NARAL Members Were Early Supporters of Pro-Choice Candidates Up and Down the Ballot
For Immediate Release: August 8, 2018
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In a victory for Michigan women and families, NARAL Pro-Choice America congratulated pro-choice candidates up and down the ballot for winning their primaries. From Democratic incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow, to Gretchen Driskell and Elissa Slotkin running in Michigan’s 7th and 8th Congressional Districts, respectively, it’s clear that fighting for a woman’s right to choose in Michigan is a winning issue.
“Michigan is a state where anti-choice laws dating back to the 1800s are still on the books. We need leaders like Stabenow, Driskell, and Slotkin to ensure Michigan women and families have strong voices representing them at all levels of government,” said NARAL Pro-Choice America Political Director Nicole Brener-Schmitz. “We are proud to stand with these pro-choice champions and we look forward to ensuring that they win on November 6th.”
Senator Stabenow was one of the first two women in U.S. history to defeat sitting senators in the general election and is a well-known advocate for women. She has been an outspoken leader on improving reproductive healthcare and paid family leave programs and has led the fight to increase health programs of female veterans. For almost 20 years, Senator Stabenow has fought against the Republican’s dangerous women’s health agenda.
Gretchen Driskell was the first female mayor of Saline, Michigan. In 2012, she was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives, where she has been a passionate voice for reproductive freedom. In her time in the Michigan House of Representatives, Driskell has sponsored a bill to educate women on emergency contraceptives and sponsored another bill to reverse a law that would require women to purchase extra insurance to cover an abortion.
Elissa Slotkin has expertise in national security, intelligence, and national defense, serving as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs under the Obama Administration. She is a third-generation Michigander who spent her early life on a farm in Holly, Michigan. Her great-grandfather arrived on Ellis Island and eventually founded the family meat business Hygrade Foods (inventor of Ballpark Franks), establishing its Detroit headquarters in 1949.
NARAL’s political program for the 2018 general election is the organization’s largest ever midterm political program to advance candidates fighting for “our values, our future, our vote.” NARAL is investing in diverse candidates up and down the ballot in 19 states, mobilizing members and voters through mail, phones, digital ads, door to door canvassing, TV ads, and rallies that hold anti-choice candidates accountable and lift up pro-choice champions. To read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates, click here.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”