I dedicated my life to fighting for freedom and democracy around the world. I never dreamed I’d need to do it at home. While the Trump Administration tries to take away our rights and reverse the progress we’ve made as a country, I will always fight to protect the rights and freedoms that have made our nation great – from civil rights to voting rights to reproductive rights.

Like most Michiganders, I’m appalled at what President Trump, the Supreme Court, and extremists in Washington have done to take away the fundamental right of women to control their own bodies. This includes my Republican opponent, Tom Barrett, who has a long record of opposing women’s health care rights at the state and national level. Congressman Barrett said he is “100% pro-life - no exceptions” and introduced legislation in Michigan to make some abortions punishable by up to two years in prison, with no exceptions for rape or incest. In the last election, he dismissed women’s health care as an important issue because “my opponent is not a woman.” Simply put, that’s outrageous. It’s no wonder he’s willfully participating in Trump’s dismantling of our fundamental rights and freedoms. I won’t stand for it.

In Congress, I will fight to:

• Uphold our Constitution including First Amendment rights to free speech, the free press, and freedom of assembly.

• Ensure that no one is “deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law” as guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

• Protect the right to vote for all Americans and prevent attempts to restrict voting rights.

• Codify Roe v. Wade into federal law and oppose abortion bans that threaten women’s lives and attempts to restrict access to FDA approved medication including misoprostol, mifepristone, and birth control.

• Defend the rights of members of the LGBTQ+ community to marry who they love.

• Confront racism, discrimination, and hatred in all forms.