NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Mobilizes Voters to Help Win a Pro-Choice House
Synopsis:Pre-Primary release outlining work NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and its members are doing for the General Election.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2004
NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Targets Key
State Legislative Races;
Mobilizes Voters to Help Win a Pro-Choice House
Boston, MA – On the eve of the November 2nd election, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, the state’s leading advocate for women’s rights to privacy and reproductive choice, will contact hundreds of voters in target districts and get them out to vote in a drive to win a first-ever pro-choice majority in the State House with a net gain of five pro-choice seats.
“With so much at stake for choice in the Presidential contest, we’re working to educate Massachusetts voters that their state legislators also have tremendous latitude to restrict or protect reproductive freedom,” said Melissa Kogut, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. “We’re contacting voters in close races across the state and educating them about the candidates’ positions on choice. A pro-choice majority would make a real difference for women’s reproductive health in the Commonwealth,” Kogut added.
NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts has mobilized numerous volunteers to work directly on the campaigns of pro-choice incumbents including Rep. Matthew Patrick. Hundreds of phone calls have also been generated to identify pro-choice voters in this district. In the next 24-hours, identified supporters across the state will be contacted by phone and e-mail with a pro-choice message and encouraged to get out to the polls.
NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts has also spent resources in support of Rep. Karen Spilka who is running for the 2nd Middlesex & Norfolk State Senate district. Rep. Spilka has been a powerful advocate for reproductive freedom and faces James Coffey of Hopkinton who has not taken a public position a woman’s right to choose.
In October, the 2004 NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Pro-Choice Voter’s Guide, containing choice ratings and endorsements in the Commonwealth’s 200 state legislative races, was sent via postal and electronic mail to nearly 20,000 pro-choice supporters across the state. The guide can be viewed online at www.ProChoiceMassVotes.org.
The NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts Political Action Committee invited state legislative candidates to complete questionnaires gauging positions on a range of issues including access to Emergency Contraception (EC) to restrictions on accessible abortion services. The PAC issued endorsements and candidate ratings based upon these questionnaires or voting histories on past choice issues including the Contraceptives Coverage Bill (2002) and the Buffer Zone Bill (2000).
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