National Partnership for Women & Families

In the News

Video round up: Mich. lawmakers seek to end 'tampon tax'

WILX News 10's Faith Miller reports on new legislation (SB 897, SB 898) in Michigan aimed at ending the so-called "tampon tax." The measures, sponsored by state Sens. David Knezek (D) and Rebekah Warren (D), are currently before the state Senate Finance Committee.

While "Michigan doesn't require you to pay taxes for things you need to live, like groceries and medicine," Miller explains, tampons are currently classified as an "optional luxury item," meaning they are subject to sales tax. According to Miller, the new bills "would exempt feminine hygiene products from sales tax because they are medically necessary." Knezek states, "I think this is a great way to… talk about an issue that for a long time people have been uncomfortable talking about, and to do so in a way that benefits the women of Michigan."

Melody Angel, a physician at Lansing Urgent Care, voiced support for the legislation, noting that the luxury tax is one "important, but unspoken way, in which we often make women feel like they are less than the next person" (Miller, WILX News 10, 4/14).

Video Round Up

WILX News 10's Faith Miller reports on new legislation (SB 897, SB 898) in Michigan aimed at ending the so-called "tampon tax."

Video Round Up

WCCO's Pat Kessler reports on Planned Parenthood's recent response to a slate of antiabortion-rights legislation in Minnesota, which Planned Parenthood is calling "the most aggressive attack against [the] organization in years."

Video Round Up

In this clip, RTV6's Katie Heinz discusses a new social medial campaign launched in reaction to a harmful Indiana law (HB 1337) that bans abortion care based on the sex of the fetus or a fetal disability diagnosis, among other restrictions.

Video Round Up

Broadly shares a behind-the-scenes clip from "Across the Line," a virtual reality documentary that uses video and audio recordings from antiabortion-rights protests at U.S. clinics to show viewers what many women experience when trying to access abortion care.

Video Round Up

In this clip, Fox 17 News' Michele DeSelms covers legislation (HB 4787, HB 4830) passed last week in the Michigan House that would penalize individuals who coerce a woman into receiving an abortion.

Video Round Up

In part of a longer clip covering multiple topics, Reuters TV reports on an omnibus antiabortion-rights measure (HB 1411) recently signed into law by Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) that bars local health departments from distributing funds for non-abortion-related care to organizations affiliated with abortion providers, among several other provisions.

Video Round Up

In this clip, Los Angeles Times reporter Molly Hennessy-Fiske hears from Kristeena Banda -- a clinic administrator at Whole Woman's Health, an abortion clinic in McAllen, Texas -- about what is at stake in a legal challenge to parts of Texas' omnibus antiabortion-rights law (HB 2).

Video Round Up

13 News WOWK reporter Alyssa Meisner interviews several women in West Virginia about Nurx, a smartphone application that helps women access birth control.

Video Round Up

WTVF's Chris Conte reports on the outcome of a Tennessee House subcommittee hearing, which advanced one antiabortion-rights bill while deferring or withdrawing several others.

Video Round Up

John Oliver on HBO's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" discusses the proliferation of attacks on abortion rights in the United States and comments on how such restrictions affect a woman's access to abortion care.

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Datapoints

This map, from Bloomberg Business, highlights the rapid decline in abortion access in the United States since 2011.

Datapoints

These maps, compiled using data from the New York Times and the Guttmacher Institute, underscore findings from a recent Times investigation, including that there were more than 700,000 searches for how to self-induce an abortion in 2015.

Datapoints

This chart, compiled by NPR, shows how the majority of countries affected by the Zika virus, which might be linked to a severe birth defect, curb access to contraception and abortion care.

Datapoints

In this map, Center for American Progress' "ThinkProgress" spotlights the 12 states that have cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing after launching investigations into the organization.

Datapoints

In its latest report card, the Population Institute provides a snapshot of the condition of reproductive rights and health in each state in 2015.

Datapoints

The Guttmacher Institute in this graph shows the rapid increase in the number of state abortion restrictions over the past few years.

Datapoints

In this map, the Kaiser Family Foundation shows how widely abortion coverage varies from state to state in insurance plans sold through the Affordable Care Act's (PL 111-148) insurance marketplaces.

Datapoints

This infographic, released with a new Guttmacher Institute study, shows the increase in use of long-acting reversible contraception among U.S. women between 2002 and 2012.

Datapoints

This map, released with a study from the University of Michigan Health System, shows how an increasing number of state Medicaid programs over the last three years are providing reimbursement for immediate postpartum LARC provision.

Datapoints

In this infographic, the Guttmacher Institute shows how the proportion of uninsured reproductive-age women in the U.S. declined from 17.9% in 2013 to 13.9% in 2014, the first year in which the Affordable Care Act was implemented fully.

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At a Glance

"A woman's ability to end her pregnancy too often depends on where she lives, her age and how much money is in her pocket."

— Marcela Howell of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women's Reproductive Justice Agenda, discussing ongoing disparities in women's access to abortion care on the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

At a Glance

"If women are not free to make decisions about their own lives and health, they are not free. And if women are not free, none of us are."

— Abortion provider Warren Hern, in a STAT News opinion piece on why he continues to offer abortion care despite receiving harassment and death threats throughout his 42-year career.

At a Glance

"Not since before Roe v. Wade has a law or court decision had the potential to devastate access to reproductive health care on such a sweeping scale."

— Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, on a ruling from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld major portions of a Texas antiabortion-rights law.