For 50 years, women and families were able to control their own private medical decisions. I grew up knowing my grandmothers had fought for their reproductive freedom and because of them, and women like them, I would have that freedom for the rest of my life. I am now 21, preparing to vote in my first presidential election in Mansfield, Conn., having watched Donald Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court upend that fundamental freedom.
Since then, states have come up with a patchwork of 22+ Trump abortion bans resulting in widespread chaos, suffering, and death, including two women in Georgia who died preventable deaths because they could not get the care they needed. As I watch the aftermath of this terrible decision wreak havoc on our country, I am compelled to reach out to my community and urge you all to remember that your rights are on the ballot. While the presidential election remains a contentious and important race, my focus has always been on our local elections. Our direct representatives are the ones who make change in our communities, and have the power to restore and protect fundamental freedoms.
In 1990, Courtney voted in the General Assembly to codify reproductive freedom into our state law. While many of us expect that to remain the law of the land in Connecticut, the court left the door open for Congress to pass a nationwide ban which would supersede our state laws. I know that Courtney will continue to protect my rights and bodily autonomy. But his opponent, Mike France, publicly declared on statewide television that, if elected to Congress, he would vote for a national abortion ban. And if he can’t squash our reproductive freedom at the federal level, he wants the state legislature to repeal the state abortion rights Joe helped enshrine. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his record against women. He voted against a 2022 law (HR 5415) that protects out-of-state women from prosecution for getting an abortion. In 2018, France voted against ensuring women can get access to birth control without a copay. In 2016, France voted against a nearly unanimous bipartisan bill to improve affordable access to mammograms. And the list goes on.
France’s words have made it clear: he will vote to upend reproductive freedom from every angle. And, if you don’t believe his words, just look at his track record. France does not support women’s health or safety. Joe Courtney does. Where France’s track record fails, Joe’s succeeds. Joe is an open, compassionate, and rational man who understands that every American deserves the freedom to control their own body.
When it comes to reproductive health care, your vote for Congress matters and there’s only one person in the race for Connecticut’s second district that can be trusted to support women’s health and safety. That’s Joe Courtney.
Lorien Touponse, Mansfield
Editor’s note: We will not run political letters for the Nov. 5 election after Oct. 30, 2024.
