A new report out from the National Center for Health Statistics finds that U.S. maternal deaths have increased by an alarming 40% since 2020. The latest federal data suggests that 84% of these deaths were preventable. The maternal death rate is highest among Black women—from 2018 to 2021, Black maternal mortality nearly doubled. What is the cause of skyrocketing maternal mortality rates? The U.S capitalist system and the racism and sexism built into the core of that system. While the spike in maternal mortality is being attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic simply exacerbated an al ..read more

In a ruling that has been described as a “backdoor ban on abortion,” far-right Texas judge Matthew Kacsmaryk banned access to mifepristone, more commonly known as the abortion pill, nationwide. This decision has the potential to eviscerate the rights of millions of women and other people seeking abortion care. Mifepristone, also used in miscarriage care, is used in more than half of abortions in the U.S. The Justice Department is appealing the ruling and on April 10 filed a motion to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to stay Kacsmaryk’s ruling until the department’s ..read more

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Radhika Desai is Professor at the Department of Political Studies, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. She is the author of numerous books and articles on political economy. Her most recent book Capitalism, Coronavirus and War: A Geopolitical Economy investigates the decay of neoliberal financialized capitalism as revealed by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic crisis that has been deepened by the conflict over Ukraine and its repercussions across the globe. Radhika is the convener of the International Manifesto Group, a world-wide group of concerned activists and scholars. BTC: The st ..read more

The history of International Women’s Day teaches us that when we fight, we win. Working class, socialist women around the world have paved the way in struggle and have been at the forefront of the movements for workers’ rights, social provisioning and ending imperialist wars.  A History of Connecting Domestic and International Struggles On International Women’s Day in 1917, tens of thousands of women in Russia, including Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai, struck for “bread and peace” in response to the death of over two million Russian soldiers at war. As Zetkin declared, “The workers ..read more

A notoriously conservative federal judge in Texas has the opportunity this month to ban access to the abortion pill nationwide, potentially affecting millions of women and other people seeking abortion care. The Alliance Defending Freedom, along with other anti-abortion groups, has filed a lawsuit against the FDA, claiming that the agency accelerated the review process for the approval of the medication, mifepristone. Mifepristone, which is used in the majority of abortions in the U.S., has been approved for use for 20 years. Banning the pill now would be unprecedented and disastrous. Mifepris ..read more

The 50th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision is both a bitter reminder of the cruelty of the current right wing-dominated Supreme Court, and a moment to recommit ourselves to the fight for abortion rights. The right wing is moving aggressively to shred women’s rights, but they are opposed by the vast majority and they can be defeated with fierce resistance. The mass sentiment in defense of abortion rights has already defeated the far right in state referenda in “blue” and “red” states alike, but to win back and extend this right requires continuous grassroots organizing and a retu ..read more

Child care in the United States is in crisis. Working-class women––in their positions as both child care workers and workers who cannot afford child care––are bearing the brunt of the crisis. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 100,000 fewer child care workers than there were before the COVID-19 pandemic, an almost 10% decrease. As annual inflation rates hit an all time high in the last 40 years, child care workers have been some of the hardest hit. A 2020 study at University of California, Berkeley showed that even before the pandemic, 98% of jobs paid more than c ..read more

In the last two weeks, the United Nations has published two devastating reports about Haiti: one on worsening hunger and another on the increase in sexual violence stemming from paramilitary activity. Both reports address the disproportionate impacts these crises are having on Haitian women and children and how their compounding impact has resulted in a dire situation. However, in both reports, the United Nations totally fails to address the root cause of the crises facing the people of Haiti: imperialism. As progressive people have come to expect, the largely empty solutions proposed by the t ..read more

In 2015, Meleana Shim, a 24-year-old soccer player for the Portland Thorns, sent an email to her coach, Paul Riley. She wrote, “We both know that your interactions around me have been inappropriate and it has negatively affected me and my performance on the field. The power you have as my head coach plays a big role in our relationship and cannot be overlooked.”  Shortly after receiving Shim’s email, Riley began cutting her playing time in retaliation and encouraged her to delete incriminating text messages. Shim eventually reported Riley’s behavior to the NWSL. Their investigation failed ..read more