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Interview With U.S. Congressional Candidate, Whitney Shanahan
Whitney founded the grassroots activism group Pro Choice with Heart, that has become a powerful nationwide movement tirelessly battling the oppressive criminalization of abortion and pregnancy. Whitney has been a resource for countless women seeking reproductive healthcare and has taken the fight to state capitals across the country that are implementing restrictions on reproductive healthcare. Now Whitney’s taking that same fight to the halls of Congress.
Whitney also understands the hardships that working families and our most vulnerable are facing to get ahead. After graduating from college in the heart of the great recession, Whitney had to work numerous minimum wage jobs to make ends meet. She’s seen firsthand how wages have remained stagnant for working people – while big corporations haul in record profits.
She’s running for Congress to level the playing field for San Diego families and defend our freedoms by:
1. Protecting the right to a safe and legal abortion.
2. Fighting for a livable wage and lowering the cost of living.
3. Taking on big corporate special interests that put profits over people.
U.S. Congressional Candidate, Whitney Shanahan's Take on The Overturning of Roe v. Wade:
Q. Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2022, since then, who do you feel has been most impacted by this decision?
A. The 65,000 women who were victims of rape and denied access to healthcare due to abortion bans. Currently, 21 states have implemented abortion bans, disproportionately affecting women in poverty and women of color. This situation has particularly impacted women who lack the means to travel to another state for healthcare, which is especially compounded when also being a victim of rape.
Q. There seems to be a misconception amongst many, that if a woman is a mother, she wouldn’t advocate for abortion rights. This is not the case for you. Why is it so important as a mother to advocate for abortion rights?
A. The majority of people who receive abortion healthcare are mothers. This is why it’s incredibly important for mothers to be on the front lines of abortion rights and activism, as we are the most affected.
Q. What are your thoughts on states that are seeking to prosecute and criminalize abortion and miscarriages?
A. Even when Roe v. Wade was still in place, pregnancy and miscarriage were being criminalized in the United States. This is why I began pro-choice activism in 2019, based on my own personal experience. UC Berkeley Law researched the criminalization of pregnancy and found hundreds of cases of women being arrested, detained, and investigated simply for their pregnancies—all while Roe v. Wade was in place. Now, in this post-Roe world, we have a human rights crisis happening in the states that have banned abortion. An abortion ban doesn’t just criminalize abortion; it also criminalizes miscarriage.
Q. Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, it feels as though women are fighting an uphill battle. What advice would you give to women who really want to make a difference when it comes to our productive rights?
A. The best advice I'd give anyone wanting to get involved with pro-choice activism is to speak up now! Attend a protest, start a rally, post on social media, initiate a pro-choice group, or join a Pro Choice with Heart group. We have one in nearly every state. Community is key to keeping the activism going. While we, pro-choice people, may be the majority, the anti-choice movement is loud, violent, and attempts to silence with shame. Be prepared for that and keep going regardless—it’s not easy, but it must be done. Also, consider running for office! The more pro-choice women in office, the safer we will be. Currently, two members of Pro Choice with Heart are running for Congress; I’d love to see that number double next year!
Q. I’m from New Jersey where abortion rights are currently protected. There are many blue states that are under the impression that their rights will remain protected. Is there a real possibility of a federal abortion ban? If so, what can women do to combat this?
A. No one is safe until we are all safe. Even in blue states where abortion rights are enshrined in the state constitution, safety will be jeopardized if Congress passes a federal abortion ban—which is what Republicans want. The way to combat this is by electing pro-choice women to office!
Q. If someone has a family member or a friend that is “pro-life”, what advice would you give to help them more effectively communicate their pro-choice position with a “pro-lifer”?
A. I’ve had the most success educating anti-choice individuals by sharing my story and the cases of other women who have had their pregnancies criminalized. Most anti-choice people are simply ignorant of the fact that abortion is healthcare and that abortion bans criminalize miscarriage and pregnancy. The countries with the lowest abortion rates have fully legal abortion, comprehensive sex education, universal healthcare, and free and easy access to birth control. If someone truly wants to lower the abortion rate, they will advocate for these—not abortion bans, which increase maternal mortality and unsafe abortions.
Q. Your platform is heavily based on women’s productive rights, what sparked you to choose this path as a human rights activist?
A. In 2019, I was pregnant and in Ohio. I went to the ER, thinking I was having a miscarriage. Instead of receiving help, I was separated from my partner and questioned about what I had done to cause my miscarriage. In Ohio, the Republican state legislature was working on passing a 6-week abortion ban before most women even know they are pregnant, effectively criminalizing not just abortion but miscarriage too.
I left the ER shaken and scared, and began to research. I found that hundreds of women in the US have been arrested, investigated, and detained for their pregnancies. My life changed in that moment forever. I called up a few friends, and we wrote 'PRO CHOICE' in red lipstick on our pregnant bellies. We held a protest outside the statehouse. The photos and videos of the protest went viral and launched my grassroots activist group, Pro Choice with Heart.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like to share that I haven’t touched on?
I'm running for Congress against Darrell Issa, the most anti-choice politician in all of California. Since the first protest, I have spent the last 5 years holding hundreds of protests across the country to DEFEND ROE, collecting over 270,000 signatures to go to DC and defend abortion rights, and amassing a social media following of over half a million.
And now that Roe v Wade has fallen, this campaign CAN'T WAIT!
We need nationwide, federal protections for abortion, bodily autonomy, and LGBTQ+ rights NOW!
Interview With Attorney, Adriana Gonzalez
Adriana is a shareholder at Gonzalez & Cartwright, P. A. where she not only works on behalf of injury victims, but also devotes a substantial amount of time to community service. She is a past President of the Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association. She serves on the Board of the Hispanic Education Coalition, the Board of the Florida Justice Association Women’s Caucus, the Board of the Palm Beach County Justice Association, the 15th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, and the Palm Beach Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
She is also active in politics: she served as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention and has overseen voter protection and expansion efforts in Palm Beach County in the last three elections.
PV
Attorney, Adriana Gonzalez's Take on The Overturning of Roe v. Wade:
Q. Roe v. Wade has been overturned. What is your opinion on what will happen now?
A. It’s a barbaric regression in the progress we’ve made towards equality. States with legislatures controlled by republicans will push the overturning of Roe v. Wade to an unfathomable, dangerous extreme. The states with legislatures controlled by democrats will, in all likelihood, attempt to become safe havens for individuals seeking to terminate a pregnancy; however, this will only highlight the impact that our socio-economic status has on our personal ability to exercise what should be an individual’s fundamental right, the one to make medical decisions over our own body. In allowing individual states to restrict an individual’s right to choose beyond the protections that were guaranteed by Roe v. Wade, we will be creating a different set of rights for those individuals with the means to seek care out-of-state versus those who cannot, placing the burden of an unjust system on those who can least afford to bear it.
Q. Who do you feel will be most impacted by this decision?
A. Those individuals with the least amount of resources and who are the most vulnerable will be most affected. Individuals living in poverty, who are underage, and / or who have been the victims of sexual abuse. As a result, we will see horrific repercussions. Individuals denied access to care will be forced to give birth to children they cannot afford or that they are unable to take care of in the circumstances that they find themselves in. We will see individuals who will either attempt to terminate their pregnancy by resorting to dangerous methods or be forced to use these dangerous methods by the same abusers who caused the unwanted pregnancy. Overall, we will see a rise in poverty and crime as history has shown us.
Q. Are you concerned about the fate of other rights that are not explicitly outlined in the Constitution, including the right to access contraception? Do you think this is a real possibility, and what would this mean for our society?
A. Basing the overturning of Roe v. Wade on this idea that in order for a right to be protected it must be deeply rooted in our nation’s history is a very dangerous legal reasoning that puts all other rights, especially those advancing equality, at risk of being challenged.
Q. What are your thoughts on states that are seeking to prosecute those who seek, provide or support abortions?
A. It really is a nightmare situation and the negative impacts are just too many to be adequately discussed. Just think about how the evidence to prosecute these cases will be gathered and the extent that prosecutors will have to go. Entire healthcare systems will be affected when doctors refuse to provide care in fear that they will be prosecuted or leave the state to practice elsewhere. The negative impact is really endless and completely frightening to think about. But one thing that should be clear is that no one will be spared from the negative consequences that this will cause.
Q. How are law firms getting involved in abortion rights?
A. In addition to naturally being aligned with those who advance social causes, I’ve seen law firms get involved in different ways from either representing individuals who are seeking to get an abortion but have get around legal restrictions like parental notification or some other hurdle, or by actually challenging the pieces of legislation, usually by working with advocacy organizations.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like to share on the topic?
A. I commend all of the individuals who have openly shared their stories the same way I commend the individuals who have chosen to keep theirs private. To terminate a pregnancy is a very personal decision and that ability to make that decision should be protected under the individual right to privacy, and so while I won’t be sharing any specific personal story, I will say that if an individual has ever taken a contraceptive, received medical care for a miscarriage, relied on fertility treatments in order to get pregnant, etc., that individual has exercised the very same rights that will now be denied to those seeking to terminate a pregnancy - the right to privacy, the right to make personal decisions about one’s own health.
We too often think of a less deserving individual who perhaps was careless in getting pregnant when thinking about whether someone should have the right to have an abortion, instead of thinking about how we have made these decisions ourselves based on those exact rights and how our lives would be impacted had we been denied those rights and not been able to make decisions we made. We need to stop looking at the issue through judgmental eyes, and really take an honest look at the decisions we’ve had to make personally.
Interview With Maine House Representative, Nina Milliken
Adriana is a shareholder at Gonzalez & Cartwright, P. A. where she not only works on behalf of injury victims, but also devotes a substantial amount of time to community service. She is a past President of the Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association. She serves on the Board of the Hispanic Education Coalition, the Board of the Florida Justice Association Women’s Caucus, the Board of the Palm Beach County Justice Association, the 15th Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, and the Palm Beach Coalition for Immigrant Rights.
She is also active in politics: she served as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention and has overseen voter protection and expansion efforts in Palm Beach County in the last three elections.