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(Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

By Jennifer Weiss-Wolf | Over Labor Day weekend, Texas quietly rolled out yet another measure to restrict reproductive freedom. Senate Bill 33, which took effect Monday, bans municipal funding for abortion support—stripping cities like Austin and San Antonio of the ability to allocate local dollars to abortion funds, even for residents forced to travel out of state for care. The law denies “millions of Texans the opportunity” for their communities to support safe, legal abortion access, according to Jane’s Due Process, a nonprofit serving young people navigating the state’s bans.

It’s a playbook Texas has perfected. Four years ago, the state’s SB 8 created the infamous “bounty hunter” model, empowering private citizens to sue anyone who helps a person get an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and rewarding them with $10,000. That law went into effect while Roe v. Wade was still technically the law of the land, an early harbinger of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Since then, Texas has become the national laboratory for copycat measures that push the boundaries of authoritarian control—from targeting trans people to censoring librarians.

The toll is devastating. Maternal deaths and infant mortality are on the rise; patients risk sepsis because doctors fear prosecution; and the cost of accessing abortion care has skyrocketed. Advocates like Jane’s Due Process warn that these laws are not just about abortion—they are about consolidating state power, silencing local communities and testing the limits of democracy itself. “This is another attack on democracy in an antiabortion disguise,” said Lucie Arvallo, the group’s executive director.

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By Carmen Rios | Kathy Spillar, executive editor of Ms. magazine, became involved in feminist organizing when the supposed ratification deadline for the Equal Rights Amendment expired in 1982. In the final episode of the Ms. podcast Looking Back, Moving Forward, she explains why, 40 years later, she’s still calling for constitutional equality.

Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “The Feminist Fight For The Equal Rights Amendment Is Far From Over—and More Urgent Than Ever (with Pat Spearman, Ellie Smeal, Carol Moseley Braun, Kathy Spillar, and Ting Ting Cheng)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.  

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(Johan Ordonez / AFP via Getty Images)

By Mary Giovagnoli | The Departments of Homeland Security, as well as Health and Human Services, hit a new low over Labor Day weekend: Government officials ordered the deportation of over 600 Guatemalan children in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, a federal judge quickly acted to block the removals, at least for now—but the events that unfolded between Aug. 29 and Aug. 31 are a sobering indictment of all that is wrong with Trump’s campaign against immigrants. In a single night, the Trump administration may have permanently scarred children who were just beginning to feel like they had found a safe place, far away from the danger and threats they had fled.

Their terror and confusion is captured in the affidavits children and witnesses filed with the court over the next few days. One boy described how shelter staff woke him at 2 in the morning, telling him he would be leaving in a few hours; he had no time to wash his face or brush his teeth but had to gather his things and go. For a minute, he just sat there, staring into space, unable to fathom what going back to Guatemala might mean. Another child became so scared that she vomited. 

Many worried whether their parents or relatives could even answer the phone at such an hour or be ready to receive them. Some asked in trembling voices, “¿Me van a mandar a otro albergue en Guatemala?” “Are they going to send me to another shelter in Guatemala?”

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Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on

Apple Podcasts + Spotify.

In this episode, host Michele Goodwin speaks directly to students, young scholars, and the next generation of leaders, and of course, the people who love them.  As she remarks, they are coming of age in a world that is complicated, challenging, and often unfair. This talk is about standing up when it’s easier to look away, holding your ground when the crowd moves in a different direction, and acting with empathy and accountability in a world that often forgets what those values actually mean.

We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!

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