US Archives

How abortion restrictions compare, state-by-state

Access to abortion in the U.S. depends on where you live. Increasingly, the South and Midwest are becoming complete abortion deserts. Our interactive map highlights six major restrictions in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Related: How a network of college students is preparing for post-Roe campuses

by Jessica Washington, Erica HensleyAug 15, 2022

How a network of college students is preparing for post-Roe campuses

One drop-off at a time, college students are arming themselves with preventive emergency contraception — which could soon be one of the last legal chances to stop a pregnancy.

by Erica HensleyJun 24, 2022

Co-published with Reckon

The mental health crisis facing Black mothers in the South

Research on maternal and infant deaths disparities is now catching up to what many Black women already know: The difference in outcomes is not because of race, but racism. Black mental health advocates and providers in the South are using their own pregnancy-related tragedies to help a community heal.

Related: Why deaths by suicide often go uncounted in states’ maternal mortality studies

by Erica HensleyJun 16, 2022

Co-published with Reckon

Violent crime victims in New York struggle to access funds due to them

A state fund designed to help the targets of physical attacks only reaches a small fraction of the people who need it most.

by Jessica WashingtonJun 1, 2022

Co-published with THE CITY

The draft abortion ruling that shook the states

While the Supreme Court justices before now contorted themselves to find common legal ground on this most controversial of issues, the leaked draft opinion that would overturn the landmark abortion decision in Roe V. Wade was anything but mealy-mouthed. But what should we make of all of this? Does this unofficial, unauthorized document even matter? Here are five ideas to keep in mind as we continue to make sense of what has happened and of what may lie ahead.

by Eva RodriguezMay 4, 2022

New York prepares to become an abortion safe haven

In the wake of a leaked decision by Justice Alito gutting abortion rights, New York state lawmakers have introduced measures to expand access for the expected influx of abortion seekers.

by Jessica WashingtonMay 3, 2022

Co-published with THE CITY

Deaths by suicide often uncounted in states’ maternal mortality reviews

The U.S. maternal mortality rate in 2020 reached a high never before seen since tracking began. But most states aren’t counting suicides and overdoses as a part of their formal pregnancy-related death review, which means the maternal mortality rate could be even higher.

by Erica HensleyApr 10, 2022

Co-published with Reckon

Analysis: Where democracy falters, so do reproductive rights

Reproductive rights don’t exist in a vacuum: They are inextricably linked to democratic institutions, with threats to one reinforcing threats to the other. As countries like Poland, Brazil, Hungary, and the United States face threats to their democracies, so do the women of those countries face threats to their reproductive rights.

by Hanna KozlowskaMar 16, 2022

Co-published with Foreign Policy

DA won’t drop charges against Manhattan woman charged with murder who says she acted in self-defense

Tracy McCarter won a small concession from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Monday in a case alleging she murdered her estranged husband. But the DA’s office stopped short of dropping a murder charge for an act she says was in self-defense.

by Jessica WashingtonMar 14, 2022

This story was co-published with THE CITY.

Do police help or hurt domestic violence survivors? New York City council members take a stand

Tiffany Cabán and Mercedes Narcisse plunge New York City’s legislature into a fierce debate dividing domestic violence advocates about the role of law enforcement in getting help for survivors.

by Jessica WashingtonMar 9, 2022

Co-published with THE CITY

The South’s abortion battle has a new front: telemedicine

A new bill making its way through the Georgia statehouse would criminalize access to abortion pills by telemedicine — a common, safe, easy way to end early pregnancies that the federal government first allowed last year.

by Erica HensleyFeb 18, 2022

Co-published with Reckon

‘Every shift, we’re just barely making it’: What nurses want us to know about the South’s COVID crisis

The pandemic didn’t create the nursing plight in the South, but burnout and low pay have made it worse.

by Erica HensleyFeb 4, 2022

This story was co-published with Reckon.

Trauma can be hard to talk about. It can also be hard to hear: Reporter’s Notebook

Jessica Washington shares how she developed relationships with sources while investigating how Native mothers experience the Minnesota foster care system.

by Jessica WashingtonJan 19, 2022

Why are Latina moms in New York reporting such high levels of anxiety and depression?

The pandemic’s emotional strains are falling especially heavy on communities hit hardest by COVID, unemployment and child care challenges.

by Jessica Washington, Eileen GrenchJan 18, 2022

This story was co-published with THE CITY.

‘Never just a wife or widow’: Reflecting on Coretta Scott King and the women of the civil rights movement

As the world honors the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., journalist Lottie Joiner, former editor of the NAACP’s The Crisis, reflects on the role of women’s leadership in the civil rights…

by Xanthe ScharffJan 17, 2022

This interview was republished from a Fuller Project newsletter sent by our CEO and co-founder Dr. Xanthe Scharff. Subscribe here.

COVID ‘crisis moment’ for families with children in NYC pre-K and 3K programs

Ten-day quarantines are forcing families to keep young kids home, causing chaos for those in need of child care — regardless of negative COVID test results.

by Jessica WashingtonJan 7, 2022

This story was co-published with THE CITY.

‘Kill the Indian … save the man’: Tracing the government’s long, racist history of uprooting Native children

The challenges Native American families currently face under Minnesota’s child welfare system are echoes of a racist past. Here’s how more than two centuries of federal policies aimed at annihilating Native culture set the stage…

by Jessica Washington, Tiffany ArnoldDec 21, 2021

Ghosts of racist boarding school era still haunt Minnesota’s foster care system, Indigenous mothers say

For many Native mothers, the fear of having their children ripped away from them and the ripple effects of generations of forced family separations remain omnipresent.

by Jessica WashingtonDec 21, 2021

Co-published with Mother Jones, with support from the USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism National Health Journalism Fellowship

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