See Gender Justice’s SCOTUS Chat: Texas Abortion Ban Goes to the Supreme Court on Facebook, where Erin Maye Quade and Jess Braverman unpack the arguments at November’s hearing about SB8.

Read SWLC’s official statement on Texas Senate Bill 8.

Gender Justice and allies organized a Bans Off Our Bodies march and rally, joining thousands of Minnesotans on behalf of reproductive freedom. The events were part of a national day of action to show decision makers in Minnesota that they demand reproductive rights, freedom, and justice. 

“With the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in a new Texas law banning abortion, the Court has sent a clear message: We cannot rely on them to protect our rights.Now is the time to fight harder than ever to protect and expand abortion access in Minnesota.” 

Women’s Law Project also joined allies in hosting their own regional Bans Off Our Body march.

See below for some samples of press coverage highlighting Alliance org leadership in response to the SCOTUS ruling, including op-eds from GJ and WLP.

• Minnesota Reformer: Opinion – Minnesota must prepare for its role in a post-Roe world
• Philadelphia Inquirer: Opinion – Opinion – A governor’s veto pen is the only thing standing between Pa. and Texas-style abortion laws
• Star Tribune: Abortion rights supporters say Minnesota shouldn’t take its protections for granted
• The Morning Call: Texas-like abortion restriction law seen as ‘terrible sign of things to come’ or ‘necessary to save lives’ in Pennsylvania
• Star Tribune: Minnesota braces for influx of out-of-state abortion patients
• Spotlight PA: What Texas’ New Abortion Law Means For Pennsylvania
• Mac Weekly: Macalester students stand up for reproductive freedom
• CBS Pittsburgh: Texas Abortion Law Has Ramifications In Upcoming Pennsylvania Elections, Both Sides Say
• Star Tribune: DFL state lawmakers form new Reproductive Freedom Caucus
• KTOE: Opponents rally at MN Capitol against Texas abortion ban

The Southwest Women’s Law Center worked with allies to successfully pass the Healthy Workplaces Act, which provides paid sick leave to employees across the state, including part-time workers and others who have traditionally lacked access to paid leave to care for themselves or family members in the event of illness. 

Read SWLC’s op-ed on why paid family and medical leave is an investment in New Mexico’s future.

Southwest Women’s Law Center worked with NM allies to secure a 100%-150% increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates for providers of Long Acting Reversible Contraception and for eligible pharmacists with prescriptive authority to dispense contraception in New Mexico.

Southwest Women’s Law Center is serving on the New Mexico Governors’ Task Force on MMIW, has drafted a position statement on Savanna’s Act and Not Invisible Act, and is training attorneys on federal and state bills addressing violence against indigenous women. Legal Voice has joined allies addressing the MMIW crisis in the Northwest and offered support to leaders in Indian Country in WA State.

Southwest Women’s Law Center and its allies’ successful advocacy to pass the Respect NM Women & Families Act has repealed the statute criminalizing and banning abortion and eliminated NM’s physician-only abortion restriction. Governor Lujan Grisham signed the repeal into law in February.

“When Terrelene Massey watched New Mexico’s bill to repeal the state’s abortion ban die in the state House in 2019, she was struck by what she calls a “convenient argument” made by some legislators: they couldn’t vote in favor of the bill because their Native and Indigenous constituents were opposed. Massey, executive director of Southwest Women’s Law Center, knew this couldn’t be true. From her own lived experience as a Navajo woman, and her professional experiences as an advocate, she’d seen firsthand how her peers value body sovereignty as part of their spiritual traditions, and how Indigenous people had longstanding, ancestral practices for delivering abortion care. Massey had a feeling that if these lawmakers could see hard data on Native women’s feelings on abortion, the bill might have a chance of passing. Working with Forward Together, Bold Futures, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, and ACLU of New Mexico, Massey launched the first-ever survey on how Native and Indigenous women in New Mexico felt about reproductive rights in 2020.”

How Indigenous Women Repealed New Mexico’s Longstanding Abortion Ban – BUSTLE

Southwest Women’s Law Center partnered with Forward Together/Strong Families NM in conducting the first, original, data-based research exploring Native American experiences and attitudes towards abortion care and reproductive healthcare.

Further reading: Attitudes Towards Reproductive Health Policy Among Native Americans in New Mexico: Summary of Findings