I’m a mom, a community organizer, a small business owner, and State Representative for House District 42. I grew up in Littleton, went to college in New Orleans to study political science, became a single mother at 23, and returned to Colorado where I eventually built a family with my husband, Kevin. We have raised four kids who are now in high school and college – while I’m still paying my own student loans. Over the last twenty years, we’ve experienced living paycheck to paycheck, faced the high cost of childcare, medical coverage (sometimes having insurance, sometimes not), and skyrocketing housing costs – plus, we’ve navigated the public education system, with four very different children.
We have taken for granted the right for people to decide if, when, and how they become parents. We face Roe v. Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court this month and the issue being returned to the states. Colorado must continue to bolster our citizens’ rights and stand out as a beacon for reproductive freedom in the region.