Civil Rights & Civil Liberties
Whether orchestrating buses of people to march in Washington D.C., lobbying our legislators in Lansing, or knocking on doors to educate voters, Rebekah spent six years defending our civil rights and liberties before becoming State Representative for the 53rd District. The last two have been no different. Working on the frontlines in Lansing, Rebekah has taken our values to the Capitol and proven herself to be a leader committed to driving forward a progressive agenda in the face of conservative pressure groups.
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As the former executive director of MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan, the state’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-choice organization, Rebekah has worked tirelessly to ensure that the women of Michigan have access to the full range of reproductive health care options. Now that she is on the other side of the table, Rebekah continues to act as an invaluable leader in this regard, chairing the Pro-Choice Caucus, and spearheading the Prevention First package, which seeks to reduce unintended pregnancies through increased access to birth control, emergency contraception, and abstinence-plus sexuality education. As primary sponsor of legislation to require all emergency rooms to promptly offer emergency contraception (EC) to survivors of sexual assault (House Bill 6048), Rebekah has been successful in working with her colleagues to overcome the anti-choice majority in the Michigan Legislature and pass the bill through the House. |
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As a member of the Michigan House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee, Rebekah has co-sponsored a number of bills to expand the rights of LGBT citizens, including legislation to add sexual orientation, gender identity and expression to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (House Bill 4160) and to enact “Second Parent Adoption” (House Bill 4259) so that all parents may be legally recognized by the state of Michigan. She also supported “Matt’s Safe School Law” (House Bill 4162), which would require our public schools to implement policies that prohibit harassment, intimidation and bullying. |
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As a member of the Michigan House of Representatives’ Ethics and Elections Committee, Rebekah has worked to remove barriers to the ballot box, introducing legislation to repeal the “Rogers’ Law,” so that in this increasingly transient world, Michigan citizens and college students may maintain different addresses for voter registration and driver license purposes (House Bills 4447 and 4448) and co-sponsoring legislation to allow citizens to vote absentee without stating a reason (House Bill 4134). Finally, she has co-sponsored House Concurrent Resolution 25 to memorialize Congress to reject the Real ID Act of 2005. |
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