• Press Release

EMILYs List Endorses Dr. Kristin Lyerly for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District

August 22, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Dr. Kristin Lyerly for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District. EMILYs List President Jessica Mackler released the following statement: 

“As anti-abortion extremists work overtime to strip away our fundamental freedoms, the time is now to elect OB-GYNs to Congress to ensure our rights are protected. That is why EMILYs List is proud to endorse Dr. Kristin Lyerly, a reproductive rights champion committed to advocating for women’s health care, for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District. She is a community leader fighting on the frontlines ensuring health care services for rural and underserved communities. Dr. Lyerly is the voice we need to speak out against extremist Republicans and we look forward to the work she will do in Congress.”

Dr. Kristin Lyerly was born in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, where she learned from a young age how to show up for her community. She attended medical school at the University of Wisconsin while simultaneously raising four young children. She earned her M.D. and a master’s degree in public health, and went on to practice obstetrics and gynecology despite being warned how challenging it would be to balance a busy home life with the work she was called to do. She has practiced in Green Bay, Oconto, Marinette, and Sheboygan, and has also regularly traveled to provide a wide range of health care services to rural and underrepresented communities in Minnesota and Arizona. In the aftermath of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Lyerly fought for abortion access in Wisconsin. She was the named plaintiff in the case that brought abortion care back to the state following the reenactment of a draconian 1849 Wisconsin abortion law that went into effect after the Supreme Court ruling. Lyerly was motivated to speak out as women’s freedoms were being stripped from them. She is a regular contributor to national conversations about access to rural health care, IVF, abortion, menopause, and all facets of reproductive rights. Lyerly also works with medical students at the Medical College of Wisconsin-Green Bay and is an active and award winning member with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). She has collaborated with other leaders in the medical field to create guidance for health care providers on how to continue providing quality, supportive health care to women across the state when threats to access became the reality. Lyerly is running for Congress because she believes every woman deserves an advocate — especially at a time when a small number of people in Washington have so much power but so little understanding of the realities of women’s health care.  

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.