Dec. 9—New Mexico Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernández will chair the House Democratic Women’s Caucus in the next Congress.
With 96 incoming members, the DWC will be larger than ever before. The caucus advocates for causes that affect women, like ensuring birth control is covered by health insurance or pushing for the child tax credit.
“When (President-elect Donald) Trump and his Republican allies are going to do something that hurts women, we will call that out,” Leger Fernández said.
Leger Fernández was DWC vice-chair in the 118th Congress. She replaces outgoing Chair Rep. Lois Frankel of Florida, who called Leger Fernández a “terrific leader to steer DWC.”
With a Republican White House and a Republican-controlled Congress, the caucus will look for bipartisan wins, Leger Fernández said. One fight she’s expecting is to save Head Start.
“The Project 2025 and many of the people that (Trump) is bringing into his cabinet want to get rid of Head Start. Well, we know that Head Start is really important to women, because if they are able to drop off their children at Head Start, they can then go to work,” Leger Fernández said.
She also anticipates more attempts to overturn the Food and Drug Administration approval of mifepristone. Mifepristone blocks one of the hormones needed for a pregnancy to continue — progesterone — and can be used with another medication to terminate a pregnancy up to 10 weeks. The FDA first approved it in 2000.
The Supreme Court preserved access to mifepristone in June when it ruled that abortion opponents did not have the legal right to sue over the drug’s FDA approval. But at least one other lawsuit trying to limit mifepristone, and several challenging restrictions on the drug, are ongoing.
The most challenging part of advocating for women in the next Congress will be the sheer number of policies and statements from the Trump administration “that hurt America’s women,” Leger Fernández said.
The DWC will focus on lowering costs for women, making sure they can prosper economically, reproductive health care freedom and protecting women from sexual assault.
“Given the nature of the President Elect’s nominations, we do believe it is going to be very important … to make sure that we talk about the importance of protecting women from sexual violence,” Leger Fernández said.