Yesterday’s election was one that has left many of us in a tailspin, grappling with the election of Donald Trump and the defeat of Kamala Harris – and for some, it is a painful time travel back to 2016 and the loss of Hillary Clinton.

Whereas we do not know exactly what a second Trump term will bring, we do know it won’t be good for the people and issues we care about. The loss of the US Senate compounds the challenges. The Republican-controlled Senate will most likely be nothing more than a rubber stamp for all of Trump’s appointments.

As of this morning, control of the House of Representatives has not been determined.

Looking a little bit more in depth:

Thanks to the many of you who responded to Choice Matters’ cry for help to pass NYS Prop 1 – the Equal Rights Amendment. Despite a very rocky start by allies, and millions of dollars spent by NYS Republican Committee on inflammatory dis-information, WE PREVAILED. You joined us at farmers markets, train stations, Early Voting sites, and Election Day polls, educating thousands of voters who had never heard of NYS Prop 1, AND WE WON. The NYS Constitution will now be amended to include abortion rights and the protected classes that are in the NYS Human Rights Law. This victory should not be taken lightly, especially given the national stage and the prospect of a vicious battle already being launched for the office of NYS Governor by newly re-elected anti-choice extremist Mike Lawler.

Around the country, there were significant victories and devasting losses. Seven states, including New York, voted to protect abortion, while Florida’s ballot measure failed – a loss strategically maneuvered by requiring that the measure pass by 60% rather than 50%+. South Dakota’s measure also failed. Nebraska passed an anti-abortion amendment.

New York State redeemed itself…kind of.

In 2022, New York lost 5 Democratically-held seats in Congress. This loss was the reason why Democrats lost control of the House.

Yesterday, Democrats appear to have won back 4 of those seats and picked up another.

Albany.

Whereas seats in both the Senate and Assembly were lost, Choice Matters’ pro-choice-rated WCLA PAC- endorsed candidates won election.

There is still a pro-choice majority in each House.

In Summary:

Over the coming days, we will all hear many expressions – including “it is always darkest before the dawn.” None of them will be helpful.

But know this: If you don’t get “back up again” they will definitely win.

When you are ready to take action, Choice Matters is here; and, with your energy and support, we are in the driver’s seat.

We will resist and persist. We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.

 Remember:
 “It’s not how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” Rocky 2006

NYS Assembly District 92
(Mount Pleasant, northern Yonkers, most of Greenburgh)

Two candidates – Tom Abinanti and MaryJane Shimsky – are running for election to the Assembly. Abinanti is seeking to reclaim his seat, lost to Shimsky two years ago.

Both candidates are rated 100% Pro-Choice by Choice Matters.

Tom Abinanti has played a unique role in our pro-choice history.

Abinanti served on the WCLA – Choice Matters Board and as our pro bono attorney for 12 years. He provided his time and legal counsel without hesitation. His counsel helped this organization become the powerhouse it is today.

Among his many pro-choice actions and votes, Abinanti was an original sponsor of Westchester’s Safe Clinic Access Bill while serving as County Legislator. Abinanti also co-sponsored and voted for the Reproductive Health Act and the NYS Equal Rights Amendment.

MaryJane Shimsky, while serving as County Legislator, co-sponsored the Westchester Reproductive Health Care Facilities Act, the only bill of its kind in the nation. County Executive Latimer signed it into law on June 27, 2022. Shimsky is a member of the NYS Bipartisan Pro-Choice Legislative Caucus.

Rape Is Rape Act
Both Abinanti and Shimsky are supporters of the legislation Rape Is Rape Act that became law.

As an ardent careful legislator, Abinanti worked to make necessary changes to the original versions of the bill. Governor Hochul required many of those changes to be incorporated before signing the bill. Shimsky voted for the bill in its final form.

The Focus of this 2024 Primary is NOT Abortion Rights
 But it is just about as local as local gets.

This Primary revolves completely around legislation allowing Greenburgh’s wealthy enclave of Edgemont to incorporate (allowing portions of a town to become a village) at the expense of the rest of unincorporated Greenburgh. (Impact studies.)

The new law, sponsored by Shimsky, Assembly Bill A7761(2023), allows Edgemont to form its own village, which could result in skyrocketing property taxes and far fewer services for the rest of those in unincorporated Greenburgh. Abinanti is an outspoken opponent of this legislation.

The original incorporation legislation has its roots in Jim Crow.

Incorporation in NYS law was adopted to keep villages white, only allowing residents of the designated “village” area to vote. Still today, despite the impact on the rest of unincorporated Greenburgh residents, only Edgemont residents will be permitted to vote on incorporation.

Disclosure: Several members of the Choice Matters’ board, past and present, live in unincorporated Greenburgh.

ATT: Possible WFP IMPOSTER in PRIMARY!

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY PRIMARY
JUNE 25
EARLY VOTING JUNE 15 – 23

NYS Congressional District (CD) 17  

🔥 Mondaire is a Pro-Choice ally.

🔥 His Opponent is Anti-Choice, and may also be a WFP imposter.

The Back Story:
The Working Families Party (WFP) has its primary election on June 25.

Mondaire Jones, the endorsed WFP candidate, is being challenged by Anti-Choice Anthony Frascone from Rockland.

It is rumored that Anti-Choice Frascone is being “encouraged” to run by anti-abortion zealot, incumbent MAGA Republican Mike Lawler.
Republicans have attempted to highjack the Working Families Party before – much like what Rob Astorino’s gang did in 2014 to the Independence Party.

Last year, WFP candidates were targeted by imposters in Monroe County; and in Yonkers in 2021.

Now, it appears, to be happening to the WFP in CD 17.

If Mondaire doesn’t win, he will only be on one party line in November, while MAGA extremist Lawler will be on two – the Republican and Conservative lines – thus potentially enabling Lawler to pick up more votes than Mondaire.

Don’t let these imposters win on June 25. It could adversely impact the General Election in November and keep Republicans in charge of the House.

Mondaire Jones is the real deal. He is the WFP endorsed candidate!

All WFP voters in CD 17 must come out and VOTE FOR MONDAIRE JONES ON JUNE 25!

Paid for by ProChoice Voter. This is not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

There are three candidates running for the office of Westchester County District Attorney in the Democratic Primary. Choice Matters interviewed each of them in depth and reviewed their individual questionnaires.

Choice Matters has rated two of the candidates — William Wagstaff and Susan Cacace — 100% PRO-CHOICE. Choice Matters has rated the third candidate, Adeel Mirza, — ANTI-CHOICE.

Whereas Wagstaff and Cacace present different visions for the office they are seeking, seeing their responsibilities and the people they would represent differently, there is no question that both candidates grasp the dramatic role the District Attorney’s office will be called upon to play in this horrific time of every-increasing violence against providers, staff, patients and reproductive healthcare facilities.

The same cannot be said of Adeel Mirza who has demonstrated a callous indifference to, and serious lack of knowledge of federal, state and County legislation pertaining to the right to access comprehensive reproductive health care in New York and the securing of safe access. Further, Mirza has stated unequivocally that he would hire and appoint anti-choice assistant district attorneys (ADA) who could serve as prosecutors in clinic invasion cases, claiming they would be equally able to apply the law.

This level of ignorance is dangerous. Across the country we have witnessed DAs and ADAs enforcing laws as they saw fit, winning and losing cases based on their own personal biases.

Candidates running for office, particularly on the Democratic line, have learned the power of claiming to be pro-choice. But simply saying so does not make it true. Look at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  — or Jeannine Pirro or Virginia Perez or Robert Castelli, to name a few. All claimed to be pro-choice until they didn’t. Mirza is no different. His false claim plays a prominent role in his literature. While we may never know whether the sexual assault charges against him were true because he has chosen to settle them just a few days ago, we do know that he is definitely not pro-choice.

Please remember, just as you can’t be a little bit pregnant, you can’t be a little pro-choice.

In this Democratic Primary, please vote for either William Wagstaff or Susan Cacace. Take the time to learn their positions on the responsibilities of the Westchester County District Attorney’s office.

WCLA PAC is not endorsing in this race because neither of the candidates rated 100% Pro-Choice has a record of pro-choice accomplishments, yet.

Across the country we’ve witnessed single voices sharing their stories – standing up, alone, and speaking out. Betting that their individual voices, a simple droplet, will become part of a river flowing into the ocean igniting a tidal wave, then a national repro tsunami.

Here in Westchester we had our own single voice.

On March 7^th, the night of the State of the Union speech, one woman – 37 weeks pregnant – traveled to DC to stand along side the US Senate Majority leader, NYS Senator Chuck Schumer, to show the world what determination looks like. Kate Farley – a pro-abortion rights, second-time IVF success story –  told the world of her very personal and private struggle with holding a pregnancy.

Despite years of heartbreaking loss, just days before she was due, Kate ventured to Washington to share her story, to add her voice, in this very unjust war against women and comprehensive reproductive health care.

This is what courage looks like.

Kate concluded her detailed explanation of why in vitro fertilization was her only path to a successful pregnancy with the statement, “An embryo is not a baby.”

Not all of us have a story we are able to share, or a vehicle upon which to make it public.  And for many of us, we’d rather leave the past behind.

But, hopefully, all of us are inspired to take action.

There are 2 critical vehicles we each have available to take action, to make change at this moment in history: DONATE and VOTE.

NOT voting is NOT an option. Without your vote, we will definitely lose. Comprehensive reproductive health care will be gone. This week Florida joined the states with a six-week abortion ban. Doctors will go to jail, and women are being prosecuted for miscarriages. Republicans speak of passing a national abortion ban in the next Congress. SO NOT voting is NOT an option.

Donating is the second critical vehicle. Without your financial support we cannot reach new pro-choice registrants or mobilize our base. We need you to make a contribution. Can we count on you? Without you, we will lose.

The New York Equal Rights Amendment will be on the ballot this November! After passing in the NYS legislature in 2022 and 2023, it will go to NY voters on November 5, 2024. This comes at a critical time in US history when state legislatures across the country are passing draconian abortion bans and attacking contraception.

“The New York State Equal Rights Amendment is an amendment to New York’s State Constitution that adds explicit protections for people who experience discrimination. At a moment in time when we are seeing state governments and courts walk rights backwards, this proposal embeds explicit protections within our state constitution.

Adding to existing enumerated protections against discrimination based on race and religion, this amendment would explicitly prohibit discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex—including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

This Amendment ensures that New York’s founding document and our strongest legal protections extend to all New Yorkers the right to be free from discrimination, particularly those who have faced severe and pervasive injustice.” New Yorkers for Equal Rights

Across the US states, abortion is on the ballot. It looks like as many as 13 states may have constitutional amendments intended to enshrine abortion rights in individual state constitutions.  The processes are lengthy and arduous, and vary from state-to-state. In many states voters must collect a sizable number of signatures. In New York, a proposed amendment must pass in two different legislative sessions.

Tuesday, March 26th, US Supreme Court to hear oral arguments to limit or ban the abortion pill mifepristone

“The same U.S. Supreme Court that overturned the constitutional right to an abortion will hear oral arguments Tuesday over access to mifepristone, a pharmaceutical used in both medication abortion and miscarriage care.

The nine justices will then decide whether to leave access to the drug intact or require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revert prescribing instructions to what were in place before 2016.

The court decision will affect the entire country, including states that have sought to shore up access to reproductive rights following the Dobbs ruling less than two years ago.

The Supreme Court opinion, likely not to come until late spring, will land in the middle of a presidential campaign in which Democrats are elevating the question of reproductive rights. The debate is also likely to affect GOP efforts to grow their majority in the U.S. House and flip the Senate red….” Click here to read the NC Newsline story by Jennifer Shutt.

The real issue is that while the legality of mifepristone may not be at risk, access and availability of the medication most definitely are. The Court could turn the clock back to 2000 approval levels, 2016, pre-pandemic or pre-telemedicine – making it impossible for many to get abortion care.

“Reinstating an in-person requirement could substantially curtail access to abortion in the post-Roe v. Wade landscape. With abortion almost completely illegal in 14 states and banned after six weeks in two more, people seeking to terminate pregnancies are now far more likely to rely on telemedicine….” Click here to read the 19th News story by Shefali Luthra

This case is also about the Comstock Act which was passed by Congress in 1873. The religious zealots cited the Comstock Law in their Texas lawsuit because the Comstock Law makes it illegal to use the mail for transporting any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious book, pamphlet, picture, paper, print, or other publication of an indecent character, or any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion.” Click here to read more, story by Grace Haley.

SCOTUS could decide to uphold the Comstock Act, thereby making the distribution of mediation abortion by mail illegal. 

Mifepristone is one of two pills in mediation abortion used to end a pregnancy.

Mifepristone is safe. “[Mifepristone] has been used for over 20 years by over five million people with the capacity to become pregnant,” said Ushma Upadhyay, an associate professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the University of California, San Francisco. “Its safety is very well established.”

https://www.cnn.com/health/abortion-pill-safety-dg/index.html

Is Mifepristone effective? “The researchers found that the medication was effective – it ended the pregnancy without any additional follow-up care for 97.7% of patients.” Read more here.

“Mifepristone was approved by the FDA over two decades ago, in September 2000 for medical termination of pregnancy through seven weeks gestation and this was extended to ten weeks gestation in 2016. FDA approved a generic version of Mifeprex, Mifepristone Tablets, 200 mg, in April 2019.” Read more here

In France, the message  to all women is:
“your body belongs to you and no one can decide for you.”
In the USA, the message to women is: “you are chattel.”

>> IT IS POSSIBLE >>
AND FRANCE HAS DONE IT!!

💥 ⭐️ France became the first country in the world to enshrine abortion in its constitution! ⭐️ 💥

On Monday, In a joint session of Parliament, french lawmakers voted 780 to 72, to amend the constitution to specify a woman’s right to an abortion is guaranteed. Following the vote, nearly the entire joint legislature stood in a standing ovation.

This action was taken in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Abortion has been legal in France since 1974 but many felt it needed to be better protected.

Here in the United States, the stakes couldn’t be higher, and that’s why we’re fighting so hard: our most basic freedoms are on the line.

In the USA, our bodily autonomy is being controlled by ol’fashion religious fanaticism. That fire and brimstone mindset is dictating US policy, practices and law. Look at the US Supreme Court —the mifepristone federal court judge, the Alabama fetal personhood anti-IVF Supreme Court — ALL the judges appointed by Trump and many by Bush I and II.

TAKE ACTION!
We must pass national legislation protecting abortion rights. BUT we will only be able to do so if we elect pro-choice voices to every level of government to protect our rights against the religious fanaticism!

This election – 2024 – we must elect a pro-choice Trifecta (House, Senate and White House) in November. But we can only do so with your help.