For years, women’s healthcare in the United States has been under siege. Debates surrounding healthcare rights have played out everywhere, from protesters outside abortion clinics to the Oval Office and the Supreme Court. It is easy to lose hope and succumb to fear, especially when the rollback of women’s rights has had consequences this dire.
I still remember reading about Ciji Graham, a woman from North Carolina who was living with atrial fibrillation. To protect her own health, she scheduled an abortion to terminate her pregnancy. Due to tightened abortion laws in her state, she ran into delays and never made it to her appointment. Graham died of cardiac arrhythmia. A death that medical experts told ProPublica was preventable.
I also think about Adriana Smith, a pregnant nurse in Georgia who was declared brain-dead in February 2025. Smith was kept on life support for nearly four months, all because of the state’s restrictive abortion and personhood laws.
Both of these women were black, a demographic that already experiences a maternal mortality rate three times higher than that of any other group.
These women’s stories are not simply talking points, they are haunting examples of what happens when dangerous political ideologies trump women’s lives. Needless to say, women’s health was undeniably on the line when people showed up to the polls on November 3rd, 2026 to vote in the US Midterm Elections.
And luckily, show up they did. What followed was a monumental win for the Democratic Party, with unprecedented victories in many swing states and districts. So, what does this “blue wave” actually mean for women’s healthcare?
Dr. Amy Acton, a public health physician and former Director of the Ohio Department of Health, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio gubernatorial race. Not only is Dr. Acton the first woman to govern the state, her victory also marks the first time in twenty years that the people of Ohio have elected a Democrat to govern them. Dr. Acton pledged to defend the state’s voter approved reproductive freedom protections, safeguard access to miscarriage care and IVF, and expand maternal health initiatives. She also promises to lower the cost of healthcare and improve healthcare access in the state’s rural areas.
Five hundred miles away, South Carolina elected a pediatrician to the Senate, Dr. Annie Andrews. Dr. Andrews’s platform focused on lowering prescription costs, expanding maternal health initiatives, and supporting rural healthcare systems. In New Mexico, governor-elect Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous woman to be elected Governor in the United States, has also been a strong advocate for expanding healthcare access, particularly for new mothers in rural communities and for Indigenous women who have long been failed by the country’s healthcare system.
Across the country, ballot measures on women’s healthcare were also prominently featured. In Nevada, a proposed constitutional amendment enshrining the right to abortion in the state’s constitution was passed; Virginians passed a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive freedom and the right to prenatal care, postpartum care, and IVF; and in Missouri, an anti-abortion group’s proposed measure to undo previously established reproductive protections was not passed.
There were many more victories across the country that deserve recognition. Elected officials such as California governor-elect Xavier Becerra, Hawaii governor-elect Josh Green, and Texas governor-elect Gina Hinojosa have all outlined strong platforms focused on protecting access to contraception, expanding telehealth services, and ensuring women receive life-saving medical care. There is so much more to explore, and I encourage everyone to look into the results in their own states and districts, and what these changes could mean for them and their communities.
Ultimately, the work is far from over. The current administration continues to threaten access to healthcare for women and transgender people, and an election cannot immediately repair an unequal healthcare system. But these midterms have demonstrated that progress is still possible.
There were meaningful victories across the country, from the election of leaders committed to expanding healthcare access to voters directly protecting reproductive freedoms at the ballot box. For all the uncertainty and fear surrounding the future of women’s healthcare, I think it is important to recognise these moments of progress. It is healthy, and it is okay, to take a moment to feel optimistic. The fight is far from finished, but November 3rd was a reminder that it is still worth fighting.