Women continue to be treated as second-class citizens almost 100 years after being guaranteed the right to vote in the United States.

These are our mothers, our sisters, and our daughters.

The continuing threat to reproductive rights, the degradation of medical rights in individual states, and now, attacks on family planning and in vitro fertilization. To add insult to injury, women are still paid only 86% of the wages earned by men.

I believe it is far past time to acknowledge women as equal citizens in our society. I will work diligently to ensure every woman has the right to make her own, private medical decisions. I know that the conversations between a woman and her doctor should remain between them alone, and that no person should be denied medical treatment considered necessary for their own well-being. Lastly, I will be a loud voice for equal pay for equal work regardless of gender.