niyad
niyad's JournalDobbs Has Triggered Widespread Discrimination in Non-Reproductive Healthcare (trigger warning)
(and the MISOGYNIST, PATRIARCHAL, THEOCRATIC, CHRISTOFASCIST WAR ON WOMEN continues apace)
Dobbs Has Triggered Widespread Discrimination in Non-Reproductive Healthcare (trigger warning)
PUBLISHED 11/18/2025 by Shoshanna Ehrlich
Physicians across specialties, from oncology to dermatology, report that abortion bans are undermining patient care.
Abortion-rights activists in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on June 24, 2024, the second anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, which reversed federal protections for access to abortions. (Aashish Kiphayet / Middle East Images via AFP and Getty Images)
In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) issued a press release pinpointing with prescient accuracy that it would “trigger nothing short of a public health crisis, exacerbate existing health disparities, and further endanger already marginalized populations most.” The U.S. was now in “clear violation of international law and globally recognized health and human rights standards.” In the years following Roe‘s overturn, PHR has issued state-specific research briefs on the harms of abortion bans. It has also worked to “empower clinicians and advocates to speak out against the human rights violations occurring under these draconian laws.”
On Sept. 30, PHR issued a groundbreaking research brief, “Cascading Harms: How Abortion Bans Lead to Discriminatory Care Across Medical Specialties.” Based on in-depth interviews with 33 physicians from varying health specialties across the country, the study found that abortion bans “have hindered the ability of providers in diverse medical fields to follow evidence-based practices and standards of care, creating a pervasive chilling effect that results in substandard care and discriminatory treatment for reproductive-age women and pregnant patients.” Ms. recently had the opportunity to sit down with PHR medical director Michele Heisler, MD, MPA, and director of research, legal and advocacy Payal Shah, JD, to discuss how abortion bans create hindrances in healthcare beyond the reproductive space.
. . .
A doctor’s office in Manhattan, New York. (Lindsey Nicholson / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
. . . .
She said abortion bans are resulting in “two types of discriminatory treatment.”
First: “discrimination against all reproductive-age people with pregnancy potential, most women, compared to men. The men are getting the treatment, but the reproductive-age women are not.”
Second, as typified by the contraceptive reliability assessment, is that “within reproductive-age women, even if it’s unconscious, marginalized groups [are] less likely to get necessary, effective treatment.”
… Reproductive age women are being sorted into deserving and non-deserving groupings based upon an often-subjective assessment of their contraceptive reliability, and prescribed medications accordingly.
The possibility that “abortion bans are leading to discriminatory care for marginalized groups beyond reproductive healthcare” had, as Shah noted, “come up in several earlier reports we had done, and was prompting us to start delving into it … to understand what is the scope of this? Who is impacted? Who can avoid this harm, but also, who can’t?”
For Shah, the conclusion of this study—“that abortion bans are leading to discriminatory care for marginalized groups”—was “one of the most chilling findings.”
. . .
Some specialists get to the point where they feel, “I just can’t do that. I need to feel that I have the flexibility to use my clinical skills and to engage in shared decision making with my patients and not wait until I can document that there is serious harm or death,” said Heisler. They are “perceiving these as environments that are hostile to science. They’re hostile to medicine, and they’re hostile to clinicians’ ability to provide the highest standard of evidence-based ethical care.” Both Heisler and Shah stressed, this stressful environment has produces yet another cascading harm of abortion bans—namely, “the exodus of other specialties, besides OB-GYNs from states … which already have healthcare [and] maternity care deserts.” Ultimately, this leaves us with the chilling reality that medical care deserts are continuing to grow, contributing to communities’ suffering.
https://msmagazine.com/2025/11/18/abortion-bans-impact-oncology-dermatology-healthcare/
Rest in Power: A Running List of the Preventable Deaths Caused by Abortion Bans (trigger warning)
(and the MISOGYNIST, PATRIARCHAL, THEOCRATIC, CHRISTOFASCIST WAR ON WOMEN continues apace)
(there is an eye-opening graphic and a partial list of the victims at the link below)
Rest in Power: A Running List of the Preventable Deaths Caused by Abortion Bans (trigger warning)
PUBLISHED 11/4/2024 by Roxanne Szal | UPDATED 11/20/2025 at 8:35 A.M. PT
At least 11 women are already known to have died because of abortion bans—an undeniable undercount, with more cases still unnamed or not yet public.
Arizona for Abortion Access supporters carry photographs of women who died because of abortion bans during the 35th annual All Souls Procession—a two-mile long march for community members to honor ancestors and loved ones who have died—on Nov. 3, 2024, in Tucson, Ariz. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)
Women are outraged—and they have every reason to be.
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, it marked the first time in history that the Court has taken away a fundamental right and opened the door for states to ban abortion outright.
Texas women in particular have lived under an extreme ban for even longer: In September 2021, Texas’ SB 8 became law, the six-week ban with a “bounty hunter” provision. At the time SB 8 took effect, it was considered the most restrictive abortion ban to ever take effect in the U.S.
Today, 22 states ban abortion or restrict the procedure earlier in pregnancy than the standard set by Roe v. Wade, and of those, abortion is completely illegal in 13.
Antiabortion lawmakers and judges in these states are failing women and their families, causing preventable deaths and irreparable pain and heartbreak for their families—leaving children without mothers, parents without their daughters, and spouses without their partners. Ms. is marking these women's stories. This article will be updated to mark every single name made public. These women should be alive today. And these are likely not the only cases, as there has been a significant increase in maternal mortality rates in states that implement strict abortion bans.
Rest in power. And may their deaths not be in vain.
. . . .
In addition to the deaths (and these are only the ones we know about), physicians reported serious injuries caused by "repeated experiences of restricted and delayed treatment," as well as "moral distress" from navigating pregnant patients' lives and the legal and professional risk of being found guilty of violating these extreme bans."We don’t have the full picture of what abortion bans have wrought," wrote Jill Filipivoc. "Instead, what we have are snapshots: Data pulled by intrepid reporters. Women and their families brave enough to speak to the press. Doctors willing to speak anonymously with careful researchers. It’s not a complete picture. But these snapshots still tell a dark story."
. . . .
https://msmagazine.com/2024/11/04/women-die-abortion-ban-elections-vote/
Virginia Giuffre's Posthumous Memoir Is an Indictment of the Men--and Institutions--That Enabled Her Abuse
(and the obscene, MISOGYNIST, PATRIARCHAL, THEOCRATIC, CHRISTOFASCIST WAR ON WOMEN continues apace)
Virginia Giuffre’s Posthumous Memoir Is an Indictment of the Men—and Institutions—That Enabled Her Abuse TRIGGER WARNING
PUBLISHED 11/20/2025 by Gail Dines
Sky Roberts, brother of Virginia Giuffre, and his wife Amanda Roberts during a news conference with survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein outside the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025. (Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
I thought I was mentally prepared to read Virginia Roberts Giuffre’s posthumous book, Nobody’s Girl. I was wrong. Although I have been researching and writing about the sexual exploitation industries for over 30 years, worked with survivors and seen more violent pornography than any woman should have to endure, the account of her abuse, told in painful detail, was unbearable. If reading the book was gut-wrenching, I can’t imagine what it was like for her and other girls and women who experience the horrors of being trafficked. Giuffre, in the end, couldn’t survive living with this trauma. She died by suicide at the age of 41. That fact hangs over the book—and the reader.******** But in truth, her cruel abusers killed her. SHE WAS SEXUALLY TORTURED TO DEATH. (emphasis mine) *********
Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice was published on Oct. 21, 2025.
Giuffre was repeatedly raped by many, if not hundreds of men, beginning with her father and one of his friends. By the time Giuffre met Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who first encountered Giuffre as she walked to work at the spa at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, multiple rapes had transformed her into the “perfect” victim for them. For more than two years, Giuffre was held captive by these seasoned predators who, together with hundreds of men, committed unspeakable acts of sexual, physical and psychological violence. She was beaten, strangled, bloodied and so infected with gynecological ailments that at times she could not even hold her urine. So brutal were some of her tormentors that Giuffre hoped to pass out from the pain for relief. Like many other victims of abuse, Giuffre turned to pills and self-harm to try and soothe her torments.
Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts) with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell at Prince Andrew’s London home. (Photo released with court documents)
. . . . .
Survivor Teresa Helm and lawyer Sigrid McCawley, who represented many of the survivors including Virginia Giuffre, at a survivor-led rally on Sept. 3, 2025, calling for passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. (Jenny Warburg)
. . . .
Amanda Roberts holds up a photo of Giuffre during a news conference with lawmakers on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025. (Heather Diehl / Getty Images)
Epstein and Maxwell presided over a massive international organization, facilitated by banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC and Bank of America. Also on the payroll were pilots, chefs, accountants, drivers, security guards, gardeners, boat crews, physicians, house managers, and surely more than a few customs officials, police and politicians. The circle of complicity in their crimes was vast. Epstein and Maxwell cozied up to Bill Clinton, former Harvard president Lawrence Summers, famed attorney Alan Dershowitz, the CEO of Barclays, the founder of Victoria’s Secret, Bill Gates, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and loathsome “Prince” Andrew. Giuffre also mentions that she was raped by an unnamed prime minister, among other high-level politicians. Donald Trump called Epstein a “great guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.” Giuffre’s abusers were a who’s who of the global male elite, while Giuffre herself was uneducated and poor. All the high-profile men and institutions showered by Epstein’s largesse helped gild his abuses with a veneer of refinement and approval.
. . . .
Danny Wilson and Sky Roberts, brothers of Giuffre, at a dinner and reception hosted by World Without Exploitation on Sept. 2, 2025, the night before a press conference and rally calling for justice for the crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act. (Jenny Warburg)
Giuffre’s life was horrific and tragic. It is the same horror that so many other girls experience, albeit in far less opulent surroundings. And so few of the perpetrators, from the trailer park to Park Avenue, are ever held accountable. In this way, Giuffre speaks for victims and survivors who do not have a public voice but who suffer the same appalling childhood rape and sexual violence. In fact, pick up just about any autobiographical account by a woman who escaped prostitution or pornography, and you will read a similar tale of abuse and violence. In the final paragraph of the book, and perhaps in some of the final sentences she ever wrote, Giuffre tells that she will have achieved her goal with Nobody’s Girl if “just one person” is moved to create “a world in which predators are punished, not protected; victims are treated with compassion, not shamed; and powerful people face the same consequences as everybody else.” Although she never lived to see this day, her book, her courage and her rage compel us to fight for this goal in the name of all victims and survivors of sex trafficking.
Sky and Amanda Roberts outside the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 18, 2025. (Heather Diehl / Getty Images)
https://msmagazine.com/2025/11/20/virginia-roberts-giuffre-memoir-nobodys-girl-jeffrey-epstein/
Trump's War on Women Journalists Reveals His Fear of Truth
Trump’s War on Women Journalists Reveals His Fear of Truth
PUBLISHED 11/21/2025 by Kathy Spillar
( IT) points as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2025. (Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)
There is a cold wind that blows every time Donald Trump opens his mouth to belittle a woman who dares to ask him a question. You can feel it in the room—sharp, metallic, the temperature dropping with each insult. It is the weather pattern of a man who fears the truth and fears the women who speak it aloud. Last week, that wind swept through Air Force One when Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey pressed him on the Epstein files. A reasonable question in a democracy: If there’s nothing incriminating, why fight so hard to keep the documents sealed? Trump wheeled toward her, finger stabbing the air, and snarled, “Quiet! Quiet, piggy.” A president reduced to playground cruelty, trembling at the ankles of a woman doing her job. Lucey returned two days later—undaunted. Her courage was met with more schoolyard taunts: “You are the worst … I don’t know why they even have you.” That is the tell of a man losing control: a loud desperation masquerading as swagger. The sound of someone terrified that truth might be closing in.
And in the Oval Office, before the Saudi crown prince whose government murdered and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to U.S. intelligence, ABC correspondent Mary Bruce asked a question that should haunt any head of state: Is it appropriate for your family to do business in Saudi Arabia while you’re president? Trump answered not with facts, not with transparency, but with fury. “You are a terrible reporter … a terrible person.” This is who he is. The man who excuses the killing of a journalist with a shrugging: “Things happen.” Things like bone saws. Things like silenced voices. Things like governments built on fear—governments he admires.
And always, always, his rage sharpens when the question comes from a woman. He has mocked them all—Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Gail Collins and countless others. “Nasty.” “Crazy.” “Dumb.” “Second-rate.” He uses words as weapons because he knows women carry the receipts, the memories, the truth he cannot outrun. And yet, not one of the male reporters standing beside Lucey or Bruce spoke up. Access is a fragile currency in Washington; solidarity is too often spent last. But women in journalism have never had the luxury of silence, and they will not begin now.
At Ms., we name this behavior for what it is: despicable. Dangerous. A direct attack, not just on these women, but on the very idea of a free press. Trump’s contempt for women and truth is not a glitch—it is the operating system. Unlike the outlets that tremble at losing corporate advertising or political favor, Ms. magazine stands independent. Unbought. Unbossed. And we will keep telling the truth about Trump, about Epstein, about the women and children harmed, exploited, dismissed, erased. We owe it to every reporter who stands in the storm. We owe it to the victims who never got to ask their own questions. We owe it to the truth, which will outlast every insult, every bully, every man who tries to bury it.
Ms. will not be quiet. Not now. Not ever.
https://msmagazine.com/2025/11/21/trump-women-journalists-quiet-piggy/
Trump's War on Women Journalists Reveals His Fear of Truth
Trump’s War on Women Journalists Reveals His Fear of Truth
PUBLISHED 11/21/2025 by Kathy Spillar
( IT) points as he speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 14, 2025. (Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images)
There is a cold wind that blows every time Donald Trump opens his mouth to belittle a woman who dares to ask him a question. You can feel it in the room—sharp, metallic, the temperature dropping with each insult. It is the weather pattern of a man who fears the truth and fears the women who speak it aloud. Last week, that wind swept through Air Force One when Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucey pressed him on the Epstein files. A reasonable question in a democracy: If there’s nothing incriminating, why fight so hard to keep the documents sealed? Trump wheeled toward her, finger stabbing the air, and snarled, “Quiet! Quiet, piggy.” A president reduced to playground cruelty, trembling at the ankles of a woman doing her job. Lucey returned two days later—undaunted. Her courage was met with more schoolyard taunts: “You are the worst … I don’t know why they even have you.” That is the tell of a man losing control: a loud desperation masquerading as swagger. The sound of someone terrified that truth might be closing in.
And in the Oval Office, before the Saudi crown prince whose government murdered and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to U.S. intelligence, ABC correspondent Mary Bruce asked a question that should haunt any head of state: Is it appropriate for your family to do business in Saudi Arabia while you’re president? Trump answered not with facts, not with transparency, but with fury. “You are a terrible reporter … a terrible person.” This is who he is. The man who excuses the killing of a journalist with a shrugging: “Things happen.” Things like bone saws. Things like silenced voices. Things like governments built on fear—governments he admires.
And always, always, his rage sharpens when the question comes from a woman. He has mocked them all—Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Gail Collins and countless others. “Nasty.” “Crazy.” “Dumb.” “Second-rate.” He uses words as weapons because he knows women carry the receipts, the memories, the truth he cannot outrun. And yet, not one of the male reporters standing beside Lucey or Bruce spoke up. Access is a fragile currency in Washington; solidarity is too often spent last. But women in journalism have never had the luxury of silence, and they will not begin now.
At Ms., we name this behavior for what it is: despicable. Dangerous. A direct attack, not just on these women, but on the very idea of a free press. Trump’s contempt for women and truth is not a glitch—it is the operating system. Unlike the outlets that tremble at losing corporate advertising or political favor, Ms. magazine stands independent. Unbought. Unbossed. And we will keep telling the truth about Trump, about Epstein, about the women and children harmed, exploited, dismissed, erased. We owe it to every reporter who stands in the storm. We owe it to the victims who never got to ask their own questions. We owe it to the truth, which will outlast every insult, every bully, every man who tries to bury it.
Ms. will not be quiet. Not now. Not ever.
https://msmagazine.com/2025/11/21/trump-women-journalists-quiet-piggy/
I was trying to run for the presidency in Uganda - yet men still found the audacity to call me 'baby, sweetheart, darlin
I was trying to run for the presidency in Uganda – yet men still found the audacity to call me ‘baby, sweetheart, darling’
Yvonne Mpambara
I was bruised by my experience of being kept out of an exclusively male political club – now my focus is on getting women into power in Africa
Supported by
theguardian.org
About this content
Wed 5 Nov 2025 01.00 EST
It’s six weeks since the electoral commission of Uganda announced the eight candidates for the country’s 2026 presidential election. The fact that they are all men is an outrage – and entirely unsurprising. Of the 221 people who expressed an interest in running for president, 15 were women; and of those, only three of us gained enough voter support to be considered for nomination. Men in politics argue that the all-male ballot is the result of a fair and neutral electoral system. But how can women, who do not have access to the same resources and who have always been disenfranchised, compete on a level playing field? Far from being fair, neutrality maintains an environment where women are continually shoved out of the top power structures under the guise of competition.
One of the reasons I decided to run for president was to break the barriers around the position. Women represent 30% in government. However, since Uganda’s independence in 1962, only four women have contested for the presidency. It remains a deeply gendered and symbolic office; still associated with traditional masculinity, military credentials and strongman politics. Whenever certain categories of Ugandans try to pursue top leadership they are told, “Not you! Not now! Not like that!” This is used against women, youth and Ugandans who have no access to funds to run exorbitant campaigns. The more I observed this intentionally discriminatory narrative used to exclude people such as me from leadership, the more I realised that I could not continue to watch from the sidelines.
We are a young nation where millions of Ugandans are below the age of 35. Yet power has remained in the hands of the same elite few for generations. The 2026 ballot includes 81-year-old incumbent Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986. The politics of fear, patronage and silence has held us back. This election is different because there is a deeper hunger for change, justice, for opportunity. As a 33-year-old woman from a civil society background anchored in human rights, I offered an alternative vision for Uganda’s future, no more recycled politics in new clothes and rehashed promises.
. . . .
I have also started community consultations to build an all-female political party and movement (Women Freedom Fighters) aimed at strengthening Ugandan women’s bids for presidency through structured leadership systems. The 2026 presidential race was challenging because only candidates from established political parties were nominated, yet no woman in Uganda heads a political party or sits high enough in the ranks of party structures to make the decisions. Women, despite political parties challenging the incumbent regime on promises of inclusion, are still used as quota fillers rather than final decision makers. Forming a party that will only endorse women for the presidential race in Uganda will mark the first of its kind in the east African region. My experience of the presidential race was bruising, but it is not the end. I am not giving up this dream.
Yvonne Mpambara is a social justice lawyer and activist who was an aspiring presidential candidate in Uganda for the 2026 elections
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/nov/05/in-uganda-men-called-me-baby-sweetheart-darling-i-was-trying-to-run-for-the-presidency
'Still work to be done': Iceland marks 50 years since Women's Day Off protests
Some wonderful photos of that day, which, for some reason, are not linking)
‘Still work to be done’: Iceland marks 50 years since Women’s Day Off protests
President says country is not free from feminist backlash being seen around world
Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent
Fri 24 Oct 2025 02.42 EDT
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/24/icelandic-women-urged-to-strike-on-friday-to-mark-50th-anniversary-of-seminal-protest#img-1
Iceland is the only country to have closed the gender gap by more than 90%, according to the World Economic Forum, and, for the first time in its history, every national leadership position – including president, prime minister, bishop and police chief – is now held by a woman. But as people go on strike on Friday to mark the 50th anniversary of “kvennafrí” (“Women’s Day Off”) strike, the protest that kickstarted a global equality revolution, the Icelandic president warned that her country was not immune to gender-related “red flags” and a global “backlash” against feminism. Halla Tómasdóttir, who last year became Iceland’s second female president in an election in which 75% of the population voted for female candidates, put her country’s world-leading success at improving gender equality down to five decades of work that followed the 1975 strike.
Women’s Day Off on 24 October 1975. Photograph: Icelandic Women’s History Archives
Iceland, she told the Guardian, was “powered by two sustainable energies: geothermal power and girl power”. But, she warned, the country still had “work to be done”. “Gender based violence is still a problem here. We still need to lift the floor for women who do the lesser paid jobs, the caring jobs in our economy,” she said. “So there is still work to be done. And we are of course not free from seeing some of the red flags and the [feminism] backlash that we are starting to witness around the world.” Half a century ago, on 24 October 1975, 90% of Iceland’s women stopped work in protest at gender inequality and 25,000 women descended on Reykjavík city centre.
. . . .
A big crowd of women holding placards
The Women’s Day Off on 24 October 1975 was a monumental moment in Icelandic history. Photograph: Icelandic Women’s History Archives
Thousands of demonstrators in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 24 October 2023.
Demonstrators take part in a rally for equal rights in Reykjavík, Iceland, on 24 October 2023. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters
Amid a global rise in gender-based violence and violence in general both on and offline, she said the next step in the country’s fight for gender equality was dependent on the inclusion of boys and men. “I don’t see how we can finish closing the gender gap without greater involvement from boys and men,” she said. “There are particular problems with boys and men that I hope we in Iceland will have the courage to confront the way that we have had the courage to confront the issues that have held women back.” Calling for an “inclusion revolution”, she said she wanted to enable every citizen to unlock their full potential in order to avoid “unnecessary backlash”.
According to multiple indexes, Iceland has come further than anywhere else in the world in closing the gender gap.
“I do think we are in a better position because for five decades, closing the gender gap has been making our economy stronger, making our society stronger,” said Tómasdóttir. “There is a general recognition in Iceland that closing the gender gap is a strategic priority for this country and it has delivered a better world for all of us,.” Currently, she said, there were more women in leadership positions in Iceland than ever before in the country’s history – possibly in the world.
“One could say this is a beautiful outcome of five decades of women’s solidarity and empowerment taking place since the women’s day off 50 years ago,” she said. But, she added, she is in favour of gender balance: “I’m not sure that ‘overwhelmingly women’ is necessarily better than ‘overwhelmingly men’.” Next, she hopes that Iceland can inspire a shift in leadership norms as well as gender norms. “There is a huge appetite for more sincerity, more authenticity, more humanity from political leaders and business leaders alike,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/24/icelandic-women-urged-to-strike-on-friday-to-mark-50th-anniversary-of-seminal-protest
'Attacked no matter what they do': why female politicians face relentless cycle of abuse
‘Attacked no matter what they do’: why female politicians face relentless cycle of abuse
Assault on Mexican president highlights abuse faced by women in politics and ‘reinforces patriarchal boundaries’
Ashifa Kassam, European Community affairs correspondent
Wed 12 Nov 2025 04.00 EST
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The brief and deeply unsettling encounter lasted just a few seconds, sparking outrage across Mexico and beyond. But for those who have spent years tracking women in politics, the incident in which a drunken man attempted to kiss Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, on the neck and grope her was shocking but not entirely surprising. “It’s definitely part of a pattern,” said Zeina Hilal, of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the global organisation of national parliaments. “It’s really an illustration of what women in politics are facing.”
In 2016, the organisation surveyed 55 female politicians from 39 countries about their experiences of sexism, harassment and violence. What they found was alarming; 82% reported experiencing psychological violence, a category that included sexist remarks as well as persistent and intimidating behaviour, while 44% reported receiving death threats or threats of rape or beatings. One in five of the women said they had been slapped, pushed, struck or hit with a projectile that could have injured them. The organisation has since spoken to hundreds of female politicians in regions across the world. While the job titles and positions varied slightly, their experiences were depressingly similar.
“This violence is targeting women because they are women,” said Hilal, who manages the gender and youth programmes for the Geneva-based organisation. “It targets their bodies, it targets what society associates them with – so children, their physical characteristics.” She described the attacks as an attempt to question the role of women in leadership, an effort that at times was linked to a more formal push back against gender equality. “You have people who would do these things without this being their direct objective. They’re annoyed by these women who have power and the way in which women are present,” she said. “But there are definitely movements that exist, they are funded and know what they are doing. They even coordinate attacks online with bots and with people paid to carry out these attacks.” Among the women surveyed, the frequency of this violence varied; younger women, those from minority backgrounds or who have a strong stance on gender equality or human rights reported disproportionately higher rates of abuse. The findings dovetail with the steady stream of female politicians – spanning the UK to Canada and beyond – who have opted to leave politics, citing the toll that the increasing threats and harassment were taking on them and their families.
. . . .
“It’s the kinds of comments that really make them question why they are in politics and undermine their ability to do their job,” said De Angelis. “So if we don’t take action both online and offline, it really will risk the ability to have more equal and inclusive parliaments.” Despite nearly a decade of reports and the steady succession of warnings from departing politicians, some continue to brush off the violence, said Hilal. “There are people who say, ‘you want to be a politician, you need to take it.’” This is a view that threatens to erode the very fabric of democracy, walling off politics for some and pushing away others. “Ultimately, political institutions are workplaces as well, where women and men work,” she said. “So if you wouldn’t accept it in other workplaces, why would it be acceptable in political institutions?”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/12/female-politicians-such-as-mexicos-claudia-sheinbaum-face-backlash-driven-by-discrimination
In Sudan, war is being waged on women and children (trigger warning)
In Sudan, war is being waged on women and children (trigger warning)
Mothers flee gunfire with infants in their arms. Girls are raped, boys are forced to fight and families go hungry, but the world looks away.
By Reena Ghelani
CEO of Plan International.
Published On 6 Nov 20256 Nov 2025
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This photo released by The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) shows displaced women and children from el-Fasher at a camp where they sought refuge from fighting between government forces and the RSF, in Tawila, Darfur region, Sudan, November 3, 2025 [NRC via AP]
Imagine walking for days and nights to escape gunfire. You carry your child in your arms, guiding them through the darkness to avoid drone attacks. You have no food, no water, and nowhere safe to go.This is the reality for families in Darfur and across Sudan, where civilians are being trapped, targeted, and terrorised as the country’s brutal war enters its third year. In el-Fasher and other parts of Darfur, entire communities have been besieged. Those who try to flee are attacked; those who remain face starvation, violence, and disease. Behind these headlines are women and children who are suffering the most. Sexual violence is being used systematically to punish, to terrorise, and to destroy. Women and girls are abducted, forced to work for armed groups during the day, and then assaulted at night, often in front of others. Many survivors are children themselves. Some of the girls who have become pregnant through rape are so young and malnourished that they are unable to feed their babies.
Perpetrators no longer attempt to hide their crimes. Violence has become so widespread that recording or documenting cases can cost you your life. In Tawila, North Darfur, only one clinic run by Doctors Without Borders can provide care for rape survivors.
Boys are also being drawn into the conflict. Over the past 10 days, three trucks filled with children were reported heading towards Nyala, while in South Darfur, children are being armed and sent to fight. Families are disappearing without a trace. Aid workers are also targeted. They are being kidnapped for ransom, assaulted, sometimes killed, and targeted because armed groups believe humanitarian organisations can pay. Many of those delivering aid are Sudanese women who risk their lives every day to bring food, water, and protection services to others. Violence has also taken on an ethnic dimension. One displaced person told us, “I cannot go back, they will know by my skin colour which tribe I am from, and they will kill me.”
Sudan is now the world’s largest displacement crisis and one of its most severe humanitarian emergencies. More than 30 million people need urgent assistance. Fifteen million have been forced from their homes. Hunger and cholera are spreading fast. Clinics have been destroyed, schools are closed, and 13 million children are out of school, their education and futures slipping away. Yet even amid this devastation, Sudanese women’s organisations are leading the response. They are running safe spaces, supporting survivors of violence, and keeping children learning where they can. They know their communities and continue their work despite constant danger. Their courage deserves not only recognition but also support.
. . . .
And this is not only a crisis of violence but also a crisis of indifference. Each day the world looks away, more lives are lost and more futures erased. The international community must support investigations into war crimes, including sexual violence, ethnic killings, and attacks on aid workers. Silence is not neutrality. Silence gives a blank cheque for horror to continue.We must act now, urgently. Governments and donors must fully fund the humanitarian response and ensure access for those delivering aid. They must press all parties to immediately stop attacks on civilians, guarantee safe passage for those fleeing, and allow relief operations to reach those cut off by the fighting.Humanitarian workers and grassroots organisations are risking their lives so that others might live. The world must match their courage with urgent action. Above all, Sudan’s women and girls must be part of shaping peace. They are already leading by organising, sheltering, and rebuilding amid the chaos. Their courage offers a glimpse of the country Sudan could still become.
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/11/6/in-sudan-war-is-being-waged-on-women-and-children
Alliance Defending Freedom Succeeded in Overturning Roe. Now It's Turning to the United Kingdom.
(and the PATRIARCHAL, MISOGYNIST, CHRISTOFASCIST, THEOCRATIC WAR ON WOMEN continues apace!!!)
Alliance Defending Freedom Succeeded in Overturning Roe. Now It’s Turning to the United Kingdom.
PUBLISHED 11/14/2025 by Cat Ross
The conservative Christian legal group that helped dismantle abortion rights in the United States is now exporting its playbook overseas, starting with the United Kingdom.
Alliance Defending Freedom lawyer John Bursch (R) arrives outside the U.S. Supreme Court on on April 2, 2025, the day of oral arguments in the case of Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, an attempt by South Carolina to exclude Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid program because it provides abortions. (Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images)
If you follow the fight over abortion access in the U.S., you’ve likely heard of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The powerful nonprofit was instrumental in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. ADF drafted model legislation used to defend Mississippi’s 15-week ban and has long championed policies targeting LGBTQ+ rights, contraception access and same-sex marriage. Now, ADF is setting its sights across the Atlantic. The organization—which boasts operations in 112 countries—has been quietly expanding its influence in Britain through its new alliance with the right-wing Reform Party, led by populist figure Nigel Farage.
ADF’s Growing Footprint in the U.K.
Through ADF’s global counterpart, ADF International, the group has offered legal aid to antiabortion protesters charged with violating buffer zone laws—laws that protect patients and providers from harassment outside reproductive health clinics.The organization has also arranged meetings between Reform and the Trump administration to discuss abortion and online safety laws. (ADF denies that its representatives have met with Farage directly to discuss abortion.) The Reform-ADF partnership is following a familiar playbook: reframing reproductive rights as a free-speech issue. ADF has backed efforts to challenge the Public Order Act of 2023, which established “safe access zones” around abortion clinics—150-meter perimeters designed to prevent harassment and obstruction. Despite broad public support for these zones (77 percent of Britons favor them), Farage and his allies have called the policy a “sinister crackdown on expression.” On Sept. 3, Farage appeared before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan, to testify against the Online Safety Act, which protects children in the U.K. from viewing age-inappropriate content such as acts of violence or pornography. (The law took effect in the U.K. in October 2023, and has been implemented in phases.) Farage also argued the law harms free expression.
. . . . .
Right-Wing Populism and the Antiabortion Playbook
The alliance between ADF and Reform isn’t just about British politics—it’s part of a global populist strategy that uses abortion to rally conservative voters and reshape public values. Britain’s Reform Party is not the first populist movement to use reproductive rights as a political wedge. In Poland, the right-wing Law and Justice Party pushed the nation’s constitutional court to outlaw nearly all abortions in 2020, sparking mass protests. In the United States, a decades-long coalition of conservative Catholics and evangelical Christians—fueled by ADF’s legal and financial muscle—succeeded in overturning Roe v. Wade and continues to target abortion pills, contraception and LGBTQ+ protections. The same forces are now finding traction in Britain. While the U.K. is far less religious than the U.S., populist narratives can travel easily—especially when they tap into voter frustration or fear. Reform’s messaging on immigration and “family values” has already proven potent, and aligning with ADF gives that rhetoric an organized legal and moral framework.
. . . .
Why It Matters
The U.K. has long viewed abortion as a pragmatic healthcare issue, not a political flashpoint. But that relative calm makes it vulnerable: When reproductive rights aren’t explicitly protected in law, they’re easier to chip away through courts and culture.The ADF’s expansion into Britain should serve as a warning. Its success in the United States shows how quickly a well-funded network can reshape laws and normalize extremism under the banner of “free speech” and “religious liberty.” Abortion rights in Britain may appear secure, but history proves otherwise: Once rights are treated as privileges, they can vanish. To protect reproductive freedom, advocates must recognize this cross-Atlantic strategy for what it is: a deliberate, coordinated campaign to roll back progress wherever it exists.
https://msmagazine.com/2025/11/14/alliance-defending-freedom-abortion-reform-uk-usa-trump-farage-united-kingdom/
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