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I was excited to be invited to participate in a second White House convening of state legislators leading the efforts to protect access to reproductive health care as we approach the one year mark of the release of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v Wade. As an aside, I’ve really struggled with how to characterize how to describe June 24th as it doesn’t seem right to use a word like anniversary which seems to me a more celebratory tone. I’ve been thinking about that a lot. In Judaism, we recognize the yartzheit of a loved one’s death by reciting the Kaddish prayer and lighting a memorial candle. This feels more fitting for a day that changed the lives of more than half the population of our country by stripping us of bodily autonomy and threatening much more sweeping attacks on personal freedoms.
Over the course of two days, legislators from states both on the offensive and defensive footings came together to share progress updates, best practices, brainstorm solutions, and support each other as we reflected on a year unlike any other. At an evening gathering that included all the invited legislators from both convenings, a member from a state with Republican leadership asked that we stop referring to states like hers as “hostile” states since that doesn’t fully reflect the folks pushing back and playing defense. I appreciated that call in and will work to use terms like “sending” and “receiving” states instead.
Senior White House staff shared updates on the various steps being taken by the Biden-Harris administration in a multi-prong approach designed to achieve the longer term goal of enshrining the right to reproductive health care in federal law while using executive orders at the federal level along with active support for state legislative efforts to shore up and protect access for as many patients and providers as possible in the near term. This was true in January when at our request, administration leadership directly engaged in rounding up votes for The Patient And Provider Protection Act, the core of our state’s suite of laws designed to protect patients, providers, and supporters, expand capacity, and enable access to reproductive and gender affirming care.
This visit was made more special by the addition of Sen. Celina Villanueva to our numbers. Sen. Villanueva and I have worked hand in hand this year to ensure we remain at the leading edge on protecting these freedoms and we come back from DC with the energy and ideas we all generated together. As we discussed at the convening, we’re proud of the progress we’ve made, but remain focused on ensuring that we pass meaningful data privacy protections this fall to ensure our shield works as it should.
Going over my notes from a very packed 36 hours, I’m excited by what we’ve accomplished and how our work is looked at as an example of how states can forge a path of their own, in awe of the members on the literal front lines in states like my home state of Florida who are in super-minority status but take the fight on like the super-heroes they are and how they’re still able to take the occasional win against all odds, and energized to invite more colleagues to dig into this area of policy making and build their own expertise. There is so much work to be done. So, this Saturday, I will acknowledge Roe’s yartzheit. But I will also celebrate the amazing humans I have had the great fortune to work with this year and the myriad ways we have been touched by each other’s work.
Reminder that Monday June 19 is a city, state, and federal holiday. The office will be closed, but will reopen Tuesday. Torrence and I will be hitting some of the Juneteenth celebrations in the area today (Saturday) and Monday, while I’m also hoping to see lots of friends and neighbors at the 30th Annual Artists of the Wall Festival benefitting the Loyola Park Advisory Council. As I write this, I still have no idea what I’ll be putting on our panel when I get over there to start painting. The theme this year is “Stories of the Wall,” so feel free to send suggestions before I really get down to painting on Sunday!
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