The current climate on Capitol Hill has many of us feeling anxious and powerless. Thankfully, there are tangible steps you can take to push back on the conservative rollback of reproductive rights under the incoming administration. Before we dive into what YOU can do, it’s important to understand what the current state of affairs is, and what might be coming down the pike.

So, let’s take a look – where are we right now?

Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, 12 states have completely banned abortion with very limited exceptions and an additional 4 states have banned abortion after 6 weeks. Many more states have instituted bans after a set number of weeks with additional restrictions like waiting periods and ultrasound requirements. Some of these restrictions are still subject to ongoing legal battles–and you can use this case tracker to find more details. 

Other pending legal battles involve access to mifepristone (the abortion pill), both nationally and in individual states, debates over federal protections for pregnant workers, and the conflict between EMTALA (a federal law which requires hospitals to provide emergency care) and state abortion restrictions. You can find more details on these cases using this case tracker.

Some other current reproductive rights concerns include:

• In states with bans and severe restrictions, health insurers are declining coverage for abortion care, including emergency intervention.
• States are individually regulating whether Medicaid funds can be used to cover abortion care and, if so, under what circumstances. You can use this chart to find out whether Medicaid will cover abortion care in your state.
• States with bans or severe restrictions on abortion are also passing travel bans, restricting people from traveling or helping others travel out-of-state for abortion care. In response, other states are passing shield laws to protect abortion providers and organizations from enforcement activity initiated by states with travel bans.
• Significantly more people are relying on mifepristone to manage abortions on their own, aided by telehealth providers.

The upside?

All FDA-approved birth control methods, including the morning after pill, are still legal and most insurers are required under federal law to cover certain methods. Most insurers are still required under federal law to cover women’s preventive health services, including pap smears, breast exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, and STI screening and counseling. If you do not have insurance, Title X clinics and community-based organizations can provide affordable care.

What is the Project 2025 plan for rolling back reproductive rights?

Eliminating access to mifepristone
By requiring that the pill be dispensed in person (eliminating the option of using telehealth for those who live in restrictive states), limiting who can prescribe or receive mifepristone, revoking mifepristone’s FDA approval (nearly ⅔ of abortions in the U.S. involve the use mifepristone).

Enforcing the Comstock Act
The Comstock Act is an 1873 law that prohibits mailing any object “intended for producing abortion,” which would restrict the shipping of mifepristone and other abortion supplies.

Restricting the use of federal funds

• To make it even more difficult to use of federal funds for abortion care
• To retaliate against states in which Medicaid funds are (legally) used to fund abortion care
• To strong-arm states into eliminating Planned Parenthood facilities from their Medicaid programs
• To disqualify abortion providers nationwide from eligibility for reimbursement for any women’s health services rendered
• To retaliate against states that mandate abortion care coverage by private insurance plans
• To prohibit providers who receive Title X funding from providing abortion referrals

Changing the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) stance on ongoing and future litigation
By withdrawing from pending litigation in which the DOJ is currently defending the right to emergency abortion care under EMTALA, taking legal action against local prosecutors who refuse to enforce abortion restrictions.

Implementing other regulatory changes

• Restructuring the Department of Health and Human Services to include an anti-abortion task force and a new position to lead anti-abortion policy efforts
• Removing terms relating to gender, reproductive health, abortion, sexual orientation, and gender identity from government documents, including legislation, federal rules and regulations, agency websites, grants, and contracts
• Mandated reporting of abortions, miscarriages, and stillbirths, and surveillance at the federal level
• Redefining sexual health education as “pornography” and making pornography illegal, replacing sex education with abstinence-only programming
• Expanding religious and moral exemptions to the ACA contraceptive coverage guarantee, allowing employers to exclude contraceptive coverage from employees’ health insurance plans

How do I stay informed and up to date on important legal changes and key events?

• Check out this interactive map by the Guttmacher Institute. It provides a summary of restrictions in effect in each state, so you can search for your state and learn more. This map is regularly updated.
• Check out this case tracker by KFF. It provides an interactive map so you can see pending litigation in each state, as well as a separate tab in the upper left-hand corner so you can see a table of pending federal cases.
• Find a news outlet (or several outlets) you trust and subscribe to their newsletter(s). For example, NPR has a health newsletter that includes updates about reproductive rights issues and changes. You can also search for local organizations or publications with similar newsletters that might include more locally relevant news. For instance, the New Jersey Women Lawyers’ Association now has a reproductive rights newsletter.

What can I do to stay informed about local reproductive rights issues and challenges?

• Take a look at the service providers in your area. Are there any local abortion providers or abortion funds? Are there any crisis pregnancy centers (these are conservative organizations that advertise themselves as providing pregnancy care but spread misinformation and propaganda to pregnant people)? Knowing where these services are located can help you be prepared for a situation in which you or someone you know needs care. You can use search engines like abortionfinder.org to search for legitimate providers and abortion funds in your area.
• Find local advocacy organizations in your area and stay up to date on their work. There may be petitions you can sign, events for which you can volunteer, or newsletters you can sign up for. For example, Floridians might want to follow the Floridians for Reproductive Freedom organization for local news and events.

How can I get involved?

First, find and get involved with a local advocacy organization in your area. Start by searching for reproductive rights organizations in your state. They often partner with smaller local organizations, too. These kinds of organizations often issue reports, host events, collect funding, and draft petitions. You can get involved by donating, signing petitions, volunteering, attending protests, or sharing that organization’s information with people you know.

Second, pay attention to local politics. Do some Googling and find out when your local elections take place. When is the next mayoral election? School board election? State congressional election? Voter turnout for these kinds of elections tends to be low, but these officeholders routinely make policy that affects our daily lives. Local politics involves key decisions about funding allocation and public programming. So, what should you do?

• Find out when all your local and state elections take place. Put these dates on your calendar.
• Make sure you are registered to vote. If you aren’t registered, you can find more information about how to register here.
• Do some research on the candidates before voting. Familiarize yourself with their campaign and the issues they focus on.
• Encourage your friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members to vote, too.
• If there is a candidate you really like and want to support, consider volunteering for their campaign. You might end up doing things like calling registered voters to ask for donations or remind them to vote.

Third, get involved in a voting rights organization. You can encourage others to vote by participating in a campaign run by an organization like Vote Forward that sends letters to registered and new voters to encourage them to vote in important elections. You can also try searching for local campaigns in your state that do similar work.

We hope these suggestions will help you figure out how to get started doing what you can to stay up to date and get involved in the fight to protect reproductive rights! Follow us on Instagram @winxhealth for more information!