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A member of the "Pistol Packing Ladies" shooting club, practices at a shooting range outside Fredericksburg, Virginia on April 11, 2013. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images)

The NRA’s new women’s channel: ‘Armed and fabulous’

With the relaunch of the NRA's online women channel, the gun lobby is attempting to boost membership and refocus the gun control debate on a woman's ability to protect herself. Read More

FILE - This undated photo provided by the Philadelphia District Attorney's office shows Dr. Kermit Gosnell. A Philadelphia judge on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 tossed three of eight murder charges in the high-profile trial of Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion provider accused of killing babies allegedly born alive at his clinic, dubbed by prosecutors "a house of horrors." Gosnell, 72, still faces the death penalty if convicted on four remaining counts of first-degree murder involving babies allegedly killed with scissors after being born alive. (AP Photo/Philadelphia Police Department via Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, File)

Pro-life groups use Gosnell to promote agenda that keeps others like him in business

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue argues that "anti-choice extremists are the ones who keep Gosnells in office." Read More

This digital composite shows photos: (Top, L) US Secretary of State John Kerry at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels on April 23, 2013. (Photo by John Thys/AFP/Getty Images); (Top, R) Sally Jewell before testifying to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee March 7, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images); (Bottom, L) Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew at Siemens' manufacturing plant on March 14, 2013 in Alpharetta, Georgia. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images); (Bottom, R) U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel during a meeting on April 23, 2013 in Jerusalem, Israel. (Photo by Moshe Milner GPO via Getty Images)

Obama’s second-term Cabinet takes shape

President Obama's expected nomination today of Mayor Anthony Foxx as secretary of transportation comes after he was accused earlier this year for appointing all-male Cabinet members and not diversifying the executive leaders during his second term. Read More

Winter Storm

What we’re reading: Monday, April 29, 2013

President Obama will nominate Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to replace Secretary LaHood as leader of the Department of Transportation. Read More

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Adopted against her will: One woman shares her story

Tarikuwa Lemma talks about being adopted as a 13-year-old in what she thought was an educational exchange program. Read More

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The Syllabus: What you should know for April 28th’s show

Read more about the discussion topics on Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry. Read More

Attorney Gloria Allred is shown speaking with students and alumni who allege Occidental College administrators violated federal standards for dealing with their rape, sexual assault or retaliation claims on April 18 in Los Angeles. The Title IX action filed with the federal Department of Education was announced that day by Allred.

Sexual assault survivors: Title IX is about more than athletics

As more and more survivors of sexual assault come forward, they are organizing themselves to educate more women about their Title IX rights. Read More

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You’re not going anywhere, Pres. Obama tells Planned Parenthood

"As long as we've got to fight to protect a woman's right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you've also got a president who's going to be right there with you fighting every step of the way," said President Obama in his address to Planned Parenthood Friday. Read More

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, U.S. Rep. Todd Akin

Todd Akin: The next comeback kid?

Todd Akin hints he's considering another run for office. Read More

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives on stage to address the Vital Voices Global Awards ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington on April 2, 2013. (Photo by Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

Watch: Why Hillary needs to commit (or not) to 2016

Hillary Clinton has left the door open for another presidential run, but Politico's Mike Allen tells the Morning Joe panel that she can't leave it open forever. Read More

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York (MSNBC)

Guess who’s coming to dinner? The Senate women’s caucus

All 20 women senators were slated to join President Obama for dinner at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue on Tuesday, after New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand suggested inviting the president to one of the group's quarterly meetings. Read More

Simone Bruni of New Orleans-based excavation and wrecking company Demo Diva.

Businesswomen thinking big by going small

The latest comprehensive data from the U.S. Census shows that between 1997 and 2007, companies owned by women grew at almost double the rate of their male counterparts. Read More

Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, with his fiancee Maria Belen Chapur. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith)

Top Links: Mark Sanford’s new ‘trespassing’ scandal has conservatives groaning and Tweeters joking

The Appalachian Trail just took a weird turn in the Mark Sanford saga — to the possible benefit of his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch. Read More

File Photo: Rev. Patrick Mahoney (R) of the Christian Defense Coalition, with other abortion opponents, speaks at a news conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court to condemn the killing of Dr. George Tiller on June 1, 2009 in Washington, DC. Tiller, a provider of late-term abortions, was shot and killed in his church in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images, File)

Kansas finds a way to enshrine sex discrimination

What’s the matter with Kansas? Today, the answer might be a persistent, pernicious opposition to reproductive freedom, to the right of all Americans to control their own bodies and, by extension, their own lives. Read More

File Photo: A woman holds a sign during an anti-abortion protest march to the Choices Women's Medical Center in Queens, New York October 20, 2012. The protest was organized by local church, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and targeted the center which offers abortion procedures. Photo by Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

In U.S., 326 provisions affecting abortion introduced just this year

Virginia is the latest to adopt one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. On Friday, the state board of health voted to approve new regulations that would mandate abortion clinics to comply with hospital-style building codes -- requiring costly construction. Read More

Abortion opponents demonstrate outside Mississippi's only abortion clinic Wednesday, June 27, 2012, in Jackson, Miss

A ‘back door’ abortion ban? Virginia health board approves new regulations

The Virginia Board of Health voted Friday for new abortion clinic regulations, a move that could force clinics in the state to either undergo costly renovations or shut down. Read More

U.S. Sen. Paul Ryan (R-WI) delivers remarks during the second day of the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) March 15, 2013 in National Harbor, Maryland. The American conservative Union held its annual conference in the suburb of Washington, DC, to rally conservatives and generate ideas.  (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Paul Ryan compares anti-abortion fight to battle to end slavery

Paul Ryan urged anti-abortion activists to reach out to people who support reproductive choice--while continuing to work to outlaw abortion. Read More

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How to turn idealism into action

Vital Voices board member and former Hillary campaign co-chair Jill Iscol joined Andrea Mitchell Reports on Friday to discuss her book, “Hearts on Fire.” Newly out in paperback, the book takes readers through the inspiring journeys of influential social activists. Read More

Burnett on Morning Joe

Carol Burnett on breaking comedy’s glass ceiling

On Friday’s Morning Joe, Carol Burnett explained that her big break—The Carol Burnett Show—almost never was. Read More

Supreme Court Gay Marriage

More Americans embrace tolerance as goal – except GOP

A new NBC/WSJ poll finds that more Americans have come to believe the goal of society is to promote greater tolerance, except among Republicans. Read More