For Maura, taking a stance on reproductive healthcare is easy: EVERYONE should have access to the care they need and have the right to make all decisions about their own body. The government should not come between Americans and their bodily autonomy; when Maura is sent to Congress, she will do everything in her power to both enshrine Roe v. Wade and expand on protections for women and birthing people across our nation.

No one should be denied abortion access. Maura wholeheartedly believes that starting a family should be your choice, and she knows that the politics and religions of others should have no influence over your decisions. MAGA republicans will not stop until there is a national abortion ban. They are creating a world in which women must live in fear over their medical decisions, must accept violations of their privacy, and must risk their lives to carry a nonviable fetus to term– this is unacceptable.

Doctors are now denying life saving care out of fear of retribution, with restrictive laws such as the Heartbeat Bill forcing them to go against their duty of care to patients. This is causing a shortage in OB-GYN residencies across the country. In the state of Georgia, the latest data shows that 82 of our 159 counties do not have OB-GYN doctors and 15 counties had only 1 doctor. That means that 52% of Georgia residents who need reproductive healthcare do not have access to it.

Reproductive healthcare is not only about abortion access. The lack of OB-GYNs means that those who are trying to get pregnant and carry a pregnancy to term do not have the essential services needed throughout pregnancy. In Georgia, the maternal mortality rate is only getting worse. Recent data shows 30.2 pregnancy-related deaths per 100,000 live births between 2018 and 2020, up from 25.1 between 2017 and 2019. More than half of these deaths were among black women. The racial disparity in our state is sickening, and Maura will champion equitable healthcare for everyone as our next Democratic representative, ensuring that unnecessary deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth become a thing of the past.