Portsmouth, N.H. — At a rally for reproductive freedom this evening in Portsmouth’s Market Square, Senator Maggie Hassan delivered powerful remarks making clear that she will defend a woman’s fundamental freedom in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe, and fight Mitch McConnell and anti-choice extremists’ effort to ban abortion nationwide.
Key Excerpts:
On the Midterm Elections and Fighting Against Mitch McConnell’s Push for a National Abortion Ban
“Today’s decision is a reminder that reproductive rights and the full freedom and inclusion of women are on the ballot in November. That’s what we know is at stake. Because we have the power to organize and mobilize and vote. And it’s really clear that not only do we need to do that to protect Granite Staters and women from worse things happening, but we have to be very cleareyed here because our opponents, Mitch McConnell, and his allies in Washington, Mike Pence, today made clear that they see this decision as paving the way to a national abortion ban. Are we going to let that happen? No!”
On Her Opponents’ Long Anti-Choice Records
“My opponents in the Senate race would join Mitch McConnell and vote to ban abortion nationwide. How do we know that? Because some of them have already been taking extreme actions in Concord to limit a woman’s freedom. Here in New Hampshire, in one of the most pro-choice states in the country, extremists in Concord are pulling back, pulling women back, and saying that the government and politicians can substitute their judgment for ours. That is unacceptable.”
On Standing Up For a Woman’s Fundamental Freedom
“As devastating as today is, as hard as today is, let’s all dig down and find what motivates us, which is our understanding that in the Live Free or Die State we believe everybody is free — and that includes women. So get through the day, talk to each other, support each other, reach out to each other, find out who is running for office who supports a woman’s right to make her own decisions and go out and vote for them.”
On Not Going Backwards — and Fighting for Freedom
“When I was born in 1958, there weren’t any women governors in the United States of America. But I became the second woman in the history of the United States to be elected both governor and a senator. My grandmother, Margaret got the right to vote, my mother Margaret saw women get to make their own reproductive decisions and saw her daughter become a Governor. My question is, what’s the future for my daughter, Margaret? The fourth Margaret?
“We can’t go backwards. We can’t let this decision, which is leaving my daughter today with fewer rights than I had, be the final say on a woman’s freedom. That’s not the trajectory of the United States, it’s not the trajectory of the Granite State. We move forward, we expand freedoms because we know that when everybody is included as a full and equal citizen in the United States of America, we get stronger, we get better, and we lead.”
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