Marissa Nelson

As abortion opponents target IVF, they’re promoting fertility clinics like this one Social conservatives have pushed restorative reproductive medicine as an alternative to IVF. Doctors worry that could limit access to the most effective form of infertility treatment.

National anti-abortion activists have called it a model of what reproductive health care should look like in the post-Roe v. Wade landscape. @shefali.bsky.social's latest.

19thnews.org/2025/11/abor...

The sex ed you get depends on your ZIP code — and your state’s politics In some states, students learn about consent and healthy relationships. In others, they get "Baby Olivia" and abstinence-only instruction.

“We learned about male and female anatomy, STIs and AIDS, but they didn’t really delve into them... I did not learn about healthy relationships, and I did not learn about contraceptives.”

@nadrakn.bsky.social for @19thnews.org.

Catholic hospitals barred from offering gender-affirming care Catholic health systems account for 1 in 6 acute care hospitals in the country — and in many rural areas, they are the only available hospital.

Catholic health systems account for 1 in 6 acute care hospitals in the country — and in many rural areas, they are the only available hospital.

“Describing rapid response networks and neighborhood moms as professional agitators shows just how out of touch these agents are, and how extreme their views are.”

— U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis

Zohran Mamdani's Establishment-Fighting Campaign Built Community for Young People “What Mamdani has done is not only inspire and mobilize young people, but he has exposed the establishment and some of their calcified views of participation and inclusion.”

here is my story about how Zohran's focus on community amid the loneliness epidemic helped young people connect their politics to an organizing infrastructure, that interviewed ZM, and does not use the NYT's framing of "they don't know how to make friends" :-) and also ran 4 days before NYT's lol

‘I have papers’: Child care worker detained by ICE officers inside a Chicago day care Raids inside day cares had been off limits until this year, when, on his first day in office, President Donald Trump removed that protection.

As of this year, child care centers are also no longer off limits for ICE raids. The centers were previously protected under a “sensitive locations” directive that advised ICE to not conduct enforcement in places like schools and day cares.

'We'll be here': Across three cities, communities step up as SNAP runs out A mother of four in Detroit, a pastor serving LGBTQ+ congregants in Dallas and a food bank manager in Chicago share their fears — and resilience — as federal funds are set to expire.

“We’re gearing up to step up, expanding our services and doing our absolute very best to make sure that the food-insecure folks... are served to the very best of our ability and we know that that’s going to extend us."

Holocaust history shows LGBTQ+ people have always been their own heroes Queer historians are using LGBTQ+ History Month to reflect on the often forgotten but powerful resistance against the Nazis.

Queer women were detained in camps, often branded with a black triangle. Others were marked with different symbols or letters depending on the crime for which they were imprisoned. 19thnews.org/2025/10/lgbt...

How SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans could be saved during the shutdown The USDA has refused to release contingency funds, and Congress remains gridlocked — but there are still paths to keeping the nutrition assistance program alive.

Each party is hoping that voters blame the other for the ongoing shutdown, along with its impacts on SNAP and other programs.

Without the federal government, almost no money exists to fight domestic violence Work to prevent intimate partner violence, feed families in shelters fleeing abuse or help survivors file for legal protection would not exist on the scale it does today if the federal government step...

Without federal funds, the work being done to prevent intimate partner violence, feed families in shelters fleeing abuse or help survivors file for legal protection would not exist on the scale it does today.

Winsome Earle-Sears has already made history. Can she do it again? Amid Trump’s attacks on immigrants and racial equity, the Virginia gubernatorial candidate is quietly hitting new milestones for Black Republican women in politics.

Nationwide, only six Black Republican women have run for governor since 2000, and Earle-Sears is the first one to win the party’s nomination.

A hunger cliff is days away. Women, children and food banks will feel it first. Food banks will face logistical and financial challenges in providing the resources currently offered by the SNAP and WIC programs that are set to lose funding.

“It’s a pretty delicate supply chain, so trying to figure out what it would look like to get additional infant formula to food banks to support families in the event of a widespread disruption to WIC is incredibly challenging."

Cancer killed his parents. He’s facing the same disease alone — and unhoused. Marcus Ford, like other Black men around the country, lives with a higher risk of dying from cancer due to factors out of his control. But Medicaid cuts may take away his treatment.

“This too shall pass. I have no fear as yet. Because I do have to be my own self-advocate in all of this,” he said. “Certainly, if I allow myself to fall apart because of my cancer or because of Parkinson’s, then I’ll be no good for myself and unable to navigate around the housing process.”

The issue uniting Mamdani and Hochul? Universal child care. Experts on child care policy — and the politics around it — say it’s a sign of how critical the issue is to many voters.

“It is rare that you see a young, childless dude talking about this issue. I think that he’s a really good messenger for this because it is not built into his bio — the way that most of his campaign is not built into his bio — but about what he’s hearing from voters,” Litman said.

Want to stop political violence? Start by addressing hostile sexism In her new book, an expert on violent extremism lays out evidence that gender-based bigotry fuels hate — so national security officials need to do something about it.

Such a critical part of the ongoing story of political violence in the U.S.

“Violence that is rooted in gendered issues is a huge predictor of — and possibly the biggest predictor, in some studies — of trajectories that lead to mass violence... Over half of mass shooters are targeting a partner.”

Kat Abughazaleh’s punk-rock House bid The 26-year-old Chicagoan is betting that empathy and righteous anger can remake Democratic politics.

"Abughazaleh’s campaign slogan is a question: 'What if we didn’t suck?' The 'we' are Democrats."

Abortion bans push families deeper into poverty and drive up crime, economists say Researchers found a “strikingly large” relationship between restrictions on abortion and property crime, underscoring the connection between abortion bans and poverty.

“We should be thinking about what this means for the social safety net we provide for poor families and the ways in which these destabilizing effects can have ripple effects into their communities."

A push to ditch Virginia’s same-sex marriage ban hinges on this year’s elections Democrats are fighting to keep their legislative majority in the Virginia legislature. A marriage equality referendum depends on their success.

Virginia is one of 32 states that would automatically ban same-sex marriage if Obergefell is overturned.

In a single email, the EPA ended her research into how climate change endangers children Jane Clougherty spent years studying how extreme weather affects kids’ health, but as climate threats continue to rise, the Trump administration cancelled her work.

“It seems to me that we are abandoning science now,” she said. “If we do that, I’m not quite sure how we are going to really keep our kids safe from our changing climate and environmental hazards in general.”

Trump downplays domestic violence in speech about religious freedom In a speech about religious freedom, Trump talks about domestic violence and crime stats in Washington, D.C.,

The president’s comments were part of a speech he delivered at the Religious Liberty Commission’s meeting at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.

Texas passes bill banning abortion pills from being mailed to the state The legislation lets private citizens sue people who mail abortion medications to Texans. It offers a blueprint for state lawmakers trying to stop their residents from circumventing abortion bans.

The bill will also authorize lawsuits against pharmaceutical manufacturers if they make medications used by Texans for abortion — a provision that could chill drug development and make the pills harder to attain for people beyond the Lone Star State.

Texas legislature bans transgender people from public bathrooms The state's bathroom bill would block trans people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender at schools or government buildings.

“They can try as hard as they want, nobody will ever shatter the trans community or take away our deep and innate understanding of who we genuinely are. We know exactly who we are, and we will continue to fight for a better Texas, a better home for us all.”

Age verification on porn sites is putting queer adult industry workers at risk The laws requiring digital age checks — sold as child protection — are tanking the income of adult industry workers, risking their safety and even forcing them out of business.

The laws have added another risk for creators, as well: Litigation can be used to leak the full names and addresses of sex workers, who are vulnerable to stalkers and anti-porn harassment.

Chicago is doing the work.

Trump revokes Kamala Harris' extended Secret Service protection The move comes ahead of the former vice president’s book tour and cancels extra security that had been authorized by former President Joe Biden.

Harris is going out on the road to promote her book “107 Days,” detailing her whirlwind 2024 presidential campaign against Trump. Her book tour, with 18 planned stops so far in the U.S. and internationally, will be her most high-profile public appearances since her election loss in November.

This summer, parents stitched together child care to give their kids a ‘space for Black joy’ Amid rising camp costs and limited options, parents built their own patchwork of child care plans with relatives, community programs and Black-led camps.

“Being able to be in spaces where you are understood, feel seen, feel like you can absolutely be yourself and not have to hide any parts of you is so important."

When did caring for America’s most vulnerable kids become political? Though it survived elimination, Head Start is under threat. Now that they have been directed to ban undocumented children, providers wonder if politics has changed the program forever.

“The current administration talks about wanting to build a workforce. My question is how do parents become a part of this workforce if there is no safe and educational place to put their children?” she said. Now, “I’m taking people out of the workforce.”

19thnews.org/2025/08/head...

Single moms found a foothold in trade jobs after Hurricane Katrina. That progress is in jeopardy. Cuts under Trump are impacting a program that for nearly 20 years has helped women find financial security before the next big storm.

“If you’re a single mom, stuck in a low wage job. How do you pay for recovery?” Forshee asked.“The work that we do is important because we provide a place for their kids to go while they participate in the training that puts them on a pathway to earning higher wages.”

@jkutzie.bsky.social reports.

Suspending monthly economic reports would be really bad for women of color Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggested a pause of the monthly employment reports, the only timely economic measure of how women of color are faring in the economy.

Losing timely economic data, particularly at a time when the economy is showing signs of softening, is bad for every group, economists told @19thnews.org. But it could disproportionately impact women and women of color.

@chabeli.bsky.social's latest.

From tissues to tariffs: The school supply debate just got political “The issue here is not teachers versus parents. The real problem is the slashing of education budgets and the rising costs.”

“When all of us are feeling squeezed at the grocery store, at the bank, at day care — it’s no wonder that frustrations are boiling over."