Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Celebrates as Pennsylvania State House Flips from Red to Blue
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 9, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Harrisburg, PA — Yesterday, Pennsylvania voters flipped the Pennsylvania state house from red to blue, marking a huge win for reproductive freedom in Pennsylvania. Anti-choice legislators in the state have been intent on restricting reproductive freedom and limiting access to abortion.
In response to this victory, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“Pennsylvanians are making a habit of shocking the world—this time by flipping their GOP-majority state house to a Democratic majority. The midterm headwinds and challenges had nothing on this group of motivated, dedicated candidates who made sure voters knew who was on their side when it comes to protecting their fundamental freedoms. Congratulations to this incoming class of lawmakers—and a special congrats to the incoming Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton, a friend of NARAL and a true champion for reproductive freedom.”
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization—ending the constitutional right to abortion and opening the door for extremist state lawmakers to put total bans on abortion in place. This decision is already having a devastating impact throughout the country as 15 states are enforcing extreme or total bans on abortion. The people hurt most by these bans and restrictions are those who already face barriers to accessing abortion care—including women; Black, Latina/x, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous people; those working to make ends meet; the LGBTQ+ community; immigrants; young people; those living in rural communities; people with disabilities, and other historically oppressed communities.
Knowing that securing Pennsylvania’s state house would be a massive step toward protecting reproductive freedom in the state, NARAL endorsed a slate of state legislative candidates in Pennsylvania as part of its largest-ever midterm electoral program to elect candidates up and down the ballot during this critical moment in the fight for reproductive freedom. The program focuses on deep field investments in phone banking, door knocking, youth organizing, and canvassing, along with a robust communications campaign to support endorsed candidates and ballot initiatives in Pennsylvania, Georgia, California, Michigan, Arizona, and Nevada. Read more about NARAL’s endorsed candidates here.
NARAL’s work in Pennsylvania included:
- Knocking on over 120,000 doors, sending over 149,000 texts and making over 132,000 calls;
- Running a robust canvass operation and holding daily canvasses for over two months, and
- Hosting 60 candidate events with local reproductive freedom champions.
Key components of our midterm campaign included:
- Harnessing the full power of our 4 million members to mobilize their communities through traditional organizing tactics. In total, we knocked on over 330,000 doors, made nearly 707,000 calls, sent over 868,000 texts, and filled over 4,860 volunteer shifts.
- Continuing to broaden the impact of our cutting-edge research into voter sentiment on abortion, including our pioneering freedom-centered messaging, by training candidates, volunteers, and activists to speak to their communities in ways we know align with their values and move them to act on their beliefs.
- Rolling out a pilot program in Michigan with 14 organizers working on seven four-year college campuses and over 20 community college campuses to enroll voters and activate over 721 volunteers.
- Endorsing candidates in over 200 races nationwide for federal and state offices.
- NARAL, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and EMILY’s List announced a partnership in May to collectively spend a historic $150 million on the 2022 midterms to elect reproductive freedom champions up and down the ballot across the country.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.