Recent data shows the gender pay gap widened again in 2025, in both hourly and salaried occupations, continuing a concerning shift after years of slow progress.
Women earned about 82. …
As of March 2026, Arizona’s women’s rights landscape is defined by a combination of voter-approved protections and ongoing legislative and legal challenges.
In 2024, voters approved Proposition 139, …
Note from Julie
Hi — I’m Julie, founder of the Women’s Rights Data Initiative.
I started WRDI because I was struggling to understand what was actually happening to women’ …
As of January 2026 — Where you live often determines whether you get essential care. Deep Medicaid cuts and shrinking funding have strained clinics and hospitals. In rural counties, maternity wards, prenatal care, contraception access, and preventive services are disappearing. Restrictions on gender-affirming care have further narrowed provider availability, compounding access challenges for transgender women and girls. Healthcare access is increasingly uneven across the country.
Each March, Women’s History Month invites reflection on the progress women have made — and the work that remains. International Women’s Day (March 8) similarly serves as a global …
A California law requiring certain health insurance plans to cover infertility treatment, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), took effect on January 1, 2026. It expands existing state requirements and applies …
Ohio’s expansion of Medicaid significantly increased health coverage across the state and helped stabilize access to care, including maternal and reproductive health services. The state has also extended postpartum …
Project 2025 is a long-term policy blueprint created by a group of conservative organizations and led by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. Released ahead of the 2024 presidential …
A maternal care desert is a place where people who are pregnant or giving birth have a hard time getting maternity care. Sometimes there’s no hospital nearby that delivers …
Federal laws play a powerful role in shaping women’s rights in the United States. Even when enforcement and impact vary from place to place, these laws establish national standards …
The word “protected” sounds definitive.
In everyday language, it suggests something settled—a right that’s been secured and placed out of reach of change. In law, the meaning is …
On September 27, 2024, California passed Assembly Bill 2270, a new law that tells several state licensing boards — including those that oversee doctors, nurses, therapists, and psychologists — to consider adding …
California’s Medicaid program, known as Medi-Cal, covers roughly one in three Californians — more than 15 million people. It’s one of the most generous Medicaid programs in the country, …
On April 1, 2025, the Trump administration withheld Title X family-planning grants from 16 grantees in 23 states, disrupting funding for birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing, and other healthcare …
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped providing abortions starting October 1, 2025, even though abortion remains legal in the state. The cause is due to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act …
The 2025 One Big Beautiful Big Act (H.R.1) introduces sweeping changes to the Medicaid program—stricter eligibility and verification rules, increased administrative burdens, and significantly reduced federal funds …
Texas lawmakers passed House Bill 18 in June 2025, a sweeping rural health law designed to keep small hospitals open and expand access to care in underserved parts of the …
In 2024, Texas expanded postpartum Medicaid and CHIP coverage from 2 months to 12. The bipartisan bill (HB 12) aims to improve maternal health by allowing new mothers to continue …
On January 24, 2025, the Justice Department announced it would enforce violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act "only in extraordinary circumstances", such as …
