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Ohio recently passed a ballot initiative, Issue 1, which guarantees the right to abortion, miscarriage care, contraception, and IVF treatment in the state's Constitution. This initiative was a response to the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. Despite Ohio's conservative political landscape, support for abortion access has consistently polled at around 60 percent in the state. Anti-abortion campaigners used deceptive tactics to confuse voters, but progressive groups, particularly those focused on marginalized communities, successfully mobilized support for the amendment. The article also discusses the ongoing challenges and future efforts to protect reproductive rights in Ohio. [Extracted from the article]

When Nia Martin-Robinson was 18, she had sex for the first time. Soon after, worried that she might have a sexually transmitted infection, she went to her local Planned Parenthood [...]

Those who have read and reread The Coldest Winter Ever know that this partly obscured face beckons readers into the story of Winter Santiaga, the teenage daughter of a Brooklyn drug kingpin and the character at the heart of Sister Souljah's 1999 novel, a runaway success that would dramatize the hard-knock lives of New Yorkers immersed in the city's drug culture for readers all over the world. Morgan remembers sitting on panels with Souljah in the '90s as they promoted their books, each sharing her take on what it was like to be a young Black woman and part of the hip-hop generation, and she witnessed Souljah's transition from political firebrand to novelist. After Clinton made an example of her to advance his political career, Souljah gave the world Coldest as well as five subsequent novels built around the first book's cast of characters. In a 2021 interview with the writer Demetria L. Lucas, Souljah said of writing herself into the novel, "The reason why The Coldest Winter Ever started off with Winter Santiaga saying she hates Sister Souljah was so that I could distinguish her voice, her life, her experiences, from my own. [Extracted from the article]

In August the organization was forced to withdraw from the federal Title X family planning program after an unprecedented Trump administration rule prohibited those funds from going to facilities that provide abortions or refer patients to abortions elsewhere. WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD CLINICS CLOSing, more women in Ohio will find their way to CPCs, establishments that provide pregnancy tests, pressure women not to have abortions, and offer medically inaccurate information, such as telling women seeking abortions that they're past the gestational limit. The Catholic Conference of Ohio has been active at abortion bill hearings in Columbus, the state capital, and has submitted written testimony in support of restrictive policies. The group joined forces with NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, Preterm (a local abortion clinic), and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio to form a united front in the run-up to that fall's gubernatorial election. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses political aspects of motherhood for black mothers in the U.S. in relation to racism. Topics include the roles of black fathers in families, criticisms of black families in relation to marriage promotion and poverty, and psychological and emotional aspects of motherhood for black mothers.

The article explores the future of the racial-justice organization Black Lives Matter (BLM) that was founded in response to a string of black deaths at the hands of police. Topics covered include U.S. President Donald Trump characterizing BLMA as totally infiltrated by terrorist groups, the engagement by BLM organizers with electoral politics in new ways given the changed political terrain, and efforts of the Trump organization to crush black organizing.

The article takes a look at the "Black Lives Matter" online movement and its impact on the U.S. racial-justice movement. Topics covered include the racial justice movement's call for an end to the disproportionate killing of black people by law-enforcement officials and vigilantes, the values of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the emergence of organizations such as BYP 100 which operates from a young black queer feminist perspective.

The organization National Advocates for Pregnant Women has defended the rights of pregnant and parenting people for more than two decades, providing legal services for individuals who have been criminalized as a result of pregnancy, including for a stillbirth, miscarriage, or abortion. It's important that everyone knows that medical research does not support a finding of a direct causal relationship between prenatal exposure to criminalized drugs and miscarriage or stillbirth. Miscarriage is typically medically indistinguishable from a self-managed abortion, so miscarriages will become even more suspect in the eye of the state, especially when they're experienced by members of heavily surveilled communities. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the author's claim that some women in the U.S. are skeptical about birth control and intrauterine contraceptives (IUDs) despite the evidence that programs which provide IUDs and hormonal implants to low-income young women are causing teenage birth rates to decline as of 2015. According to the article, long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) are revolutionizing birth control in the 21st century. Concerns about female infertility and infections are also examined.

A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience and efforts in ensuring the safety of herself and her baby during her pregnancy.

The article looks at My Brother's Keeper, an initiative of the U.S. President Barack Obama administration focusing on expanding services designed to help boys and young men of color, including African American boys and young men. It discusses criticisms of the initiative related to the exclusion of girls from its scope and to its focus on the deficits of boys of color as individuals rather than social and economic obstacles they face. Activists cited include Alicia Dixon and Alvin Starks.

Reimbursement from insurance - including Medicaid, which covers more than 40% of pregnant people in the U.S. - is another potential revenue stream. SOLUTIONS WE LOVE COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million people in the United States, set back students' academic progress, and destabilized our collective mental health. Minnesota and Oregon were the first states to pass legislation that expands access to doulas through Medicaid coverage. [Extracted from the article]

The article reports that as the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, the gap between Black and white unemployment has widened, with a higher rate of Black workers becoming permanently laid off while white workers disproportionately go back to work. Topics include focuses on several lives snuffed off by police and vigilante violence, including Mahmoud Arber, George Floyd, Brenna Taylor and Elijah McClain.

The article focuses on Nia Martin-Robinson who is director of leadership at national organization, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and mentions battles over reproductive and racial justice.

The article looks at progressive political activism in North Carolina as of July 2014. It notes the growth of the Forward Together movement and its Moral Monday effort, saying that organizing work over many years led to the large-scale Moral Monday protests that have taken place over the past year in response to a range of extremely conservative laws and policies enacted under Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory. The Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) coalition is cited.

The article focuses on the advocacy of women's rights on the ground of gender equality. It mentions on efforts toward equality on the basis of sex to get equal footing with efforts toward racial justice, immigrant rights, the eradication of poverty, and the centering of Queer and Trans people's issues. It states on intersectionality which refers to the idea that oppression or social inequality operates within a framework of overlapping identities.

The author argues that the August 1, 2016 document "A Vision for Black Lives" by the organization The Movement for Black Lives builds on previous black political activism. Topics include public opinion on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) political movement, police reform suggestions in the document, and the involvement of black political organizations in the creation of the document.

An interview with activist Shana Griffin is presented. When asked about federal and local housing policy in New Orleans, Louisiana after the Hurricane Katrina, she said that these policies make people disappear and living in public housing has embarrassed her. Griffin stated that gender and racial inequality is denying African American women to return back to the city. She talked about her project which is a community land trust owned apartment building in New Orleans.

The article focuses on race relations in the U.S. in 2014. Topics include the shooting death of black teen Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 by police officer Darren Wilson, the police brutality that caused the death of Eric Garner, and the history of racism in the U.S. Information is provided on the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.

An interview with Afghani activist and former Afghan Parliament member Malalai Joya is presented. Asked about the conditions of women in Afghanistan as of 2013, she says women are facing many of the same problems of violence and harsh punishment that they did before the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of the country. Topics include the strong presence of warlords in the Afghan government, the Taliban Islamist movement, and progressive activism in the country.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including sexual violence against women, women's equality, and feminism.