Keeping Score: Georgia Upholds Six-Week Abortion Ban; Republicans Aim to Eliminate Women's Bureau at Labor Department;
(lengthy, appalling, unsurprising, precis of the WAR ON WOMEN this week)
Keeping Score: Georgia Upholds Six-Week Abortion Ban; Republicans Aim to Eliminate Women’s Bureau at Labor Department; Elections Reveal National Support for Reproductive Freedom
11/10/2023 by Sophie Dorf-Kamienny
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
“A silent pediatric mental health pandemic [has been] building for decades, disproportionately impacting minoritized groups including racial, ethnic, and gender diverse youth, and those living in poverty. … The social disruptions, fear and grief caused by the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down for all children, especially those vulnerable to mental illness and substance use disorders. …
. . . .
“Extremism poses an existential threat to our democracy, and I take this threat very seriously. … This is a pivotal moment for our republic.
“That’s why I’m proud to announce the launch of Think Big America, an organization dedicated to safeguarding reproductive rights and standing up against the right-wing extremists who want to take us backwards. Think Big America is building on the successes we’ve achieved in Illinois and taking the fight across the nation. Women’s health. Abortion rights. The rights to choose: These are fundamental rights regardless of your income, regardless of where you live or who you are.”
—Illinois governor JB Pritzker (D) in a video announcement of his self-funded political advocacy group, published on Wednesday, Oct. 18. Think Big America will focus on “combating far-right extremism” through legislative protections for reproductive freedom.
Abortion rights activists march to the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2023, to mark the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. (Anna Rose Layden / Getty Images)
“While we are trying to improve access to social services, ultimately what we’re really working on is social transformation. We’re working on changing norms so that there is no tolerance for abuse. So part of that success is how are we helping friends, family, classmates and coworkers see themselves in this work? Sometimes people feel like, ‘Oh we just call 911’ or, ‘We help someone go to a shelter,’ but they don’t realize that it really involves all of us as a community in terms of not only prevention but response.
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“The U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau has played an essential role in improving the status of working women and moms throughout our history, and that work is especially important right now as women—and especially women of color and moms—face a devastating wage gap, a child care crisis, and harms caused by our failure to provide paid family and medical leave. Defunding the Women’s Bureau would send a chilling message to everyone who cares about women and our economy and would rob the country of a powerful advocate for workforce fairness and opportunity. We urge you to reconsider this cut and restore its funding.”
—MomsRising Executive Director and CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner protesting House Republicans’ proposal to eliminate the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Labor.
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https://msmagazine.com/2023/11/10/feminist-news-keeping-score-georgia-supreme-court-six-week-abortion-ban-republicans-eliminate-womens-bureau-labor-department/