Teach-In
How do you talk about abortion? Do you talk about it at all? Whether it’s at your holiday dinner table or community town hall, abortion stigma – generations of rhetoric that demonizes abortion – creates a challenging environment for us to talk about it.
To help, we hosted over 100 leaders in California and Nevada for a PPAMM Abortion State of Play and Community Teach-in: How to talk about and defend abortion in your community. The virtual event was designed for local elected officials, activists, community leaders, and potential candidates for public office, all trusted messengers in their communities.
We reviewed how abortion rights are at stake for millions of Americans in the U.S. Supreme Court case about Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. We also discussed how PPMM health centers are preparing to meet the incoming demand of out-of-state abortion patients if the court rules this spring to overturn Roe or uphold the Mississippi law. In addition, we covered how to identify and stop stigmatizing language, divorce fact from fiction, and finally, how to message these facts with honesty and empathy.
Attendees left the virtual space with the information, tools and confidence to navigate these conversations in their communities. Look out for more opportunities like this in 2022.
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Redistricting Forums
In addition to the teach-in, the Public Affairs team coordinated with community partners to educate and mobilize volunteers about the importance of engaging in their local and state redistricting forums. This once in a decade opportunity determines how communities will be represented in local and state government, including how and where spending for health care, infrastructure and education will be allocated. We focused on redistricting efforts in Northern Nevada, California’s Central Valley, as well as Sacramento and San Joaquin Counties to ensure these communities, and their voices, have equal representation.
The team also called upon municipal leaders to introduce “reproductive freedom” resolutions and proclamations that push back against the wave of restrictions and anti-abortion messages sweeping the country. Read more about this and an opportunity to thank our local champions.
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A promising end to a difficult year
We elected Stephanie Dominguez Walton to our PPAMM Board of Directors! Steph, is the development director for Latino Victory, a national organization aiming to grow political power in the Latino community, and a former PPAMM-endorsed candidate for Oakland City Council. She will fill the vacancy left by board member Lauren Babb, who is now serving as PPMM Vice President of Public Affairs.
The PPAMM team also welcomed Grassroots Organizer Karina G. of Visalia. Karina, a seasoned community organizer, will lead the affiliate’s community advocacy and college campus engagement from Stanislaus to Kern Counties.
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PPAMM endorsements
As we closed out 2021, we launched our 2022 endorsement process and completed our first round of candidate endorsements. We’re very excited to announce our early support for these candidates in California and Nevada:
- Paula Villescaz for CA Senate District 6
- Aisha Wahab for CA Senate District 10
- Gary Sandy for Yolo County Board of Supervisors District 3
- Jaclyn Moreno for Sacramento County Board of Supervisors District 5
- Joe Rodriguez for Washoe County School District 3
- Annalisa Perea for Fresno City Council District 1
- Maya Esparza for San Jose City Council District 7
For candidates running in the 2022 Primary Election in the PPAMM service region, your candidate questionnaire is now live online and is open through March 21, 2022. You can access the digital questionnaire and review the endorsement process on our website, or contact our team for more information at [email protected].
Endorsements will be announced on a rolling basis through April and will be made available through our online PPAMM Voter Guide.
For any questions about our work or interest in collaboration, please email us at [email protected].
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