What do women 51 years and younger who live in Flint have in common? They've never had an opportunity to vote for a Pro-Choice democratic candidate. I'm not talking about in the general election, I'm talking about in the primary.
It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that the democratic party, national reproductive rights groups and women's organizations are not up in arms. For three and half decades women here have just been told to sit in the corner.
Women here have been given one name to vote for over and over and over again. Our Congressman is a 34 year incumbent. This means that for almost as long as the Roe v. Wade decision, women here could not stand-up for their rights. Now, you may say, they could have bonded together and put another candidate in the race.
Unfortunately, that's not as easy as it sounds. You see when I generated enough support to get on the ballot, the party quickly tried to get me to drop out to protect the Anti-Choice incumbent. I fought back and said no.
But that's not what upsets me. The national organizations that raise huge amounts of money from women across the country to fight for reproductive rights are all hiding. They rushed to help a candidate in northern Michigan raise funds to push Bart Stupak out of the race. Then at the last minute, she, the only Pro-Choice candidate in that race, dropped out just before the filing deadline.
I understand she was a token candidate to push Stupak out. I get it. But now the tens of thousands of dollars used to push him out actually helped elect an Anti-Choice candidate. How you may ask? When the Pro-Choice candidate dropped out, she opened the door for another Anti-Choice democrat to win that seat.
It's disheartening when progressive groups and women's reproductive groups promise to fight for Pro-Choice candidates, but don't. When they use their promises to raise millions of dollars, but then don't carry through with their promises of supporting those candidates.
Women here and across the country deserve better. They deserve the right to vote for Pro-Choice candidates. They deserve to know the money they donate are going to candidates that really are going to run. They deserve to have the support of the national organizations that claim to fight for them and not just cash their checks.
I need your help to fight for women's reproductive rights here in Michigan. If you support women's rights and the right for women to have the opportunity to vote for a Pro-Choice candidate, please consider donating to my campaign.
Thank you.
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