Dear Friend,
Today marks what would have been the 50th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
In this moment of incredible loss, we must remind ourselves that Roe was never the ceiling, it was the floor. And it is our duty to center communities that were always left out, fight like hell against all new abortion bans in Florida and re-imagine a world where access to reproductive health is a reality for all.
Some folks already know this, but before I ran for public office I served as a Senior Director at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida. And before I worked at Planned Parenthood, I was a patient and volunteer.
I would not be who I am today, or where I am today, if it was not for my ability to access reproductive health.
And yet, for far too many Americans and Floridians that access to care is gone. Indeed, our mothers and grandmothers will have more rights than our daughters will.
That’s a trajectory that we can change, but only with a consistent persistence for something greater than ourselves.
This weekend, thousands of us rallied and marched for reproductive freedom. Vice President Kamala Harris came to Florida to give remarks, and in Orlando we hit the streets hundreds strong.
So how will you join us in action? How will you show up not just for abortion rights, but for all of our collective freedoms?
Can you make a commitment to come to Tallahassee during legislative session, volunteer at a health center, donate to an abortion fund or help with voter registration? These are just some of the ways we can get you plugged in at Team Anna.
This spring, we expect the GOP supermajority in the Florida Legislature to push for an even more extreme abortion ban. Stopping such a bill under the DeSantis Administration will be difficult, but to quote the new Star Wars series, Andor: “I’d rather die taking them down than die giving them what they want.”
Today we mourn what we’ve lost — while dreaming big for the future.
Onward,
Rep. Anna V. Eskamani