I am a strong advocate for women’s rights – including a woman’s right to make decisions about her own reproductive health care.

In the State Senate, I created several new laws that have expanded women’s rights in Virginia, including giving mothers the right to breastfeed in public, allowing victims of revenge porn to sue their perpetrators, and sponsored a bill to ensure women must not only receive equal pay but also equal benefits without being fired or otherwise disciplined for inquiring about others’ salaries and benefits. 

In Congress, I’m proud that we reauthorized the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act to provide protections and support for survivors of domestic violence and abuse – as well as closed the boyfriend loophole to keep convicted abusers from acquiring firearms. I’ve supported legislation to expand women’s access to quality affordable health care, family planning services, and contraception, establish paid family and medical leave programs, and promote women’s involvement in STEM and political fields.

Abortion Rights
I believe women’s health care decisions should be made between a woman and her doctor, and have fiercely fought to keep the government out of those decisions. I am fighting back against the disastrous and wrong Supreme Court decision overturning the almost 50 year precedent of Roe v. Wade, and cosponsored and voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act to guarantee the right to an abortion nationwide as well as called on the Senate to reform the outdated filibuster rule to protect the reproductive rights. I’m a cosponsor of the Right to Contraception Act and have urged robust funding for Title X family planning programs.

Domestic Violence
I am committed to ending gender-based violence, which is why I introduced the National Domestic Violence Prevention Action Plan Act of 2021. This legislation would bring together federal, state, and local stakeholders to coordinate and expand programs that prevent violence before it occurs in communities across the country. 

I am proud to have the support of leading women’s advocacy groups such as EMILY’s List, NARAL, National Organization for Women, and Planned Parenthood. I was also humbled in 2019 to receive the annual Hope Award from Calvary Women’s Services for my decades of work to end domestic violence.