Reproductive Equity Now Announces Next Slate of Endorsed Candidates for State Legislature in Massachusetts
Repro Equity Now Supports Eight Additional Reproductive Equity Champions in the General Election
BOSTON (September 11, 2024) – Two years since the Dobbs decision decimated the national right to abortion access, one month after the Massachusetts Legislature advanced groundbreaking legislation to address the state’s worsening maternal health crisis, and on the precipice of one of the most important election cycles in history, Reproductive Equity Now has announced its second slate of endorsed candidates for the Massachusetts legislature. These candidates will continue the groundbreaking progress that the Massachusetts legislature has made to meet the post-Dobbs crisis and work to advance a reproductive equity agenda for all Bay Staters.
“As we prepare for one of the most important elections in our lifetime, Massachusetts must continue to meet the post-Dobbs moment by electing unequivocally pro-repro candidates up and down the ballot,” said Rebecca Hart Holder, President of Reproductive Equity Now. “While the right to abortion, contraception, IVF, and all forms of reproductive health care are facing existential threats on the national stage, state legislatures have the opportunity and obligation to act as a firewall. We know that Massachusetts leads the way for the nation in protecting the right to abortion and expanding access to the full spectrum of reproductive health care, and we need to continue to elect leaders who take that responsibility seriously. Reproductive Equity Now is proud to endorse this impressive slate of candidates who are ready to fight for reproductive equity and ensure that Massachusetts remains a beacon for abortion access in a post-Roe world.”
SENATE ENDORSEMENTS:
Joe Pacheco, Third Bristol and Plymouth
HOUSE ENDORSEMENTS:
Kathy Fox Alfano, 3rd Barnstable
Leigh Davis, 3rd Berkshire
Kostas Loukos, 1st Bristol
Sean Reid, 11th Essex
Representative Ryan Hamilton, 15th Essex
Amy Mah Sangiolo, 11th Middlesex
Michelle Badger, 1st Plymouth
To view Reproductive Equity Now’s full list of 2024 endorsed candidates, click HERE.
Since the 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the federal right to abortion, the Massachusetts legislature has made bold strides to protect abortion access and advance reproductive equity. In the immediate aftermath of Dobbs, the legislature passed a best-in-the-nation shield law for Massachusetts-based abortion providers, allowing providers in the Bay State to provide telemedicine abortion care to patients nationwide. Because of this law, thousands of patients in banned or restricted states have been able to access abortion pills every month.
The legislature has also invested nearly $20 million in abortion access, infrastructure, and abortion funds since the fall of Roe v. Wade, including $1 million for a first-in-the-nation public education campaign on the dangers of anti-abortion centers. The state has also passed an insurance mandate for abortion care and expanded state statute to create additional exceptions for abortion later in pregnancy.
This past legislative session, the legislature passed a groundbreaking maternal health care package, empowering Certified Professional Midwives with a pathway to licensure and removing burdensome barriers to the opening of freestanding birth centers across the state.
Reproductive Equity Now is a non-partisan organization and invited all Democratic, Republican, third party, and unenrolled candidates to participate in the endorsement process.
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