passed despite the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruling in June that Louisiana’s version of the law was unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Many of these laws are currently being challenged in the courts.
Wednesday, Sept. 3: Epstein Survivors Continue to Push for Releasing the ‘Epstein Files’
At the start of September, more than 20 survivors of convicted sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell came together at the U.S. Capitol to call for the release of the Epstein files. Since February, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has claimed that she has the files, including Epstein’s client list, but the White House still has yet to release all the documents.
At the Capitol, the group of survivors demonstrated in support of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). If it passes, the bill would force the government to release the full files on Epstein and his enablers and co-conspirators. According to survivor Courtney Wild, who was abused when she was just 14, “This is not about politics. This is about transparency and justice. The government violated our rights to protect Epstein. We deserve the truth.”
Numerous members of Congress have called for the full release of the files, including Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), who has called the situation “a massive cover-up” and accused congressional leaders and federal agencies of deliberately concealing information.
Survivors have also expressed anger over Maxwell’s evidently lenient treatment while in prison. Survivor Annie Farmer said it was “absolutely horrifying” to see Maxwell transferred to a minimum-security women’s prison in August.
Wednesday, Sept. 10: Right-Wing Influencer Charlie Kirk Was Assassinated, Sparking Online Discourse About Political Violence
Kirk was shot in the neck and killed while speaking at a Utah rally for Turning Point USA, the nonprofit he founded to push conservative values in schools and universities. He was honored by an extravagant funeral service on Sept. 21, attended by guests such as Elon Musk, Pete Hegseth, J.D. Vance and President Trump, who gave a 40-minute speech.
His service was full of Christian references and, in death, Kirk has become a kind of martyr for the evangelical right-wing cause.
This is proof the right only cares about political violence when it comes for them. When Rep. Melissa Hortman (D-Minn.) and her husband were assassinated in June in an act of antiabortion violence, Trump said he was “not familiar” with her. Ironically, in a White House statement following Kirk’s death, Trump stated, “violence and murder are the tragic consequences of demonizing those who you disagree … in the most hateful and despicable way possible.”
Former President Barack Obama has said Kirk’s assassination is “an inflection point” for the country. “The central premise of our democratic system is that we have to be able to disagree and have sometimes really contentious debates without resorting to violence.”
Kirk was a staunch gun rights supporter—in 2023 he said, “It’s worth it to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.” The day Kirk was killed, two high school students were injured in a school shooting in Colorado and the shooter died of self-inflicted wounds.
Wednesday, Sept. 17: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Abortion ‘Bounty’ Bill Targeting Out-of-State Pills
Since Dobbs, Texas has passed bill after bill restricting women’s access to abortion, from a near-total abortion ban to the “bounty hunter” law that encourages private citizens to bring lawsuits against abortion providers or anyone who “aids or abets” a woman getting an abortion. Now, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed a new bill in the law with the goal of stopping abortion pills from entering the state.
Despite Texas’ abortion ban, women in Texas have still been able to access medication abortion, with help from out-of-state doctors and websites like Aid Access, Hey Jane and Carafem that send mifepristone and misoprostol pills in the mail. However, Texas’ new law, House Bill 7, which goes into effect on Dec. 4, 2025, incentivizes private citizens to sue anyone who manufactures, distributes or mails abortion pills to anyone in Texas.
In particular, HB 7 rewards family members (think: controlling husbands) with at least $100,000 for reporting anyone who helps a woman obtain abortion pills or any company that mails them into Texas. If the person who reports a medication abortion is not a family member of the patient, they would only receive $10,000 (with the other $90,000 going to a charity of their choice) if the lawsuit is successful.
According to Nimra Chowdhry, senior state legislative counsel with the Center for Reproductive Rights, the new law, “will create a culture of surveillance among community members and families. It will sow fear and confusion and create an even more hostile environment for all pregnant people in Texas. We will see more horror stories about pregnant women in Texas suffering and dying.”
As Bonnie Fuller explains, under HB 7, these “bounty hunter” private citizens do not need to prove that the pills were actually shipped or distributed. They only need to demonstrate an intent to help a pregnant person access pills, so a mother researching abortion pills for her pregnant daughter could be sued by a disapproving family member even if the pills were never received or used.
This is the first law of its kind in the country; even with multiple states passing draconian abortion bans, medication abortion has remained relatively untouched. Since 2022, abortion pills have also been a lifeline for thousands of women in abortion-ban states.
Tuesday, Sept. 30: Louisiana’s Planned Parenthood Locations Close Due to Funding Cuts
On Sept. 30, Planned Parenthood closed its only two Louisiana clinics due to financial struggles under the Trump administration’s funding cuts. The two clinics, in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, provided medical care for more than 10,000 patients last year, according to KFF Health News.
“This is not a decision we wanted to make; it is one we were forced into by political warfare,” Melaney Linton, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement in early August announcing the clinics’ closure. “Anti-reproductive health lawmakers obsessed with power and control have spent decades fighting the concept that people deserve to control their own bodies. … Every health center closure, every patient who goes without care, every undetected cancer and untreated infection is on those lawmakers’ hands.”
Because of Louisiana’s abortion ban, Planned Parenthood did not provide abortions at its Louisiana clinics but offered other health services including cancer screenings.
Due to Trump’s tax and spending package dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” clinics that provide abortions can no longer receive Medicaid funding for any healthcare services. (Previously, most abortions couldn’t receive Medicaid funding due to the Hyde Amendment, but Planned Parenthood and other clinics received federal funding for non-abortion services such as birth control, cancer screenings and gender-affirming care.)
This change has already been devastating for Planned Parenthood. Besides clinic closures like the two in Louisiana, clinics in other states are cutting back care. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin just announced this week that it would stop providing abortions at its three locations in the state due to a lack of funding, even though abortion is legal in Wisconsin. Other clinics are likely to follow suit. Planned Parenthood has estimated that 200 clinics in 24 states are at risk of shutting down due to Trump’s “defunding” efforts, even though 90 percent of these closures will be in states where abortion is legal.
Great Job Ava Slocum & the Team @ Ms. Magazine Source link for sharing this story.
