For Immediate Release: October 19, 2026.    President Julie Kent, Florida NOW   president@flnow.org

FL NOW, with the coalition Floridians for Reproductive Freedom (FRF), wants to highlight the success of mifepristone (mife) and misoprostol (miso) for safe abortions. The combined regimen of mife and miso is the most common form of abortion, medication abortion (aka abortion pills or medical abortion). In 2000, the FDA approved mife for use in the US for abortions up to 10 weeks. Worldwide it has been in use since 1988.

Exciting facts about medication abortion (mife and miso regimen) are:

• 63% of all US clinicians use the regimen
• The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s comprehensive review of medication abortion found an abortion safety rate of 99%
• More than 100 peer-reviewed clinical studies have found that mife has a low complication rate and is effective for use in abortion care
• Evidence also affirms that abortion medication is just as effective when patients get pills by mail or at a pharmacy after a telehealth appointment

“Abortion up to viability is an element of reproductive care for women. 26 years of mifepristone availability has improved women’s ability to plan their lives and families,” said Julie Kent, President of FL NOW. “The current efforts to have the FDA retract its approval of mifepristone are dishonest, especially with a proven track record of safety. FL NOW will continue to support the medication abortion regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol as a requirement of women’s reproductive health”

PRH, Physicians for Reproductive Health Fact Sheet states “Medication abortion is highly politicized and restricted, despite its overwhelmingly positive track record. At the state and federal level, anti-abortion extremists use misinformation and junk science to push unpopular policies that stigmatize medication abortion. For example, as of September 2026, twenty-eight states restrict access to medication abortion. Additionally, anti-abortion extremists are pressuring the FDA and Congress to rescind mifepristone’s approval, particularly mifepristone’s availability via mail and in pharmacies.”

PRH and FL NOW call for action: “Lawmakers and advocates must work to ensure everyone can access health care, including medication abortion—free from stigma, barriers, and political interference. To do so, we must reclaim the narrative by highlighting the science and lived experiences that reaffirm medication abortion’s safety and effectiveness. We must protect and expand access to abortion via telehealth. Telehealth is a vital lifeline for people who need and want abortions because telehealth is private, accessible, affordable, and safe. Finally, we must condemn policies that criminalize abortion seekers, providers, and pills. No one should fear surveillance, jail, or arrest for making decisions about their reproductive future.”

FL NOW is working to get the 6-week abortion ban repealed and fighting potential action to discontinue or limit medication abortion, especially mifepristone,” said Debbie Deland, VP of FL NOW. “Women must have this reproductive healthcare option. FL NOW’s principles include working for bodily autonomy and comprehensive reproductive healthcare. We will never abandon a woman’s right to control her own body. The anti-abortion movement is mostly driven by men who think they should control women’s bodies. They are wrong to deny women freedom.”

We applaud the success of mifepristone and, through our work, expect to see it fully legal across the country for years to come.

Media Contact: Debbie Deland, 407 234-6408, dcdeland@att.net

For more information: https://www.prh.org/medication-abortion-brief

 The Florida National Organization for Women (FL NOW) strongly objects to the newly released Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would eliminate more than 1,400 Head Start regulations, dismantle long‑standing protections for children, and shift oversight from the federal government to states and local authorities.

The NPRM rescinds Parts 1301–1305 of the Head Start Program Performance Standards and replaces them with a drastically reduced framework. While the proposal claims to “restore flexibility” and “reduce regulatory burden,” FL NOW warns it will undermine child safety, weaken accountability, and destabilize early childhood programs nationwide.

“This is deregulation disguised as modernization,” said Julie Kent, President of FL NOW. “Head Start was built to protect children in poverty — not to deregulate early childhood education. Florida’s women and children deserve more than a patchwork of inconsistent state rules.”

A Dangerous Deregulation of Early Childhood Education

The proposed rule would:

• Eliminate over 1,400 federal protections
• Shift authority for ratios, group size, background checks, and transportation safety to states
• Remove curriculum requirements, parent committees, and family engagement structures
• Reduce documentation and monitoring
• Broaden waiver authority for operational requirements

FL NOW warns these changes strip away safeguards that keep children safe, healthy, and ready to learn.

Women Are Hit the Hardest

Head Start is a women‑centered system — and deregulation disproportionately harms mothers, caregivers, and the overwhelmingly female workforce.

1. Women Are the Majority of Head Start Parents

Head Start serves single mothers, low‑income mothers, mothers of color, and mothers in crisis. Removing federal protections means inconsistent safety standards, political variability, and reduced accountability — destabilizing the support women rely on.

2. Women Are 90% of the Workforce

Eliminating standards for staff qualifications, training, ratios, background checks, and safety protocols means lower wages, less training, more dangerous working conditions, and greater burnout.

3. Loss of Parent Committees Silences Women’s Voices

Ending requirements for Parent Committees and Policy Councils removes mothers’ formal leadership roles, decision‑making power, and community support networks.

4. Reduced Safety Standards Puts Children at Risk

Removing rules for transportation, facilities, ratios, and background checks increases accidents, supervision failures, and exposure to unsafe adults — creating health and welfare burdens borne overwhelmingly by mothers.

5. Cuts to Monitoring Reduce Protection Against Abuse

Federal monitoring has historically uncovered unsafe facilities, abusive staff, mismanagement, and health violations. Removing documentation requirements eliminates critical safeguards for children and families.

Parents’ Role Is Misrepresented

Although the NPRM claims to “return authority back to parents,” it simultaneously removes the very structures that empower those parents. FL NOW warns: removing structure does not empower parents — it abandons them.

Minimal Gains in Health and Nutrition

The NPRM adds requirements for physical activity, outdoor time, and nutrient‑dense foods — positive steps that do not compensate for the sweeping loss of protections elsewhere. 

Massive Cost Cuts = Reduced Safety

The NPRM estimates $1.47–$2.96 billion in annual cost reductions by 2031. FL NOW warns these cuts will result in:

• Lower staffing levels
• Reduced training
• Weaker safety oversight
• Less individualized support for children

A Return to Pre‑1996 Conditions

Head Start standards have been strengthened only twice in 50 years — in 1996 and 2016. The NPRM reverses decades of progress and returns oversight to a fragmented state‑by‑state system.

FL NOW Calls for Public Opposition

FL NOW urges parents, educators, child development experts, Tribal leaders, early childhood advocates, and state and local officials to communicate their opposition. The comment period was short and is now closed.

“This proposal is not modernization — it is dismantling,” said Debbie Deland, VP of FL NOW. “Florida’s children, especially those in poverty, deserve strong national protections. These rule changes are an abomination for mothers and children across the country.”

About FL NOW

The Florida National Organization for Women is the state’s largest feminist advocacy organization, advancing gender equity, racial justice, reproductive freedom, and economic security for all women and families.

Media Contact: Debbie Deland, VP FL NOW 407‑234‑6408, dcdeland@att.net

For Immediate Release: October 5, 2026 / President Julie Kent, Florida NOW

The Florida National Organization for Women (FL NOW) today responds to newly released National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) on the national wage-gap research showing that women — especially Black, Latina, Native, and immigrant women — continue to face deep, persistent pay inequities that undermine economic security for women and families across the state.

According to this  annual analysis from the highly regarded NWLC and IWPR (https://iwpr.org), women in the United States earn 78 cents for every dollar paid to men. But the gap is far wider for women of color in Florida due to:

• Black women: ~66 cents nationally; 61 cents in Florida
• Latina women: ~57 cents nationally; 55 cents in Florida
• Native women: ~60 cents nationally
• Asian American women: ~87 cents nationally, with significant disparities among subgroups
• Mothers: face an even larger “motherhood penalty,” losing thousands annually due to discrimination and lack of paid leave

“These numbers are not abstract,” said Julie Kent, President of FL NOW. “They represent lost groceries, lost rent, lost healthcare, lost retirement savings — and lost dignity. Florida women are being shortchanged every single payday, and the impact compounds across a lifetime. This is obviously an economic injustice.”

Florida’s Wage Gap: A Structural Crisis

This new research shows Florida’s wage gap for women of color is worse than the national average, driven by:

• Occupational segregation
• Low-wage service industries dominated by women
• Lack of paid family leave
• Barriers to advancement
• Discrimination in hiring and promotion
• The state’s refusal to adopt pay-transparency or salary-history bans

Over a 40-year career, the average Florida woman of color loses hundreds of thousands of dollarscompared to white, non-Hispanic men — a gap that directly contributes to poverty, housing instability, and food insecurity. 

Equal Pay Is a Reproductive Justice Issue

“Economic justice is also reproductive justice,” said Debbie Deland, VP FL NOW. “You cannot raise children safely, freely, or with dignity when your wages are suppressed by discrimination. Closing the wage gap is essential to the well-being of Florida’s women and  families.”

FL NOW Calls for Immediate Legislative Action

FL NOW urges lawmakers to adopt:

• A statewide salary-history ban when hiring
• Mandatory pay-transparency requirements within the company
• Employer pay-equity audits provided to the State for review
• Public reporting of wage data by race, ethnicity, and gender by the State
• Strong enforcement mechanisms for wage discrimination
• Enforcement of the FL minimum wage for domestic labor

“Florida women deserve better than a system that devalues their labor,” Deland said. “We call on legislators to act now — and we call on Floridians to demand accountability.”

About FL NOW

The Florida National Organization for Women is a large feminist advocacy organization, working to advance gender equity, racial justice, LGBTQ+ liberation, reproductive freedom, and economic justice across all communities.