Representative Mike Connolly was recently named a "Pro-Choice Champion" for the 2017-2018 legislative session by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, the political leader of the state's pro-choice movement.

Last month, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts released a detailed scoring document that considered actions such as lead sponsorship, co-sponsorship, roll call votes, and leadership efforts to advance legislation supporting reproductive freedom in the Bay State. Rep. Connolly earned the highest possible grade (A+) on the scorecard; he joins a group of 26 Representatives (out of a total of 160 Representatives statewide) to earn the highest possible grade for the 2017-2018 legislative session.

According to a recent statement by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts:

In this time of federal crisis, fundamental reproductive rights are at risk and the states play a key role in safeguarding those rights. The ongoing federal threat to reproductive freedom makes the critical work of the Massachusetts Legislature more important each day. Massachusetts voters need and deserve a transparent legislative scorecard to inform their understanding of how their elected officials stand on reproductive freedom.

This past legislative session, we made great strides in protecting reproductive freedom with passage of five key bills:

Repeal of anti-choice Archaic Laws, including a pre-Roe criminal abortion ban;

Passage of the Contraceptive ACCESS Act, safeguarding access to birth control

Passage of Act to Protect Access to Confidential Healthcare (the PATCH Act), which remedies a loophole in confidentiality in Massachusetts law that could have resulted in sensitive information, including about reproductive healthcare, being inadvertently provided to a healthcare subscriber;  

Passage of Paid Family Medical Leave Act, which creates a paid family and medical leave insurance program for Massachusetts residents; and

Passage of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which ensures that pregnant workers are treated fairly on the job, are protected against workplace discrimination, and are given reasonable workplace accommodations.

In addition to his efforts co-sponsoring and voting in support of the above legislation, Rep. Connolly also took the lead on H.3649, An Act to Ensure Teen Safety, a critical bill to repeal parental consent laws to ensure that young people can access abortion care in Massachusetts. The nation’s leading medical organizations oppose parental consent laws because they impose barriers to care that can harm the young women they purport to protect. For his work in presenting this bill to the Joint Committee on the Judiciary, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts described Rep. Connolly as "the definition of a pro-choice champion."

In the new legislative session that begins on January 2, 2019, Rep. Connolly looks forward to continuing to stand with colleagues, advocates, activists, and constituents in the fight to defend Roe v. Wade and advance the cause of reproductive freedom here in Massachusetts.