Press Release
NARAL Pro-Choice America Endorses Alex Padilla for Reelection to the U.S. Senate
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Contact: [email protected]
Sen. Padilla earns endorsement of nation’s leading reproductive freedom advocacy group
Washington, DC — Today, NARAL Pro-Choice America announced its endorsement of Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) for election to his first full term in the U.S. Senate. Sen. Padilla became the first Latino senator from California when he was appointed to the Senate by Governor Gavin Newsom in January 2021 to fill the vacancy left by Vice President Kamala Harris.
NARAL Pro-Choice America President Mini Timmaraju released the following statement:
“NARAL was proud to support Senator Padilla in 2018 in his successful election to become California’s secretary of state, and we welcomed his appointment to the U.S Senate last year. Sen. Padilla has built a reputation fighting against restrictions on abortion access, and we look forward to continuing to work with him as he stands up for reproductive freedom in the Senate. With the Supreme Court’s anti-choice supermajority poised to potentially end Roe v. Wade this year, we must elect champions like Sen. Padilla, who will protect and expand abortion access and fight in the Senate to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act.”
Sen. Padilla released the following statement:
“I’m proud to have NARAL’s endorsement, and I’m looking forward to working with NARAL to protect the reproductive freedoms of millions of women in this country, including by fighting to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law. As we watch reproductive rights come under attack across the country, I will not waver in fighting to uphold the right to choose in the Senate.”
Sen. Padilla has repeatedly taken bold action to protect and advance reproductive freedom, including access to abortion, earning a 100% on NARAL’s 2021 Congressional Record on Reproductive Freedom. Last year, Sen. Padilla was an original cosponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would protect the right to abortion nationally by creating a right for healthcare providers to provide abortion care and a corresponding right for people to receive that care, free from medically unnecessary restrictions. Sen. Padilla also signed onto an amicus brief opposing Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that directly challenges Roe v. Wade.
He is an original cosponsor of the EACH Act, which guarantees coverage for abortion care without restrictions based on a person’s income, location, or insurance provider, and opposed a bill to advance the anti-choice Hyde Amendment. Sen. Padilla opposed resolutions that permitted a 20-week ban on abortion as well as a ban based on the reason a person seeks abortion care. He has also taken positive votes on a number of judicial and executive nominations.
As California’s secretary of state, Padilla brought automatic and same-day voter registration, expanded vote-by-mail, and more early vote centers to the state, leading to record voter registration and participation in California.
California is home to more than a quarter of the nation’s healthcare facilities that provide abortion care. If Roe falls, California will have an outsized role in helping pregnant people from all across the country access the abortion care they need.
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For over 50 years, NARAL Pro-Choice America has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, 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 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.