Jesse Young: Wrong on Abortion Rights, Wrong for Washington

SEATTLE, WA — Abortion rights are on the line in Washington’s November election. Although abortion is currently legal in the state, anti-abortion extremist politicians have made it clear they want to strip away abortion rights and insert themselves into private medical decisions. 

State legislative majorities are at stake in November. This election could mean the difference between our current pro-abortion rights majority, or a new, extremist majority. Washingtonians can’t afford to take abortion rights for granted in 2022. 

In the 26th legislative district, home of Washington’s most hotly contested State Senate race, the candidates couldn’t be more different on this issue. While incumbent Emily Randall (D) is one of the foremost champions of reproductive rights in the legislature, as a member of the State House, Representative Jesse Young (R) has sponsored 13 bills to strip away abortion access and ban it entirely. Earlier this year, he introduced a ban even more extreme than the Mississippi ban that went to the Supreme Court in the Dobbs decision. What stopped him from passing this ban? The legislative majority who stood in steadfast support of protecting abortion rights. 

If Jesse Young and other anti-abortion lawmakers like him take the majority in the WA legislature this year, it’s not a matter of if, but when they will move to ban abortion in Washington state. In the last legislative session alone, Republicans in the state legislature pushed seven different abortion bans. 

“A lot of people believe that our right to abortion is a given in our state, but that simply isn’t the case,” said Courtney Normand, Washington State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. “The actions of politicians in neighboring states show us that the threats to our rights are real and we have to do everything in our power to keep anti-abortion politicians out of office so we can continue to be a safe haven for not only Washingtonians, but also people from out of state who depend on us.”

All people, regardless of where we live or what we look like, deserve to be able to make the best health care choices for ourselves and our families. The decision of when and if to become a parent is one of the most important many of us will make in life. We must defend this right.