Ms. Magazine: “Women’s Rights Are Essential to Democracy. Why Do Philanthropists Treat Investments in Women as a Special Interest?”
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether Idaho is allowed to enforce a near-total abortion ban—even for abortions performed in a medical emergency—in a challenge to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) which requires hospitals to treat patients with life-threatening conditions. The case Moyle v. U.S. marks the second time this term the Court heard a case to limit nationwide access to abortion care, having considered a challenge to the legality of the abortion medication mifepristone in late March.
The chaotic state of play for abortion rights in the United States illustrates the consequences of failing to integrate efforts to strengthen democracy into strategies for advancing gender equity, and vice versa. In states with strong abortion rights support, we’ve seen how anti-democratic tactics have been used to undermine the will of the people—from passing legislation to undermine bodily autonomy, to stacking the judiciary with judges hostile to reproductive rights, to engaging in voter suppression tactics. This backlash has exposed the playbook of an empowered movement, now dominated by white Christian nationalists. Gender and racial bias are weaponized not only to attain power, but to undermine the rights of women and degrade their participation in the body politic.
Read more about the EMTALA and Dismantling Democracy.
This essay is part of a Women & Democracy package focused on who’s funding the women and LGBTQ people on the frontlines of democracy. We’re manifesting a new era for philanthropy—one that centers on feminism. The need is real: Funding for women and girls amounts to less than 2 percent of all philanthropic giving; for women of color, it’s less than 1 percent. Explore the “Feminist Philanthropy Is Essential to Democracy” collection.