War on Women Report: State Department Mass-Burns Contraceptives, Food Aid; ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Decimates Medicaid; Texas Crisis Pregnancy Center Funds Paid for CEO’s Smoke Shop

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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:
—After a highly publicized trial, a jury acquitted music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of the most serious charges—sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
—Texas’ funding pipeline for antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers allowed CPCs to spend millions of taxpayer dollars with little oversight into how the money was used.
—A Texas man is suing a doctor in California who he claims sent abortion pills in the mail to his girlfriend.

… and more.

From Limbaugh to Rogan: The Rise of the Conservative ‘Brocast’

In the wake of Trump’s reelection—America’s first “podcast election”—commentators pointed to his surprising success with young male voters, driven in part by appearances on popular “brocasts” like The Joe Rogan Experience and Bussin’ With the Boys. These shows, often focused on comedy, sports and self-improvement, gave Trump a platform to project masculine authenticity and connect with disaffected young men. As UFC CEO Dana White put it, podcasters like the Nelk Boys and Adin Ross played a pivotal role in Trump’s victory.

Conservative media has created a space where right-wing ideas feel rebellious and “real men” vote Republican. These podcasts offer not just political messaging but a sense of belonging during a “loneliness epidemic.” Unless Democrats figure out how to enter these spaces and shift the narrative, they risk losing another generation of young male voters.

‘Our Federal Constitution Doesn’t Protect Us’: How the Women’s Law Project Redefined the Fight for Abortion Rights in Pennsylvania

“We got here because we have the gender ruling class desperately holding onto their privilege—using any means necessary,” said WLP executive director Susan Frietsche on the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward.

Listen to the second episode —”Inside the Feminist Fight to Reclaim Our Reproductive Freedom (with Renee Bracey Sherman, Michele Goodwin, Angie Jean-Marie and Amy Merrill, Susan Frietsche, and Gov. Maura Healey)”—on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Keeping Score: States Ramp Up Antiabortion Efforts; Black Women Forced Out of the Workforce; Only a Quarter of Americans Say Trump Has Helped Them

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.

This week:
—States continue to develop strategies to pass antiabortion laws.
—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is still attempting to sue New York doctor Margaret Carpenter. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul responded, “Attorney General Paxton should focus more on his own private life instead of dictating the personal decisions of women across America.”
—Almost 300,000 Black women left the labor force in the past three months.
—Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), co-chair of the Voting Rights Caucus, is leading a bill to prevent unnecessary redistricting in between censuses.
—Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) have introduced a bill preventing the unnecessary destruction of foreign aid food, medicine and medical devices.
—The Supreme Court enabled Trump to dismantle the Department of Education.
—Trans women were banned from U.S. women’s Olympic sports.
—Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) is sharing her own history with domestic abuse as part of her advocacy to support survivors: “For me, it’s just about trying to keep other people from having to go through what we did and for mothers and fathers—there are men that are victims too—to know that there are resources.”
—Chef José Andrés details the policy changes needed to save millions in Gaza from starvation: “A starving human being needs food today, not tomorrow.”
—Under a quarter of Americans can name a female historical figure, and only 6 percent of monuments honor women.
—South African runner Caster Semenya won her case at the European Court of Human Rights.
—After bipartisan criticism in Congress, the Trump administration will release $1.3 billion for after-school programs that has been withheld from states.
—A Kentucky appeals court agreed that Jewish woman Jessica Kalb may continue her suit against the state’s strict abortion ban, which violates her religious beliefs.

… and more.

Investing in Inclusion: How DEI Initiatives Uplift Both Companies and Consumers

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In mid-May, Verizon followed the course of over a dozen major U.S. companies in rolling back their diversity, equity and inclusion practices—eliminating DEI from key tenets of their operations, including erasing DEI references from training material, ending bonuses and goals related to increasing the percentage of women and minority workers, and downsizing their human resources department.

However, companies like Verizon are part of the private sector—executive orders do not directly apply to them, meaning, they have no obligation to roll back on DEI. 

Forget East Coast Cool—Joan Didion Was a California Woman

An excerpt of The World According to Joan Didion, by Evelyn McDonnell, out July 29:

In a little-known 1978 speech, Joan Didion wrestled with the meaning of womanhood, feminism and identity in her home state of California.

Didion wrote, “I realized that I have been writing about the California woman all my adult life, that what it means to be a California woman has been a great question to me—the California woman has been—if not exactly my subject—at least quite certainly my material.”

Being a woman in a long line of mothers of courage, in community with other women, and a link in a chain to future women was intrinsic to Joan Didion’s identity.

Fifty Years After War, Southeast Asian Communities Face a New Kind of Violence. Gender and Queer Justice Must Be at the Heart of This Moment.

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Drawing on histories of war, displacement and resistance, Southeast Asian organizers expose how patriarchy fuels violence, erasure and division—and why intersectional justice must lead the way forward.

“Patriarchal power is regrouping, seeking to reassert its grip. If we do not recognize and resist this realignment, we risk losing hard-won resources, protections and, most importantly, people. 

“As a community, Southeast Asians’ trauma is compounded by war and displacement. Nearly 16,000 Southeast Asian refugees face deportation; many live in poverty and fear, underserved by traditional systems and are often overlooked in broader Asian American narratives. As the United States expands its deportation machine, refugees from the U.S.-backed wars in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are being re-criminalized and forcibly removed. These deportations fracture families, destabilize communities, and retraumatize those already targeted by the carceral state. Gender-based violence and anti-queer violence only intensify those challenges.”

(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)

A Power Grab in Plain Sight: Inside Texas Republicans’ Mid-Decade Redistricting Push

As Texas reels from devastating floods, Republican leaders are rushing through a controversial mid-decade redistricting plan aimed at cementing their grip on power—at the direct urging of Donald Trump.

“Let’s not allow the White House to put its arms into Texas and divide our community,” said Texas state Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins at a heated and packed public hearing last Thursday.

Dreams Deferred: The Oppression of Women Judges Under Taliban Rule

On a cold Sunday morning in January 2021, Qadria Yasini, a judge on the Supreme Court of Afghanistan in Kabul, set out for work with her colleague, Zakia Herawi. As they rode in the back seat of a government-provided car, they were gunned down in broad daylight by three assassins, who then fled on foot and by motorcycle. When Yasini’s possessions were returned to her family, a Mother’s Day greeting from her two teenage sons was found in her handbag, riddled by bullets.

This heartbreaking story opens British journalist Karen Bartlett’s deeply reported, troubling new book: Escape From Kabul: The Afghan Women Judges Who Fled the Taliban and Those They Left Behind.

But Bartlett’s narrative also provides an inspiring tale of resilience.

Women’s Voices Are the Only Way Forward for Climate Change Solutions: ‘As Women, We Have to Stand Up and Back Up Women’

Every year since 1995, member nations of the U.N. have come together to discuss the planet’s climate crisis during COP meetings. This year marks the 30th annual meeting, which will be held Nov. 10 to 21 in Belém, Brazil. 

What COP30 won’t say out loud: The green transition is accelerating colonialism, and women are paying the price. Climate justice starts with women, ecology and an end to extractive capitalism.