My Mother's Day call to action: We must stand up for women's, reproductive rights

Naval aviator. Federal prosecutor. U.S. congresswoman. These are some of the roles that have defined my life. These professional responsibilities have led me through global conflicts, tough legal arguments and heated debates in the U.S. House of Representatives.

But the toughest role, and the one that has meant the most to me, is mom.

No helicopter mission I led or jury I faced was half as scary as not knowing how to help one of my kids when they were struggling. And there hasn’t been a health issue I have faced that has been half as complicated as pregnancy — much less four of them.

There are a million considerations that may go into the decision to become a mother, and with that decision come a million new fears. Will I be able to get pregnant? If not, can I afford IVF? If something goes wrong, can I keep working? How dangerous is childbirth? Will I be OK? Will the baby?

Becoming a mom is medically complicated. It’s mentally tough. It’s emotionally demanding. That’s exactly why it doesn’t need to be complicated further by politicians dictating how or when one becomes a mother, or what type of medical care a mom may or may not receive. Imagine if you had a heart issue and the doctor said there were a lot of ways to address it, even cure it, but legally he or she would have to wait until you were close to death to do anything.

That’s what is happening in states across the nation. Pregnant women are miscarrying in hospital bathrooms. They’re hemorrhaging in front of doctors as they carry a dead fetus. They are developing sepsis and damaging their ability to have children in the future because doctors are under criminal threat by the state they practice in. For example, the state of Idaho is fighting the Biden administration’s Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, directive to take into account not just the life of the mother, but the health of the mother. Opposing that is morally reprehensible.

Too many women in America are being denied access to basic care and to reproductive services. So it’s because of my children, and because of your children, that I’m writing this.

America is at a crossroads on reproductive and women's rights

We are at a crossroads. The world we lived in just a couple of years ago has drastically changed, and the 2024 election will decide which path our nation will take — one toward freedom and health, or one toward control and harm.

We must fight together to ensure the former.

When Donald Trump's handpicked Supreme Court justices overturned Roe v. Wadetwo years ago, it opened the floodgates for attacks on women across the country — restricting access to abortion care, emergency medical care, privacy, IVF, contraceptives and more. The health outcomes are already staggering — states with abortion restrictions were found to have 62% higher maternal death rates than states with greater abortion access. Sixty. Two. Percent.

Our New Jersey state legislators worked swiftly to enact protections for reproductive health. We are all thankful for that — but if extremist Republicans grow their majority in the House of Representatives, capture the Senate and retake the White House, a national abortion ban and dangerous executive actions could override all of this.

Trump hosted a rally in New Jersey on May 11 and made clear his dystopian plans if he is reelected. I am committed to stopping this vision for America from becoming a reality — but I need your help. So do your children and grandchildren.

The first task at hand is to win back House seats to restore a Democratic majority. We need just five seats, and the path to getting there runs straight through New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District. Over the next six months, we need to garner the energy we put into flipping House seats as we did in 2018 — and elect Sue Altman to Congress on Nov. 5.

Sue is a champion for abortion access, affordable health care and democracy. While Trump campaigns on restricting women’s freedoms, Sue and I have met with voters, highlighting our plans to protect and expand access to reproductive care.

Next, we must maintain our majority in the Senate. That means keeping New Jersey blue and electing Rep. Andy Kim, a great fighter for New Jersey families. We’ve seen to what lengths anti-abortion senators — such as Alabama’s Sen. Tommy Tuberville — will go to impede access to health care.

Last year, Tuberville blocked military promotions, endangering our national security and readiness — all to restrict servicewomen’s access to reproductive care. Tuberville ultimately relented, but not until I and many of the women on the House and Senate Armed Services committees fought a months-long battle to protect servicewomen — and the damage to our military was already done.

Now, Trump has said he’ll go even further: allowing states to monitor and even prosecute pregnant women who get an abortion. This leads me to our final but most important task: to reelect President Joe Biden and defeat Trump once and for all.

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Why would America go back in time?

The current, horrific landscape for reproductive health in our country has Trump’s fingerprints all over it — from the policies his allies pursue in state legislatures to the court decisions handed down by the federal judges he appointed.

That's why I've fought back against judge shopping, an anti-abortion advocate tactic where they cherry-pick their favored Trump-appointed judge to get the outcome they want. My bill, the End Judge Shopping Act, would end this practice, because it’s simple: Litigants should not be able to pick and choose the judge that hears a case, especially when the outcome has national implications.

Without the basic protections Roe provided, women face a dangerous health care landscape. Those vying for power this fall — first and foremost, Trump — are set on taking our country further back in time and establishing a dystopia of dangerous health outcomes and a surveillance state monitoring women’s bodies.

Let's get ready for the fight of a lifetime to keep the decision to be a mother in the hands of women, not politicians or judges. I’ve seen the power of New Jerseyans when we’re fed up and ready for change. Let’s do it again this year — because there’s never been more at stake.

Rep. Mikie Sherrill is a former Navy helicopter pilot and assistant U.S. attorney. She has represented New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District in the House of Representatives since 2019. 

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Mother's Day: Stand up for women's rights, reproductive rights