Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice California Endorses Mia Bonta and Malia Vella in Special Election for California’s 18th Assembly District
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Contact: [email protected]
California — NARAL Pro-Choice California today announced its endorsement of Mia Bonta and Malia Vella in their bids to represent California’s 18 Assembly District in the June 29th special election. The vacancy comes following California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s resignation from the Assembly seat to accept his new position in March.
“Mia Bonta and Malia Vella are leaders in healthcare access and protections for pregnant people in California. Both intend to advance reproductive freedom for every body in the state—closing the gap in access to high-quality care for all,” said NARAL Pro-Choice California Director Shannon Olivieri Hovis. “NARAL Pro-Choice California is proud to endorse Bonta and Vella on behalf of our more than 295,000 members statewide. Bonta is steadfast in her commitment to opposing restrictions on reproductive freedom and eliminating healthcare inequities, which disproportionately affect people of color and residents with low incomes. Vella has worked tirelessly to reduce barriers to healthcare access for local families and advance protections for pregnant people in the state. Bonta and Vella are outstanding candidates who we enthusiastically support in their bids to represent the rights and values of residents in California’s 18th Assembly District.”
“Reproductive justice and women’s health care are personal to me. As a Black Latina, I am committed to fighting for reproductive rights and economic policies that lift up women from all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds,” said Mia Bonta. “I look forward to championing these issues in the California State Assembly and I’m proud to have NARAL’s support.”
“I am honored to have the endorsement of NARAL. I am a strong supporter of everyone’s right to reproductive freedom,” said Malia Vella. “With abortion rights under attack across the country, I will work with NARAL and women in California to ensure legal access to abortion. No one should dictate to a woman if or when or how to have a child.”
Mia Bonta is a champion for economic opportunity in the East Bay as CEO of Oakland Promise and president of the Alameda Unified School District School Board. She is committed to increasing access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion care, as a core component of economic self-determination for pregnant people, particularly for women with low incomes in communities of color.
As the Vice Mayor of Alameda and a member of the Board of Alameda Family Services, Malia Vella fought for no-cost and confidential medical care in local high schools. As the first pregnant member of the Alameda City Council and a worker’s rights attorney, Vella brings the rights and needs of pregnant people and their families to the forefront of policy.
NARAL Pro-Choice California has more than 295,000 members across the state and action councils located in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, the Antelope Valley, and the Bay Area. NARAL’s 2020 electoral program in California protected critical seats flipped in 2018 and helped safeguard the nation’s first-ever U.S. House majority in support of reproductive freedom.
Although California is a leader in reproductive freedom and healthcare innovation, 40% of its counties do not have an abortion provider and nine counties do not have a single OB-GYN. These barriers to access disproportionately harm Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with low incomes, and rural communities.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates and chapters have fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom—including access to abortion, contraception, and paid family leave—for every body. NARAL is powered by its more than 2.5 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 7 in 10 Americans who believe every person should have the freedom to make the best decision for themselves about if, when, and how to raise a family.