EMILYs List Announces Frontline Defenders: Champions for Reproductive Freedom Workshop Series

For Immediate Release
June 16, 2022

EMILYs List Announces Frontline Defenders: Champions for Reproductive Freedom Workshop Series

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, announced the EMILYs List Frontline Defenders: Champions for Reproductive Freedom Workshop series in collaboration with Planned Parenthood Action Fund and NARAL Pro-Choice America. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:
 
“This month, the Supreme Court will hand down a decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, which directly impacts Roe v. Wade and could end the constitutional right to an abortion as we know it. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, 26 states are poised to take action to prohibit abortion–affecting 36 million women of reproductive age. At EMILYs List, we understand the importance of state and local leaders and community members when it comes to supporting reproductive rights. That’s why we’ve partnered with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America to host the Frontline Defenders workshops designed to build a pipeline of Democratic pro-choice women to run for office in states where reproductive health care may be dismantled.”
 
The Frontline Defenders workshops are specifically designed to build participant’s skills to effectively run for office in states that face some of the biggest threats to abortion rights, like Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina. These workshops will provide opportunities for deeper participation, community building, and real-time feedback from EMILYs List trainers. The interactive virtual workshops will include pre-work, homework, time for discussion, question & answer, and practice within the sessions. 
 
WHAT:   Frontline Defenders: Champions for Reproductive Freedom Workshop Series
 
WHO:     Democratic pro-choice women interested in running for office
 
WHEN:  The first session is on Saturday, July 16 and the last session will be on Saturday, Sept. 10. All sessions will take place at 12 p.m. ET.
 
WHERE:  Virtual
 
Potential participants can apply to attend by visiting EMILY'sList.org.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.