Week of action launched today with a press call, and will include phone banks and press events to connect volunteers to organizing opportunities and call out the Pennsylvania GOP’s anti-choice agenda
PENNSYLVANIA— Today, the PA Dems launched a Defend Choice Week of Action as part of a national push that will run from July 12-19 to mobilize supporters and engage voters across the country. These efforts will call out Republicans for opposing abortion rights, highlight what is at stake in November, and organize Pennsylvanians to elect Democrats up and down the ballot who will serve as the backstop to protecting abortion rights.
The first event in the commonwealth was a Tuesday press call where Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Sharif Street, Rep. Susan Wild, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan and Hon. Val Arkoosh highlighted Pennsulvania Republicans’ dangerous plans to push abortion bans and criminalize doctors, called them out for their continued attacks on abortion rights, emphasized Democrats’ work to fight back and made clear that reproductive rights are on the line this November.
To get involved in the Week of Action, Pennsylvanians can visit www.DefendChoice.org for local organizing opportunities. Additionally, the PA Dems are planning actions such as phonebanks, canvasses for pro-choice candidates, community meetings, additional press events and more.
See below for more from today’s call:
Rep. Susan Wild:
“I don’t need to be the one to tell you just how high the stakes of this election are. If the GOP wins majorities in the House or Senate, they will work to institute a nationwide abortion ban. This is the future that they have been working towards for decades. And it’s a reality where women are not afforded the freedom to control their own bodies.”
PA Dems Chair, Sen. Sharif Street:
“Democrats are fighting to protect health care options for a woman, and to make sure abortion remains safe and legal in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Republicans, led by Dr. Oz and Doug Mastriano, want to restrict a woman’s right to choose. Mastriano is actually even advancing an extreme agenda which would involve jailing doctors who have done nothing other than trying to protect a woman’s right to choose and delivering health care services.”
Rep. Chrissy Houlahan
“Representative Mike Kelly, who is one of our colleagues here in Congress, a Republican, put forward a bill recently that would create a federal abortion ban. And the other Pennsylvania GOP House members are leading the charge with him. They are pushing to support a six-week federal abortion ban, with no exceptions for rape and incest, and this bill would penalize health care providers with up to five years in prison.
“This is an extreme MAGA agenda, it is wildly out of touch and very unpopular with more than half of the Americans who oppose the SCOTUS decision. Eighty percent of the American public believes abortion should be legal in at least some circumstances. And we simply cannot let this happen in Pennsylvania, and we cannot let this happen at the federal level—and it will if we don’t fight back.”
Hon. Val Arkoosh:
“I’m a doctor. I have cared for pregnant people in Philadelphia teaching hospitals for over 20 years. And I can say with certainty that these Republican attacks on abortion will hurt people and will stop providers from providing life-giving health care. I have sat at the bedside of patients making really difficult decisions about their pregnancies. And I know there is no place in those decisions for a Republican extremist, like United States senate nominee Mehmet Oz. Oz celebrated Roe’s overturning and has said that he would support an abortion ban even in cases of rape or incest.”
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