Center for American Progress Action

RELEASE: Advocacy Groups Launch Fair Shot Action to Support, Amplify Ongoing Efforts to Engage Voters Around Issues Important to Women and Families
Press Release

RELEASE: Advocacy Groups Launch Fair Shot Action to Support, Amplify Ongoing Efforts to Engage Voters Around Issues Important to Women and Families

Coalition launching new Fair Shot Voter online tool with national and state partners

Washington, D.C. — Today, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, or CAP Action; American Women; Planned Parenthood Action Fund, or PPAF; and the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, announced the launch of Fair Shot Action, a new resource to amplify ongoing efforts that will focus on ensuring that voters, policymakers, and candidates are responsive to the increasingly pivotal role women are playing in the economic stability and overall well-being of families by advocating for concrete solutions that can improve women’s lives.

“Women and families are struggling to balance their responsibilities at home and at work at a time when succeeding at both is critical to our country’s economic growth,” said Neera Tanden, Counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. “As we move closer to the midterm elections, women’s economic security and women’s health must be priorities in the national policy debate, and it’s critical we hold elected officials accountable for advancing real policies that will help working families. Fair Shot Action is an important tool that will help engage voters on the issues that matter most to women and families.”

Fair Shot Action will continue to engage women and men across diverse constituencies, to ensure that voters are equipped with tools to push legislators and candidates to take actions in support of women’s economic security and women’s health, and to coordinate activity between other national and state organizations.

“Women are ready to go to the polls, and they are ready to vote for leaders who have the right priorities—leaders who back policies that help hardworking women and families, such as a higher minimum wage, paid leave programs, and equal pay for equal work,” said Stephanie Schriock, president of American Women. “The gap between the conservative anti-woman, anti-family agenda and the Fair Shot agenda could not be any larger, and women know it. Women voters who decide elections are ready for real leadership on these issues.”

“Every day, thousands of Planned Parenthood Action Fund supporters are talking to voters in key states about what’s at stake in this election for women’s health, and what we hear from those voters is that the candidates’ positions on women’s health and economic issues matter deeply to them,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “A woman’s ability to decide when and if to have children is fundamental to the economic success of her and her family. Not only will the issues of the Fair Shot agenda—including access to comprehensive reproductive health care—get voters to the polls on election day, but they will vote for the candidates who stand up for women. That’s why the Planned Parenthood Action Fund will spend every day between now and November 4 working to make sure these folks know where the candidates stand on women’s access to affordable birth control, basic health care, and safe and legal abortion.”

These new resources include Fair Shot Voter, an online tool where voters can pledge support and commit to act on policies that affect women and their families, including the minimum wage; equal pay; paid sick days and paid family leave; women’s health; and access to affordable, quality childcare. As part of the campaign, the website will also allow voters to share their story about why these issues matter to them, tactics that constituents can use to engage with legislators, and resources that help voters find information on state and local records on these issues. Fair Shot Voter co-sponsors include: American Association of University Women, or AAUW, Action Fund; Center For American Progress Action Fund; EMILY’s List; Fair Shot Oregon; Generation Progress Action Fund; MomsRising; Planned Parenthood Action Fund; PowerPAC+; UltraViolet Action; USACTION; and Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund.

Fair Shot Action follows the launch of the Fair Shot campaign, an initiative focused on elevating public policies that address the challenges women and families face today. The Fair Shot campaign—a project of American Women, PPAF, SEIU, and CAP Action’s sister organization, the Center for American Progress—promotes a common-sense policy agenda outlining how to strengthen women’s economic security, how to promote women’s health throughout the continuum of their lives, and how to advance women’s leadership opportunities.

Related resources:

For more information or to speak to an expert, contact Chelsea Kiene at [email protected] or 202.478.5328.

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