Laws that target regulation of abortion providers, or TRAP laws, have been sweeping across the county, including here in North Carolina. Just last year, Governor McCrory signed into effect some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the nation, directly contradicting his own campaign promise to never do so. McCrory has already said that he’ll vote for Trump if he gets the Republican nomination for president – does McCrory also agree with Trump on his position on abortion? While the nation rightly ridicules the Governor for his misguided and destructive support of HB 2, let’s not forget the other promises he’s broken to women of North Carolina. Tell McCrory to stand with women and let him know that we won’t tolerate his Trump-esque attitudes and actions toward abortion in our state. Women deserve elected leaders who don’t TRAP them in petty partisan games.

The Indiana state legislature just passed a bill that attempts to strip away women's constitutionally protected right to safe and legal choices when it comes to what they can do with their own bodies. HB 1337 is the most dangerous anti-choice legislation this country has ever seen, and we must urge Governor Mike Pence to veto this unconstitutional bill. HB 1337 could be signed into law any day now, but we cannot allow states to continue to perpetuate the war on women by chipping away at their rights. Please join me in urging the state of Indiana to leave women's choices about what to do with their own bodies to WOMEN.

The proposed 20 week ban is another in a line of discriminatory legislation from lawmakers who think they know better than the people of South Dakota.

Indiana is on the verge of passing HEA 1337, a bill that would insert politicians into the private medical decisions of pregnant Hoosiers—adding shame, stigma and barriers at a time when the most critical need is medically accurate information and compassionate care. 1. Creates financial obstacles for pregnant people who access abortion. HEA 1337 requires a pregnant person to receive an ultrasound at the same time they receive (mis)informed consent. This means that (mis)informed consent appointments are longer. Longer appointments means longer wait times for people attempting to meet the state's 18-hour waiting period requirement. This bill makes it harder for a pregnant person to comply with the law. 2. Shames and demeans patients under the guise of compassion. HEA 1337 mandates the burial and cremation of miscarried or aborted remains. This mandate adds unnecessary shaming to patients choosing an abortion and takes away private decision making from very private medical procedures. To complete this process, a pregnant person would have to complete a form – a form that jeopardizes their privacy by requesting their name. 3. Informs with the intent to coerce. HEA 1337 requires the state health department to develop information about perinatal hospice care for people whose pregnancies have been diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly. This is a hard and heart breaking time for people, and the information they receive should support them in making the best decisions for themselves, their health and well-being. It shouldn't shame them or coerce them into making a particular decision. 4. Adds racist and judgmental prohibitions. HEA 1337 would prohibit abortions done on the basis of the race or sex of the fetus. This relies on stereotypes about marginalized communities to ban abortion for reasons that have no supporting evidence here in the US. The bill would also prohibit abortions based on the potential or actual diagnosis of the fetus having a disability, potentially increasing any trauma or grief the pregnant person and their family may be experiencing. 5. Jeopardizes the doctor/patient relationship. HEA 1337 creates the mechanism to punish doctors if they do perform an abortion based on sex or disability of the fetus. This turns doctors into investigators of their patients’ motives, may make them wary of providing care, and makes patients scared to trust their medical provider. 6. Exposes doctors to harm. HEA 1337 would disclose the protected documents regarding abortion providers’ back up physicians and hospital admitting agreements to all hospitals in the area around an abortion clinic. This exposes physicians’ information with no benefit to patient care. In a political and social climate filled with violent rhetoric and domestic terrorism towards abortion providers, this is a dangerous risk to take with doctors’ information. HEA 1337 sets a dangerous precedent for defining what reasons are or are not acceptable for seeking an abortion and lead only to more restrictions on access to safe, legal reproductive health care. The provisions limit access to abortion. They shame and judge women. They do nothing to improve or protect women’s health. These restrictions are another example of a broader agenda to end access to abortion. Since 2011, state lawmakers across the country have passed more than 280 restrictions on safe, legal abortion. More than in the previous decade (189). Indiana makes up 1/3 of these restrictions making us one of the top four most hostile states to abortion in the nation. The time is now: Urge members of the Indiana General Assembly and Governor Mike Pence to stop this bill, and protect the rights and health care of pregnant Hoosiers.

Lands's End should be encouraged to restore Steinem to the website and catalog. People should care because this is the central message of feminism: treat men and women alike. Flawed men are in ads all the time.

The Virginia General Assembly is considering multiple proposals to defund Planned Parenthood and cut Virginians off from quality, affordable health care. HB1090, sponsored by Delegate Ben Cline, passed the House of Delegates on February 16th and is now headed to the State Senate. A separate budget proposal is also pending. These are political attacks on women's health designed to leave Virginians without access to their trusted health care provider. On behalf of Virginia's women and families, we must stop them immediately.

In an April 18, 2015, article The Baltimore Sun reported on a study by the National Women's Law Center showing that overall Maryland women earned $.86 for every dollar earned by a male for comparable work. Another study cited in the story, by the Institute for Women's Policy Research showed Maryland women earned $.87 for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. Nationwide, the Institute reported, that was second only to New York where women earned $.88 to the dollar. These figures for Maryland women are still nothing to brag about when you consider 1.) There is an increasing number of households in which females are either the sole provider or the absolute single head of the household; 2.) The gender gap is wider among African-American and Latina women; 3.) There are questions about the growth of the disparity as a woman advances in a career; and 4.) There is currently no means to protect a woman who is lawfully inquiring about her salary and/or lodging formal complaints with respect to it without fear of retribution by her employer. Fortunately, in the 2016 Legislative Session, there is still another (there have been other unsuccessful efforts in previous sessions) to make Equal Pay for Equal Work the law of the state! In the House of Delegates, the bill is known as HB1003, and in the Senate it is SB0481. Among other provisions, the bills' goals are identical: to prevent discrimination in pay/conversation on the basis of gender/gender identity and to prevent retribution against employees identifying disparities through various state and other channels. They accomplish this by amending and adding provisions to existing laws. The bills also TAKE INTO ACCOUNT that disparities can and will continue to exist when it comes to merit, differences in education, level of experience, distinct difference in the ability to perform specific tasks, etc. In other words, the proposed legislation strikes a FAIR BALANCE demanding ONLY fair compensation for those jobs where men and women on equal levels deserve to be paid equally! As a fellow Maryland voter, I URGE YOU to encourage your delegates and senators to get behind this legislation! Both the House of Delegates and the Senate are scheduled to begin hearings in early March. So time is critical! If you wish to join movements in support of this legislation, I encourage you to do so. And by all means, study the legislation as proposed for yourself, by all means do so! Simply go to the Maryland General Assembly website at http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/webmga/frm1st.aspx?tab=home and enter the bill's number into the search bar. Once in the bill you will find an icon for the PDF text of the proposed legislation! Thank you for your consideration. Together, we can put Maryland among the leaders in the Equal Pay Movements!

As a native Ohioan, I am concerned about Ohio women's health. Gov. Kasich should veto this bill so women don't lose vital health care in Ohio.

The General Assembly is considering multiple dangerous proposals that attack women's health care access, including an extreme abortion ban and defunding Planned Parenthood. These bills aren't about medicine, they're about politics. Since 2010, the General Assembly has considered over 75 proposals restricting women’s access to abortion, including banning insurance coverage, requiring invasive, transvaginal ultrasounds, and outrageous personhood bills that even threaten birth control access. These bills are no different--they are part of a coordinated campaign to chip away at reproductive rights. We can't let them get away with it.

It appears that these three women stand for the old guard, the corrupt and wealthy people who will do or say anything to support the 1%. We need to let them know we no longer will tolerate corrupt "business as usual" along with intimidation and condescension.

Earlier this week, the CDC issued a statement recommending that doctors instruct women of childbearing age who are not using contraception to avoid all alcohol, so as to decrease their hypothetical baby's risk for fetal alcohol syndrome. While this statement may be well-intentioned, in reality it creates unrealistic expectations and attempts to remove the agency of women in making their own informed choices around their contraception and alcohol consumption. While the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy remain unclear, attempting to enforce such unrealistic expectations will do little to protect unborn children from harm. It is the duty of the CDC to provide necessary, realistic guidance that will increase public health. Their current directives, which aim to police women's bodies, do not meet that goal and must be amended today!

As we approach the peak of the presidential season, far too little focus has centered on the issues concerning one of the strongest voting blocs: Black women. Despite outperforming every other demographic in the last two elections, the conditions of Black women and their families continues to remain ignored, entering national dialogue usually upon tragedy or violence. Even with national platforms intended to focus on violence against women, the significant disparities faced by millions of Black women and girls in the workplace, schools, and streets are, at best, underprioritized. Heirs of the tangled oppression of slavery, sexism, classism, and invisibility, equity in America will never truly be actualized until Black women and girls can exist as full citizens of America--in fact, policy and by law. What is the status of Black women and girls today? Black women constitute 13% of the population of US women, yet 30% of all incarcerated women. Nearly 4.1 million families are headed by Black women--37% of which live below the poverty level. Student debt takes up 111 percent of Black women’s income. The closing of facilities that provide general care for women impacts millions of low-income women who count on these local institutions as their primary source of care. 300 girls in the Atlanta area are lured into sex trafficking each month--the average age being 14. Black girls are suspended six times more often than white girls. Every year, 1, 722 Black women die from breast cancer--an average of five Black women a day! The maternal mortality rate of Black women in America is more than 10 times that of women in most industrialized nations. And as we witnessed with the case of Sandra Bland, no aspect of the American Dream--her college degree, new job, affiliation in a historically Black Greek-lettered organization, or zip code--could provide Sandra security. We can no longer be silent about our realities and that of our sisters, mothers, partners and friends. Who’s Got US? #SheWoke Committee: Sharon Cooper, Wife and Mother, Advocate, corporate professional, Sister of Sandra Bland Ifeoma Ike, Writer, Dreamer, Co-Creator of BlackandBrownPeopleVote Nakisha M. Lewis, Philanthropic Strategist, Writer, Activist Tiffany D. Hightower, Organizer, Writer, & Orator Shambulia Gadsden Sams, Activist & Organizer Sharisse Stancil-Ashford, Artist & Activist Dr. Avis Jones-DeWeever, Founder of Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women