A doula is a trained professional who provides expert guidance for the service of others and who supports another person through a significant health-related experience, such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion or stillbirth, as well as non-reproductive experiences such as dying. A doula might also provide support to the client's partner, family, and friends.
Reproductive Freedom for All, formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America and commonly known as simply NARAL, is a non-profit 501(c)(4) organization in the United States that engages in lobbying, political action, and advocacy efforts to oppose restrictions on abortion, to expand access to abortion and birth control, and to support paid parental leave and protection against pregnancy discrimination.
Reproductive justice is a critical feminist framework that was invented as a response to United States reproductive politics. The three core values of reproductive justice are the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. The framework moves women's reproductive rights past a legal and political debate to incorporate the economic, social, and health factors that impact women's reproductive choices and decision-making ability.
Elizabeth A. "Liz" Malia is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. A Democrat, she served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from March 1998 to January 2023. She represented the Eleventh Suffolk district, which includes parts of the Boston neighborhoods of Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Roxbury and Dorchester.
Carolyn (Coyne) Dykema was the Massachusetts state representative from the Massachusetts House of Representatives' 8th Middlesex district from 2009 until her resignation to take a private sector job in 2022.
Joint Action Committee for Political Affairs(JACPAC) is a national political action committee that contributes to candidates for the US Congress who support a strong US-Israel relationship, reproductive choice, and separation of religion and state. Describing itself as the pro-Israel PAC with a domestic conscience, JACPAC has made it a point to show Congress that the Jewish community is more than a single-issue community; its priorities include but are not limited to the US-Israel Relationship.
Harriette L. Chandler is an American politician who was the 94th President of the Massachusetts Senate and the Massachusetts State Senator for the 1st Worcester district, which includes parts of the city of Worcester, where she resides, and the towns of Boylston, Holden, Princeton, and West Boylston, and parts of Clinton and Northborough. She is a Democrat who has served since January 2001. From 1995 to 2001 she was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature, she was a member of the Worcester school committee from 1991 to 1994. She is the first woman from Worcester ever to be elected to the Massachusetts Senate.
Joann W. Aalfs was an American women's rights and LGBT rights activist.
Women in conservatism in the United States have advocated for social, political, economic, and cultural conservative policies since anti-suffragism. Leading conservative women such as Phyllis Schlafly have expressed that women should embrace their privileged essential nature. This thread of belief can be traced through the anti-suffrage movement, the Red Scare, and the Reagan Era, and is still present in the 21st century, especially in several conservative women's organizations such as Concerned Women for America and the Independent Women's Forum.
"War on women" is a slogan in United States politics used to describe certain Republican Party policies and legislation as a wide-scale effort to restrict women's rights, especially reproductive rights, including abortion. Prominent Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, as well as feminists, have used the phrase to criticize proponents of these laws as trying to force their social views on women through legislation. The slogan has been used to describe Republican policies in areas such as access to reproductive health services, particularly birth control and abortion services; the definition of rape for the purpose of the public funding of abortion; the prosecution of criminal violence against women; and workplace discrimination against women.
Gaylon Alcaraz is an American community organizer and human rights activist in Chicago, Illinois. She is the former executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund. Her autobiography, Tales of a Woojiehead, was published by Blackgurl Press in 2002.
Denise C. Garlick is an American state legislator representing the 13th Norfolk District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
Penny Pullen is an American politician and conservative activist. Pullen spent eight terms in the Illinois General Assembly representing a district in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. Pullen also served on various presidential commissions and is best known for her work on anti-abortion causes.
Jack Patrick Lewis is an American state legislator from Framingham, Massachusetts. A Democrat, he was sworn in as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives on January 4, 2017.
The Massachusetts House of Representatives 1st Hampshire district or "1st Hampshire" is an electoral district for the Massachusetts House of Representatives. It consists of the municipalities Northampton, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Hatfield, Plainfield, Westhampton, Williamsburg, and Worthington. Democrat Lindsay Sabadosa of Northampton has represented the district since 2019.
Elizabeth Miranda is a Cape Verdean-American community organizer and politician. She is a state senator representing the Massachusetts Senate's 2nd Suffolk district after winning a five-way Democratic Primary Election, and advancing to an uncontested race in the 2022 Massachusetts general election. Prior to that, since January 2019, Miranda had served as the Democratic Massachusetts State Representative for the Fifth Suffolk district. Her district comprises parts of the Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods of Boston. She is a member of the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus.
Joanne M. Comerford is an American politician who currently serves in the Massachusetts Senate. She is the first woman to hold the seat. Before being elected senator she had worked for the National Priorities Project, the Center for Human Development, the American Friends Service Committee, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and MoveOn.
Tram Nguyen is an American politician serving as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 18th Essex District. She represents the towns of Andover, Boxford, North Andover, and Tewksbury. Nguyen serves as the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Steering, Policy & Scheduling and member of Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use & Recovery Committee, Joint Committee on Municipalities & Regional Governments, Joint Committee on Racial Equity, Civil Rights and Inclusion, and House Committee Human Resources & Employee Engagement. Prior to being elected as the first Vietnamese-American woman in the Massachusetts Legislature, Nguyen was an attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services providing support for survivors of domestic violence, seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, low-wage workers, and others from vulnerable communities.
Rebecca Lynne Rausch is an American attorney and politician from the commonwealth of Massachusetts. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex district in the Massachusetts Senate.
La'Tasha Mayes is an American activist and politician who is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents the 24th district, which contains parts of Pittsburgh.
