As I reach the milestone of my 50th birthday, I would like to share with you my pregnancy story – and how my experience motivates me to fight for all people to have the right to live our lives with freedom and equal rights, with personal autonomy and self-determination.
My body, my life, my future.
For my husband and me, our son is the love of our lives. Our son is warm, kind, and perceptive. He loves playing video games, writing poems, and snuggles. When I’m having a hard day, he is the person in our family who will notice and ask, “Mommy, are you okay?” before giving me a big hug.
I do not take for granted that our son is in our lives. Before he was born, I struggled to get pregnant and miscarried several times. Gratefully, I was able to get the medical care that I needed, and chose, during my pregnancies and miscarriages. What many people don’t know is that some types of medical care for miscarriages are considered abortion care, and if you can't get this care, it can affect your ability to get pregnant in the future.
Even after getting pregnant with my son, my pregnancy journey continued to have hurdles. I was hospitalized at 27 weeks. The day I went to the emergency room, I remember my body and stomach feeling too tight and heavy. The contractions I was experiencing were strong and frequent, and the doctors were worried that my son may not survive if I went into labor that early. So, they had me stay in the labor and delivery unit for several days.
During the long days and nights in the hospital, I asked many "what if" questions. What if I delivered too early? What if my baby was in pain? What if something happened putting my life at risk or affecting my ability to get pregnant in the future?
There were no answers to these scary questions. However, one answer was clear to me: that these personal, intimate decisions about my body, my life, and my future were for me to make, with my loved ones and healthcare providers – not for politicians and the government. I understood the words, “My body, my choice,” in a deep, profound way.
Freedom & equality for all people.
It angers me that there are politicians in our country who want to take away the right to basic body and life autonomy from women and pregnant people, people who love partners of the same gender and wish to marry or have children with them, and transgender, non-binary, and intersex people who wish to live authentically as themselves, without suppressing or hiding who they are.
Anti-democracy syndicates, like the Heritage Foundation and their attack-dog politicians, are trying to force us into hierarchical, sexist, discriminatory boxes of what it is to be a woman, a man, or a person — even though few of us fit into their rigid, outdated, and unnatural categories. These regressive forces are coming after trans people now. They are coming after abortion and same-gender marriage too. They are also coming after our access to contraceptives, IVF, fair educational and work opportunities, and much more. In summary, they are trying to relegate women, pregnant people, and LGBTQ+ people to second-class status without the rights to freedom and equality.
During my life, I have made my own decisions about my body, life, and future: to go to college and then law school, to train and work as a lawyer and justice leader, to marry the person I love, to have a child with my spouse when we were ready, to choose the health care I needed, and much more.
On this 50th birthday, my wish is for all Oregonians — indeed, for all human beings on this earth — to have the freedom and equality that I have experienced.
Help us affirm freedom & equality for all in the Oregon Constitution.
The Equal Rights for All campaign is a ballot measure campaign. It asks Oregon voters to enshrine the rights to abortion and reproductive health care like IVF, transgender rights and related healthcare decisions, and sexual orientation rights and same-gender marriage into the Oregon Constitution.
At its core, this ballot measure is about affirming the right to personal autonomy and self-determination in our state constitution for all Oregonians. No one should be subject to discriminatory treatment by the government and politicians because of our sex.
We need your support to get this measure on the ballot and adopted by the majority of voters. Please support us in the following ways:
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Donate to our “Cheers to 50 Years, Honoring Sandy, Advancing Equal Rights” fundraiser & help us unlock a $50,000 match for the Equal Rights for All campaign.
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Sign up to volunteer for the campaign. Learn how to gather signatures from voters who are your friends & family or at rallies. Help with signature quality review & entry or recruit new volunteers!
Thank you for celebrating my 50th birthday with me by helping to advance freedom and equal rights for all Oregonians!
