Friend,

I know Heidi sent a really long email on Sunday, but we want to make it clear that while we’re commemorating all we lost and all we have to gain, we’re continuing our work to build communities where everyone can thrive, and where people can decide if, when, and how they want to raise children in a healthy environment.

We’re not giving up our mission to fight for access to reproductive care, and we need your help to do that.

Please, friend, make your first gift to #VOTEPROCHOICE this year to ensure that we’re able to elect prochoice champions at every level who can stop abortion bans at their sources.

With your help, we can turn the tide of anti-abortion legislation.

Our strategy remains clear, and our wins in the last year show our tactics work: we were able to distribute 11.4 million #VOTEPROCHOICE Voter Guides, reach 45.8 million people with the help of our partners, channels, and influencers; and make 5,034 prochoice champion recommendations, including our own 589 candidates who went on to have an incredible 60% win rate — in some of the toughest races across the country!

Now is not the time to turn away from this work or from the fight for reproductive freedoms. So thank you for being a part of our work and a part of our fight, we can’t do this without you!

Maris Nyhart
#VOTEPROCHOICE

---Original Message---

Friend,

Today would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. With heavy hearts and worried souls, today we’re taking some space here with all of you to look at what’s happened since we lost federal abortion protections. Please read to the end because our reproductive freedom indeed remains in peril. The actions we take now must be bold, effective — and non-negotiable. That’s what #VOTEPROCHOICE is determined to do this year (and every year).

Before we look back at the good, the bad, and the ugly, we want to quickly look forward to the solution.

Our collective attention must now turn to electing prochoice champion candidates in over 94,000 open seats this year. Please consider making a recurring donation of $22 so we can continue the fight to elect amazing candidates to state and local offices.

• In Kansas and Kentucky, voters rejected ballot measures to remove abortion rights from the state’s constitution.
• In Montana, voters rejected a “Born-Alive Infant Protection Act.”
• In California, Michigan, and Vermont, voters overwhelmingly voted to establish state constitutional rights to abortion.

• St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones signed legislation to direct $1 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to help people cover the logistical costs of accessing abortion.
• The Atlanta City Council donated $300,000 to Access Reproductive Care Southeast to help people pay for abortions and other related costs, including out-of-state travel or childcare expenses.
• 90 elected prosecutors committed not to prosecute abortions.

• An elected Ohio county judge blocked the state’s six-week abortion ban.
• When Michigan Republicans tried to stop the Reproductive Freedom For All ballot initiative from moving forward, the state Supreme Court (which we helped flip to Democrat in 2020!) overrode them—and voters proceeded to overwhelmingly protect abortion access.
• An elected Texas judge threw out a case to charge a doctor who provided abortion care.
• 39 states use some kind of election to determine at least some state and local judges — and countless times this year, judges protected our freedoms. In 2023 and beyond, we have the opportunity to elect so many more prochoice judges who will commit to protecting our reproductive rights.

• Most abortions are banned in at least 14 states.
• 10 other states have severe restrictions, affecting more than 40 million people.
• 66 clinics in 15 states had to close or stop offering abortion care in the first 100 days after Roe v. Wade was overturned.
• The cost of abortion care has skyrocketed, with many now costing over $1,300.
• Abortion clinics in states where abortion is protected are overwhelmed by patients forced to come from other states.

• In Wisconsin, a woman bled for more than 10 days from an incomplete miscarriage after emergency room staff would not remove the fetal tissue.
• A Texas woman almost died because she couldn’t get an abortion.
• A Louisiana woman carrying a fetus with no skull was forced to travel to New York to get an abortion.
• Abortion bans make it difficult for arthritis and lupus patients to receive vital medication.
• Anti-abortion laws negatively impact EVERYONE, including IVF patients, ectopic pregnancy and high-risk pregnancy patients, people who miscarry, and people who simply don't want to be pregnant.

• According to the Guttmacher Institute, 118 medication abortion restrictions were introduced in 22 states in 2022.
• Anti-abortion extremists are looking to ban websites that provide abortion medication.
• In a federal lawsuit, extremists allege the FDA abused its authority 23 years ago when it authorized abortion medication.
• Students for Life of America filed a citizens’ petition claiming that at-home abortion with pills is an environmental hazard because people flush fetal tissue down the toilet, and traces of the pills could make it into groundwater.
• Radical conservatives are working with anti-abortion representatives in the states to write legislation that will further limit abortion access. Even in blue states, extremists are trying to ban abortion care in city limits.

• In July, 195 House Republicans voted against the Right to Contraception Act, a bill that would create a legal right to obtain and use all FDA-approved forms of birth control.
• A Trump-appointed judge ruled that Texas teens can’t get birth control without their parent’s consent.

• Expand candidate outreach, education, and endorsement programs: with our new partnership with ActBlue, we’re focusing on electing prochoice criminal and legal champions in more than 3000+ of these positions.
• Expanding and serving the prochoice electorate: Focusing on KY, VA, TX, PA, OH, NV, AZ, we will invest in prochoice voters who aren’t traditionally served by the electoral ecosystem, like women of color and newly registered voters.