EMILYs List Statement on the Passing of Former Rep. Pat Schroeder

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement on the passing of former Rep. Pat Schroeder:
 
“Today the EMILYs List community mourns the loss of former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder, a trailblazing feminist leader who changed the face of power in Washington during her 24 years serving in the House. Elected before the founding of EMILYs List, Rep. Schroeder and her Democratic women colleagues including Reps. Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, and Bella Abzug were few in number but made an enormous impact on policy and inspired future generations of leaders. Rep. Schroeder made history as the first woman on the House Armed Services Committee. She made issues like child care, education, and equal pay mainstream issues, and because of her advocacy of the Family and Medical Leave Act is acknowledged as the ‘mother of FMLA.’ A champion of abortion rights, she sponsored legislation making it a federal crime to obstruct access to women’s clinics. Our country and our democracy are stronger because of her groundbreaking leadership, and EMILYs List honors her memory by working to elect the next generation of Democratic pro-choice women.”
 
EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, works to elect Democratic pro-choice women up and down the ballot and across the country with a goal of fighting for our rights and our communities. Our work is centered around a fundamental vision: Run. Win. Change the World. EMILYs List has raised $850 million in service to that vision and has helped Democratic women win competitive elections by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running one of the largest independent expenditure operations for Democrats, and turning out women voters to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country’s first woman as vice president, 175 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 20 governors, and over 1,500 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. Visit www.emilyslist.org for more information.