More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Republicans in the House and Senate scrambled to pass legislation that will cut $184 billion from SNAP through 2034—by far the largest cut to SNAP in the program’s history—to finance tax cuts for the wealthy big businesses. They also hope to increase funding for pursuit of immigrants.
This extremist budget will drive millions of people into poverty and hunger. It also represents a full-throated assault on women—particularly single mothers, for whom SNAP has been a lifeline.
For the past few decades, women’s healthcare has been under increasing attack across the country. Even states like New York, often perceived as a beacon of women’s healthcare, are backsliding, increasingly unable to address women’s health challenges adequately. Indeed, the lack of funding and legislative support isn’t limited to rural areas or red states; it is everywhere.
As the Trump administration threatens to accelerate this decline even further, we must come to terms with how little our cities, states and federal government have valued and prioritized women’s health for more than 30 years and begin fighting back against this renewed assault.
Last week was another raucous week in Congress, with continued discord over the fiscal, social and societal implications of President Donald Trump’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” as it heads to the Senate.
Meanwhile, the wheels continue to spin in dozens of statehouses across the country, many of which are at the height of their own legislative sessions. And it’s not all doom and gloom—which is one of the exciting aspects of state politics.
Either way, state legislatures offer an extraordinary window into the good, the bad and the ugly of the democratic process—a laboratory for what robust, participatory democracy can and often does achieve.
The ongoing decimation of the federal funding landscape brings some good(ish) news for women: the role of state legislatures in stepping up to help improve and advance the health of menopausal women.
Thus far, 13 states—a record one in four—have introduced more than 20 bills focused on menopause care, proposing changes that could permanently reshape insurance coverage and educational and health care resources. Public officials in Michigan, Illinois and West Virginia announced support for menopause reforms. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently hosted a roundtable for leaders and a statewide listening tour. The latest slate of bills—introduced in red and blue states alike—would bolster workplace supports and dedicate resources to public education. The bills are being proposed at such a fast clip that menopause was named on a “Ones To Watch: Legislation Landscape for 2025” list.
It’s time we reimagine menopause as an expansive, intersectional journey through radical divestment and collective empowerment for all marginalized voices.
Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that nobody’s menopause experience is overlooked or left behind, and that requires us to break from the mainstream “landscape” and forge an empowering community of our own.
(This essay is part of a collection presented by Ms. and the Groundswell Fund.)
Less than one into the Trump presidency, attacks on reproductive health and rights have begun. Against this backdrop, it may sound surprising to hold out hope for the immediate future of any women’s health issue. But I think menopause may be an outlier.
Perhaps you’ve seen the headlines: Menopause is having a moment, from new tell-all books by Brooke Shields and Naomi Watts, to viral clips of Halle Berry shouting from the steps of the U.S. Capitol, “I’m in menopause, OK?!” Commitment goes well beyond celebrity moments and includes notable support from public policy leaders across the spectrum—Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and in blue and red states. These prominent voices are part of a new wave of recognition that menopausal women deserve to make informed choices about our bodies.
Just as the fight for reproductive rights is an essential tenet of any free and fair democracy, so too is autonomy and health at this life stage.
Over the past two years, menopause has become wildly popular in the public discourse.
A team of experts launched a digital booklet, A Citizen’s Guide to Menopause Advocacy. Ms. Magazine’s Jennifer Weiss-Wolf and Dr. Mary Claire Haver, author of the NYT #1 bestseller The New Menopause, are joined by award-winning journalist and women’s health champion Maria Shriver in creating this timely and action-oriented roadmap.
Over the next two years, these may well be among the ideas that can transcend political gridlock.
Two 50-something women, mothers and friends wonder: What will this next Trump era hold for our daughters and sons, our future grandchildren? Will the lessons and values we have imparted to our children enable them now, as young adults, to rise to meet the moment our nation faces?
As Perimenopause Awareness Month (September) and Menopause Awareness Month (October) close out, Ms. has been proud to cover a series of events that brought together experts to expand the conversation. Among these, “Perimenopause ROAR” held last month in New York City marked a powerful moment in women’s health advocacy by Perry and the National Menopause Foundation.
The event brought together a diverse panel of experts, advocates and community members, united in a mission to break the silence surrounding perimenopause.
In her first appearance on the campaign trail since her electric speech at the Democratic National Convention, former First Lady Michelle Obama pleaded directly with men to take women’s lives seriously this election.
“To the men who love us … I am asking you from the core of my being to take our lives seriously. Do not put our hands in the lives of politicians—mostly men—who have no clue or do not care about what we as women are going through.”