Dear friends,

2022 has been harrowing for anyone who cares about abortion rights.

Earlier this year a majority of activist, right wing extremist Supreme Court justices overruled Roe v. Wade. Overnight, Americans lost 50 years of settled case law protecting their rights to make personal medical decisions in consultation with families and doctors.

Soon after the decision physicians who continued to offer lifesaving, humane care for their patients were publicly criticized and threatened by Republican politicians.

Who can forget the Ohio doctor who provided a 10-year-old child — a rape victim — with an abortion and was subsequently vilified by the Republican attorney general of Indiana?

While Republicans celebrated the Dobbs decision, Democrats turned outrage into activism. Our country is in the midst of a public backlash that continues to grow. It's clear that a majority of people want to protect and strengthen reproductive rights for all Americans.

We have already seen pro-choice candidates defeat extremist opponents in New York and Alaska. And Kansas voters soundly rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed their Republican legislature to outlaw abortion in their state.

In Oregon, where we have the strongest reproductive rights laws in the U.S., the governor's race will determine the future. A vote for Democrat Tina Kotek is a vote to defend Oregon's reproductive health care laws. A vote for Republican Christine Drazan opens the door to restrictions that threaten freedoms and values that Oregonians have fought hard for. And let's be honest, the unaffiliated candidate, Betsy Johnson, has no path to victory in this election. A vote for her is effectively a vote to elect an anti-choice Republican to become our next Governor.

There is much more at risk. It's alarming. Legal experts have already noted that the rationale the Supreme Court used to overturn Roe could also be employed to outlaw same sex marriage.

That's why I am going all in for pro-choice Democrats in critical political contests this year both across the country and in Oregon.

Ballots will be mailed today. We have 21 days to set the agenda for what kind of state and country we want for ourselves and our families.

For me, that starts and ends with protecting your reproductive rights. I hope you'll agree.

Courage,

Earl