Scaffolding Episode
The Anniversary of Dobbs and Women’s Rights
Greetings, Friends.
I wanted to make share my discussion with Jenn Budd on Scaffolding, as well as provide a summary of the information we discussed below.
Dobbs Anniversary/Reproductive Rights
June 24 marked four years since Dobbs, and abortion access remained the dominant women’s-rights issue of the week. Guttmacher’s midyear review says 13 states enforce total abortion bans, while 28 other states ban abortion at some point between six weeks and viability. The current fights are not only about clinic access; they also include bills on fetal/personhood theories, criminal penalties, pregnancy-loss care, abortion pills, telehealth, shield laws, contraception, and state constitutional amendments.
It also noted that 142,000 people traveled across state lines for abortion care in 2025, while 91,000 people in total-ban states received telehealth abortion care.
In Missouri, AP News reported a judge struck down several abortion restrictions after voters approved a reproductive-rights constitutional amendment in 2024. The ruling invalidated restrictions including the state’s 72-hour waiting period and a requirement that the initial medication-abortion dose be taken in a provider’s presence. Planned Parenthood said the decision would allow it to prescribe abortion pills to Missouri patients for the first time since 2018, though the state attorney general said he would appeal, and another abortion-related measure is expected on the November 2026 ballot.
Medication Abortion Is Still a National Flashpoint
Medication abortion remained one of the most important national fights. The Supreme Court had already kept telehealth and mail access to mifepristone in place while Louisiana’s challenge continues, but the case is moving: on June 23, the Fifth Circuit granted Louisiana’s request to expedite the appeal.
Reuters reported that mifepristone is used in about 64% of U.S. abortions, while the Center for Reproductive Rights is tracking related cases that could go beyond telehealth rules and challenge FDA approval or federal mailing rules.
Moms.Gov Messaging Raised privacy and Anti-Abortion Concerns
A group of senators sent a June 24 letter raising concerns about Moms.gov:
“We write with deep alarm regarding Moms.gov, a new Trump Administration website that directs pregnant women to unregulated and often nonmedical anti-abortion facilities known as crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)…. On Mother’s Day, the Trump Administration launched Moms.gov, calling it “a groundbreaking website for new and expecting mothers” purporting to “offer[] guidance and information tosupport the health and well-being of mothers and their families.”4 Upon entering the website, users are greeted with a banner stating that it is an “official website of the United States government” and presented with a large photo of a pregnant woman’s body without a face.5 A text box asserts that “Navigating pregnancy can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone,” followed by information about anti-abortion CPCs, which the website claims offer a federal pregnancy-related website.”
Title X Family-Planning Funding Became a Contraception/Access issue
A lawsuit over Title X family-planning grants also surfaced as a major concern. The challenged HHS process would add a political “alignment review” before the usual grant-merit review, according to the lawsuit. In Pennsylvania alone, four Title X grantees receive more than $12.6 million annually and serve more than 160,000 patients, with services including contraception, cancer screenings, STI testing, and fertility-related care; nationally, HHS data cited in the reporting says Title X serves about 2.8 million people.
Tom Homan’s Claim About Speaking With Girls Raped by Cartel Members
Tom Homan made a claim during remarks reported on June 26. Fox News reported that he said he had spoken with girls “as young as 9” who were raped by cartel members, using the story to defend the administration’s border and deportation policies.
The women’s-rights issue is still real: sexual violence, trafficking, and exploitation of migrant girls and women are major human-rights concerns. The disturbing reality is that the fear of deportation and law enforcement by immigrant survivors of rape, domestic violence, and trafficking reduces their ability to come forward and report what is happening.
Millions lose food stamps under Trump cuts. Arizona is hardest hit
Some developments were not women-only, but still clearly affect women’s rights because women, mothers, caregivers, and low-income families are disproportionately affected by safety-net cuts and service gaps.
·Reuters reported on people losing access to SNAP benefits after changes tied to the Trump tax-and-spending law, including single mothers relying on food pantries. AP also reported that the Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is giving $350,000 to 24 organizations across 13 Southern states for work including maternal health, gender-based violence prevention, and educational support, amid political and financial pressure on DEI-related work.
Age of consent: 37 States Are Below The Age of 18
Using the common state-by-state “age of consent” classification, 37 of 50 states have an age of consent under 18.
30 states have the age of consent set at 16, and 7 states set it at 17.
Only 13 states have the age of consent set it at 18.
Washington, D.C. is listed separately and has an age of consent of 16.
Note: “age of consent under 18” does not mean every adult-minor sexual relationship is legal. Many states have close-in-age rules, age-gap rules, authority-position rules, school/teacher rules, or different rules for different conduct.
Child Marriage: 33 States Allow Child marriage Under the Age 18
33 states still allow someone under 18 to marry, depending on the state’s conditions.
Advocacy trackers now count 17 states plus Washington, D.C. as having banned child marriage with a minimum marriage age of 18, no exceptions.
Oklahoma’s new ban is enacted but does not take effect until November 1, 2026, so the strict “in force today” count is 16 states plus D.C., with Oklahoma pending.
As of the latest tracker, three states still have no minimum marriage age when waiver/exception mechanisms are used. Equality Now identifies 33 states where child marriage remains legal and says three states require no minimum age with a waiver. Freedom United’s state-by-state tracker identifies California, Mississippi, and New Mexico as states with no minimum marriage age in those circumstances.
Unchained At Last reports that nearly 315,000 children were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2021, including children “as young as 10,” and that the marriages were mostly girls married to adult men. A major legal concern is the interaction between child marriage and statutory rape laws. Equality Now reports that in many states, marriage can still operate as a statutory-rape defense or exception, while
Unchained At Last says at least 66,415 child marriages since 2000 involved an age or spousal-age difference that otherwise should have triggered sex-crime concerns.
Resources
RAINN State Law Database is useful for checking consent and sexual-assault laws by state, including close-in-age and authority exceptions.
Unchained At Last has the strongest child-marriage reform tracker and national statistics on minors married in the U.S.
Equality Now has a current child-marriage-in-the-U.S. overview and explains the statutory-rape-defense problem.
Freedom United maintains a state-by-state child-marriage law tracker with minimum ages and exceptions.
Tahirih Justice Center is a major legal-policy resource on child-marriage reform and reported the 2026 Oklahoma ban, including the November 1, 2026 effective date.
 | A guest post by
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This is what people miss when they treat women’s rights like one little “abortion issue” in a political junk drawer. It is abortion access, contraception, food, healthcare, child marriage, statutory rape loopholes, migrant girls, privacy, poverty, and whether the state gets to turn pregnancy into surveillance with a prayer card attached. The same people screaming “protect children” keep writing laws that protect adult power. Funny how the halo always slips when the spreadsheet comes out.
Thank you for this. Dig in.