It’s been a year since the Dobbs decision, and we’re still fighting.

One of the reasons I ran for the legislature in 2018, and for re-election last year, was because we knew this moment was coming. We knew that anti-abortion’s decades long war on reproductive freedom would reach the Supreme Court. 

But with your help we have been fighting back. In Olympia – in this Washington – we have strengthened reproductive freedom. We’ve made birth control more available and accessible, stockpiled mifepristone to ensure Washington residents have access to the safest and most effective medication abortion protocol, required all insurance plans that cover maternity care to also cover abortion, ensured that trans folks have equal access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare, removed financial barriers by ending abortion cost-sharing, and enacted meaningful data privacy and shield legislation – to protect trans folks seeking gender affirming care in Washington state and individuals seeking abortion here from persecution or prosecution in their home states. 

Abortion is healthcare, the decision to seek it is personal, and in this Washington we will do everything we can to keep it safe and legal. 

Some people ask me “why do we keep talking about it in a state like Washington?” Because there’s still more to do.

• We can pass the Keep Our Care Act, policy that would create some important checks and balances in hospital and health system mergers, so that access to abortion (and end of life care and gender affirming care) doesn’t disappear as local hospitals and medical clinics are purchased and acquired by big (often religious) systems.
• We can protect Washingtonians from the deceptive and predatory practices of fake clinics – also known as crisis pregnancy centers. They gained traction in the 80s and 90s when a federal law banned blocking access to abortion clinic entrances. They’re often located near abortion clinics and look and feel like a health care clinic – but aren’t bound by HIPPA, are unlicensed, and often don’t even have health care providers on staff.
• We can continue working to elect champions for reproductive justice up and down the ballot – from President to city council to fire commissioner. The anti-abortion movement has been successfully building power locally, electing folks in non-partisan races who are then able to increase their name recognition and seek higher office. The hate group Moms For Liberty is active in school board races, the Federalist Society has been focused on local judicial appointments that have led to conservative “court packing” at all levels – including this Supreme Court and the demise of Roe v Wade. 

It may be more than six months until next legislative session, and more than three years until I’m on the ballot again, but I’m committed to organizing alongside you year-round. For health care expansion, for strong schools, for representative city councils, for environmental protections, for housing affordability, for childcare and basic needs – and for reproductive freedom and justice for all.

If you want to get involved in a local race, or in policy advocacy, respond to this email! And if you want to support these efforts but don’t have time to make calls or knock doors or testify, consider chipping in to fund year-round organizing. It takes all of us.

Paid for by Emily Randall for Senate (D), PO Box 1883, Port Orchard, WA 98366

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