War on Women Report: World Athletics Bans Trans Women; Maternal Mortality on the Rise; E. Jean Carr

(Very disturbing, angry-making list. Be prepared!!)


War on Women Report: World Athletics Bans Trans Women; Maternal Mortality on the Rise; E. Jean Carroll’s Rape Case Against Trump
3/31/2023 by Michelle Moulton and Moitse Kemelo Moatshe



U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.


Since Our Last Report ….

Republicans are trying to make it harder to add progressive ballot measures to state-level elections. Mississippi advanced a proposal that would ban voters from using ballot measures to change abortion laws. In states like Ohio, Missouri and Florida, they’re working to raise the standards on ballot measures to require a much higher percentage of voters to pass.

Republican bills in Texas and Iowa seek to ban pro-choice websites.

A woman dies every two minutes during pregnancy or childbirth, according to a new study. Maternal mortality rates are growing or remaining stagnant rather than following the declining trend from 2000 to 2015.

A South Carolina woman was arrested and charged after allegedly taking abortion pills to end her pregnancy in October 2021.

Republicans in states such as Texas, Kentucky, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas have introduced bills that would bring homicide charges for abortion.

A new Wyoming law banning all abortion was blocked.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green signed legislation allowing physician assistants to provide abortion care. Green also repealed a requirement that abortions be performed at a hospital or clinic—ensuring access to medication abortion via telemedicine.

The intensity of support for abortion access has not decreased, new polling from Navigator Research shows.

Let’s not forget what else was thrown our way over the last month.

Wednesday, March 1

+ The U.S. incarcerates women at a higher rate than any other country in the world, according to a new report from the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI). Incarcerated women are typically low-income and caught up in policies that criminalize poverty. The PPI also found that incarcerated women:

are more often in local jails than state prisons with fewer healthcare resources and less programming,
are usually mothers to minor children,
typically have physical and cognitive disabilities or mental health conditions, and
were mostly jobless leading up to their incarceration.

+ The gender pay gap has barely improved in the past 20 years, according to a new study from Pew Research Center. This raises the question about why women’s recent gains in higher education or workplace opportunities haven’t placed them on more equal financial footing. In the 1980s and ‘90s, the pay gap narrowed by 15 cents. But in 2022, women made an average of 82 cents for every dollar made by men in 2002. Progress has stalled.

“There was so much to gain before because women were so far behind, and now we’re again confronting structural problems,” said Debra Lancaster, executive director of the Center for Women and Work at Rutgers University. “We’re left with glass ceilings and concrete ceilings, particularly for Latino and Black women, and there is a pervasive undervaluing of women’s work.”

. . . .


Abortion rights activists demonstrate in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2021, as the justices hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, a case which ultimately resulted in the overturn of Roe v. Wade in June 2022. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

. . . . .



Black women in the United States are typically paid 64 cents for every dollar paid to white men. Black women’s wages are driven down by factors like gender and racial discrimination, workplace harassment, job segregation and a lack of workplace policies that support caregiving. (Getty Images)



Trans rights supporters hold a rally at the Capitol in St. Paul, Minn., on March 6, 2022. (Michael Siluk / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Friday, March 31

+ As the U.S. observes Transgender Day of Visibility on Friday, legislatures around the country are filing record amounts of anti-trans legislation: 344 bills are pending in states across the country that target transgender people.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/03/31/war-on-women-abortion-birth-control-sexual-assault-equal-pay-trans-women-sports/