This Week is National Women’s Health Week
In honor of National Women’s Health Week, and as the director of Women for Markey, I’d like to talk about the program we’ve organized to bring together women across Massachusetts who support Ed Markey and the policies he fights for that will improve women’s health and lives.
The issues facing women in Massachusetts and across the country today are complex. They range from expanding access to healthcare to protecting the environment, from making communities safer to ensuring equal work for equal pay. For many women, these issues are deeply personal. Who we elect to represent us in the US Senate affects all our lives, and women must make their voices heard. That’s where Women for Markey comes in. We are working hard to elect Ed in the Senate so he can protect the rights that we have worked so hard and for so long to win.
Since the program launched, we’ve organized hundreds of women-to-women phone banks and women for Markey house parties, and have been joined at our events by such exceptional women leaders as Senator Elizabeth Warren, Attorney General Martha Coakley, NARAL National President Ilyse Hogue and NOW President Terry O’Neill. These women, and all of the volunteers and supporters we have across the state, know what the stakes are if we don’t elect a true partner to be there for us in the Senate.
We need Ed because he knows being a woman is not a pre-existing condition. He voted for the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits discrimination and ensures women have access to free preventative care, including cancer screenings and contraceptives. Ed will protect a women’s right to choose, leaving healthcare decisions to a woman and her doctor. He knows expanding access to affordable healthcare keeps our mothers and families healthy.
We need Ed because working mothers supporting their families deserve to earn as much as men do, not just 77 cents for every dollar. Ed Markey supported the Lilly Ledbetter Act, and is a co-sponsor of the Paycheck Fairness Act. He will go to the Senate to fight for equal pay.
We need Ed because he will protect our communities from gun violence by expanding background checks, limiting magazine capacities and banning assault weapons. He will fight against the NRA and their influence.
We need Ed for our environment, to combat climate change and hold polluters accountable. He has worked to preserve the planet for our children and grandchildren, and to ensure we all have clean air and drinking water.
Supporting women means our mothers prosper, our families prosper, and our lives improve. Together, let’s stand up for women here in Massachusetts and across the country, and send Ed Markey to the US Senate to fight for all of us.
-Tabitha Bennett, Director, Women for Markey
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