Women’s Health Care Weekend of Action
By Beki San Martin, OFA Campaigns Associate
At a time when access to quality, affordable health care for millions of Americans is under the near-constant threat of sabotage, OFA volunteers around the country are taking action to make sure we protect women’s health at the ballot box on November 6.
This past weekend, OFA partnered with Swing Left and Planned Parenthood Action Fund for a Women’s Health Care Weekend of Action. In 16 priority Congressional districts across 6 states, volunteers stepped up to knocked on doors in their surrounding communities and helped make calls to get out the vote for candidates who will stand up for women’s health care in Congress.
Take a look at some of the volunteers in action:
In Texas, Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, running in Texas’ 7th congressional district, joined volunteers to canvass and speak with voters about what’s at stake this November.
In Tucson, Arizona, OFA, Swing Left and Planned Parenthood volunteers spent Saturday organizing to get out the vote for Ann Kirkpatrick, the candidate in Arizona’s 2nd congressional district, and Kyrsten Sinema, running for U.S. Senate.
Among the crowd of volunteers were seasoned organizers and tons of first time canvassers — a Planned Parenthood Action Fund organizer even brought a group of local high school students who had never done any kind of face-to-face community organizing before. After picking up some new organizing skills at last weekend’s local Campaign Organizing Bootcamp, OFA volunteer Tama put those skills to to work, knocking doors for the first time!
OFA’s Southern California Chapter had a big day Saturday, too. Volunteers from Planned Parenthood, Swing Left, and OFA knocked doors and talked to voters to get out the vote for Katie Porter, running in California’s 45th congressional district, and Harley Rouda, running in California’s 48th.
Some of the new canvassers who expected mostly awkward encounters were surprised by the energy and enthusiasm that seemed to permeate almost every conversation with potential voters. “My very first stop ended up with me laughing and holding a chihuahua while the mom of the person on the list filled out a request for a mail-in ballot,” a first-time volunteer told the group afterwards.
In these tense and anxious times, there are few antidotes for our boiling frustration quite like organizing — getting out in your community, meeting your neighbors, and asking folks to join you in participating in democracy. Volunteers of all ages, backgrounds, and experience levels came together for a good cause — protecting women’s health — and left feeling energized knowing that the people they talked to where more likely to get involved and their communities would be stronger for it.
So if you’re looking for ways to get in on the fun and take action to do something about what’s happening, check out some of the great opportunities to help support campaigns and ballot measures in key districts around the country.
There are less than 30 days between now and election day, so there’s no time waste. Get started today.
