Press Release California
Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice California Endorses Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager in Special Election for California’s 30th State Senate District
For Immediate Release: Friday, February 19, 2021
Long-time champion for reproductive freedom and and candidate for California state Senate earns endorsement from California’s leading pro-choice advocacy group
California — NARAL Pro-Choice California today announced its endorsement of Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager in her bid to represent California’s 30th Senate District in the March 2 special election. Asm. Kamlager currently represents California’s 54th Assembly District and is seeking to fill the seat vacated by Sen. Holly Mitchell, who she previously served as district director.
“NARAL Pro-Choice California is proud to endorse Assemblymember Kamlager, a true champion for reproductive freedom,” said NARAL Pro-Choice California Director Shannon Olivieri Hovis. “As the pandemic exposes the glaring inequities in our healthcare system, now more than ever it’s critical we have leaders like Asm. Kamalger in the state Senate. Asm. Kamlager has dedicated her career to fighting tirelessly on behalf of California women and families—particularly people of color—and there is no better candidate to honor Sen. Mitchell’s legacy of defending our most fundamental freedoms.”
“Low-cost, unrestricted access to abortion care and birth control is central to protecting and improving futures for women,” said Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager. “I stand, arms locked, with NARAL in the fight to put an end, once and for all, to the perilous anti-choice lawmaking and disinformation that are on the rise. Together, we also battle healthcare disparities that result in the shameful spike in Black maternal mortality. Black women deserve better. And we refuse to be silent.”
Asm. Kamlager is a dedicated public servant and fierce advocate for sexual and reproductive healthcare. In addition to being a member of the State Assembly’s Select Committee on Women’s Reproductive Health, Asm. Kamlager also serves on the board of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles.
As Assemblymember, Kamlager previously introduced NARAL-sponsored legislation to expand abortion access by eliminating cost-sharing for abortion care. Though the bill did not advance due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Asm. Kamlager has signed on as a principal coauthor of SB 245, a bill to advance this same effort this year. She was appointed to serve on the Los Angeles County Commission on Children and Families, and was elected as a member of the L.A. Community College Board before successfully running for State Assembly in 2018.
NARAL Pro-Choice California has more than 295,000 members across the state and action councils located in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, the Antelope Valley, and the Bay Area. The organization’s 2020 electoral program in California protected critical seats flipped in 2018, and contributed to safeguarding the nation’s first-ever Congressional majority in support of reproductive freedom.
Although California is a leader on reproductive freedom and healthcare innovation, 40% of counties do not have an abortion provider and nine counties do not have a single OB-GYN, barriers which disproportionately harm BIPOC, low-income, and rural communities.