Each month, Ms. provides readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.
I hope you find something on this list of 20 that fuels your feminism and reminds you of the power of our collective stories.
Latina Women
Yearning to Breathe Free [Part 1 of 3]
In the matter of K-E-S-G-, a Salvadoran woman stalked and threatened by gang members was denied asylum by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals on July 18, even though her persecution stemmed from her gender in a country that treats women as property. Advocates warn that this ruling could make it much harder for women fleeing violence to prove gender-based claims and may embolden immigration judges to discount their stories.
“This isn’t the first time the Trump administration has singled out women seeking asylum, and we know where this path leads,” said Neela Chakravartula of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. “More judges denying protection to women who qualify for it. More refugees being deported to danger.”
The decision highlights the ongoing struggle to recognize gender as a protected basis for asylum. Afghan and Salvadoran women, among others, may now face even steeper barriers to protection—a chilling effect that experts say could deter survivors from seeking safety in the U.S.
Remembering Rosie Jiménez: How the Hyde Amendment Took Her Life and Denies Care Today
On Oct. 3, 1977, Rosie Jiménez—a 27-year-old mother, student and aspiring teacher in McAllen, Texas—died after being denied Medicaid coverage for abortion. Nearly 50 years later, the policy that killed her is still on the books.
This Hispanic Heritage Month, We Honor Immigrant Families by Fighting for Healthcare Justice
My family immigrated from Mexico to California when I was 3 years old. My brother wasn’t walking and was showing signs of physical delays. Unable to find answers back home, my parents sacrificed everything—our home, their small business, a familiar life—in search of a diagnosis, treatment and hope. This Latine Heritage Month, I’m reminded of the strength of the women in my family in the face of migration and uncertainty, and the extraordinary community in the U.S. that welcomed us.
Immigrants have long been unable to healthcare because of coverage gaps or restrictions. Immigrant and migrant women have had especially difficult times getting access to abortions.
Healthcare access, including the full spectrum of reproductive care, can make or break lives. Nobody should be denied healthcare, no one should have to choose between paying for healthcare and rent, and no one should fear deportation for going to the doctor.
All of us should have access to care. Period.
(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)
New Mexico Will Be the First State to Make Childcare Free
In an unprecedented move, New Mexico is making childcare free.
Beginning in November, it will be the first state in the nation to provide childcare to all residents regardless of income, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced this week. The state has been working to lower child care care costs since 2019, when it created the Early Childhood Education and Care Department and started to expand eligibility for universal childcare.
The initiative is expected to save families $12,000 per child annually.
“Childcare is essential to family stability, workforce participation and New Mexico’s future prosperity,” Lujan Grisham said in her announcement. “By investing in universal childcare, we are giving families financial relief, supporting our economy, and ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow and thrive.”
A Houston Mother Held by ICE Must Choose: Indefinite Detention or Be Deported Without Her Family
Margarita Avila, a Houston mother of nine, was detained by ICE after an altercation that led to no charges. Her close-knit family weigh their futures if she is deported.
Margarita requested asylum in the U.S. more than a decade ago, and her case has been pending ever since. Meanwhile, she and José have grown their family in Texas, and like many other immigrants, they have put down deep roots. They bought a house in Houston’s Independence Heights neighborhood, started a landscaping business that grew to hundreds of customers and had five U.S.-born sons who are American citizens.
Because of their various immigration statuses (some undocumented, some pending asylum, some U.S. citizens) Margarita’s deportation would make it difficult and in some cases impossible to see her close-knit family. Her husband would have to decide whether to stay in the U.S. with their two youngest children or follow his wife to Belize so they can raise the boys together in a country Isaac and Jeremiah have never known. For the oldest children born in Belize, it could mean not seeing their mother for years because they don’t have permanent legal status.
Margarita Avila, 50, is among the tens of thousands of immigrants in the U.S. targeted for deportation in President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump has said his administration is going after “the worst of the worst” in an attempt to deport 1 million immigrants annually. But six months into Trump’s second administration, at least 70 percent of the more than 56,000 immigrants detained across the country didn’t have a criminal record.
State Courts Hold the Power to Free Us Or Erase Us
While national headlines fixate on the U.S. Supreme Court, state courts shape nearly every part of our lives. From traffic violations and business disputes to child custody and criminal charges, an estimated 95 percent of all legal cases in the United States are handled in state courts.
State courts decide whether you can access abortion care, whether your protest leads to jail time, whether you keep custody of your child and whether your gender identity is protected or punished.
Despite their vast power, state courts remain one of the most overlooked battlegrounds—and opportunities—in the fight for justice. As organizers, we’ve seen the cost of that neglect. Now we’re calling on progressive movements to treat state courts not as a footnote, but as a headline.
(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)
Tradwives and ‘The People That People Come Out Of’
For the first time in years, the number of U.S. mothers with young children in the workforce is shrinking—over 212,000 women left between January and June 2025 alone.
Childcare costs, in-office pressures, and a cultural nudge toward traditional gender roles are pushing moms out, while men in power nod along.
Meanwhile, the tradwife movement parades its perfect, baked-from-scratch, filtered-life versions of domesticity online, making the impossible look effortless.
It’s absurd. It’s dangerous. And it’s time we stop letting the economy treat raising kids as invisible labor.
What Happens When Doulas Write the Law? New Mexico’s Medicaid Win Shows How to Fight Back
As abortion bans sweep the U.S., clinics shutter and gender-affirming care is criminalized, New Mexico accomplished something radical: It passed a law to pay doulas—because doulas save lives.
In 2025, the state unanimously enacted HB 214, the Doula Credentialing and Access Act, creating the nation’s most comprehensive Medicaid coverage for full-spectrum doula care, including for abortion, miscarriage, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and loss.
This victory was decades in the making, a fight led by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQ+, immigrant, disabled and community-based doulas. These care workers have long provided essential, unpaid labor in a healthcare system that overlooked them. Now, for the first time, their labor is recognized as essential health infrastructure.
Still, as this vision takes root under HB 214, federal funding threats loom, including cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and reproductive health access—all part of a national strategy to defund care and increase control. Believe in this future? Help protect it. Urge your state to follow New Mexico’s lead. Support local doula collectives. Push for policies that center care over control. The path forward is here—let’s walk it together.
(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund highlighting the work of Groundswell partners advancing inclusive democracy.)
Why Dolores Huerta Is Hopeful About the Fight for a Feminist Future: ‘We’re Going to Be Able to Overcome’
Dolores Huerta has spent 70 years at the frontlines of the intertwined fights for economic justice and women’s rights. Huerta has pioneered campaigns to expand political representation for women and people of color; advance policies that improve the lives of women, LGBTQ+ folks, farmworkers, communities of color, and the poor; and spark dialogue around the intersectional fight for economic justice, and the ways it is intertwined with our democracy.
“This is a very, very scary time—and god knows it’s a time for women to rise up!” Huerta told Ms.
Listen to the latest episode of Looking Back, Moving Forward, “Women Can’t Afford to Wait for a Feminist Economic Future (with Premilla Nadasen, Rakeen Mabud and Lenore Palladino, Aisha Nyandoro, Gaylynn Burroughs, and Dolores Huerta)” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.