Did you know that four out of the five PA House races in which Democrats have a good chance to flip the seat from red to blue are women endorsed by Represent PA? This points to our success in helping more progressive, Democratic women run successful campaigns. It also feels indicative of something far greater – a global shift.
It goes beyond the candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris and the other dynamic women we can vote for in this election. And it’s not just about what’s been happening to women in America – the repeal of Roe v. Wade, the whittling away of reproductive rights in the states run by Republicans, the never-ending litany of misogynistic pronouncements from Trump and his MAGA cronies. In this election, women’s rights are in the crosshairs of powerful men who are threatened by the progress of women.
Indeed, the backlash to women’s progress is being felt around the world. Here are some examples from Human Rights Watch:
- In Afghanistan, the Taliban restricts women and girls from attending secondary schools and universities, working in many jobs and even moving freely outside of their homes.
- The China government has imposed strict censorship policies that include banning feminist terms and content they see as “harmful speech” and “inciting conflict between the genders.”
- In Poland, the government has actively targeted women’s rights activists and organizations, smearing them and punishing them for their activism.
- In Pakistan, the Pakistani Taliban threatens women’s rights activists, demanding they be prosecuted for blasphemy.
Just add “the Trump administration” to this list and you get a similar anti-women agenda! Aside from stacking the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the Trump administration issued dozens of regulations and agency rules that chipped away at women’s health, employment, economic security and rights overall. Here’s a short list:
- HHS expanded religious and moral exemptions for employers, universities and insurers that are opposed to providing contraceptive coverage, thereby undermining the contraceptive benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA); in July 2020, after two years of legal challenges, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that the rules could remain in effect.
- EEOC halted the collection of pay data, a crucial tool used in the past to identify pay disparities in companies with 100 or more employees – disparities that often affect women and particularly women of color.
- U.S. Department of Education dramatically changed Title IX enforcement, narrowing the definition of sexual harassment and allowing educational institutions to require a greater burden of proof when investigating cases.
That’s what Trump did in his last time in office. All we need to do is read a summary of Project 2025, the 922–page blueprint assembled by the Heritage Foundation with input from at least 140 former Trump administration officials (link here), to know what he’ll do to women if he’s given another chance.
Unfortunately, the MAGA movement is still alive and well in the Pennsylvania Legislature and these legislators are just as threatened by women’s progress as their federal brethren. Given a chance, they most certainly will abolish abortion and other reproductive rights in the state and continue to block all attempts by the Democrats to improve the health and welfare of women and families. This is why we need to maintain or increase the one-person Democratic majority in the PA House and flip the PA Senate from red to blue!
Represent PA invests in strong women incumbents and first-time candidates for PA’s State Legislature who will work hard to protect women’s rights and make things better for all citizens in our state. Join us in this effort.
And if you haven’t voted yet, make sure you do and vote Democratic up and down the ballot.
It’s our time.
– Karen Gelman, Represent PA Volunteer
