A group of 10 staff and volunteers journeyed to the California State Capitol on Tuesday, March 24th to participate in Reproductive Freedom Day. This annual lobby day is a project of the California Coalition for Reproductive Freedom and brings together hundreds of women and men from all over the state for workshops, roundtables, and lobby visits advocating for reproductive rights. This year, the Clinic’s very own Executive Director, Carlina Hansen, spoke to a packed room on the panel “Advocacy in Touch Economic Times” along with Yali Bair, Vice President of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California and Rebecca Gonzales, Outreach Coordinator with the California Budget Project. Lobby visits were made urging the support of Senate Bill 810, a bill sponsored by Senator Mark Leno of San Francisco, that will create a single payer health care system in California to ensure universal coverage.

In the meeting we asked legislators and their staff to think about how being uninsured impacts women. It was a day that started very early and went into the late afternoon, but at the end of the day when first time lobbyer and WAHT Fellow Mikaela Merchant was asked if she would come again next year, she answered “Definitely!”