Ayanna Pressley

Ayanna is co-chair of the Abortion Access Task Force and has co-led legislation, now passed twice in the House, to protect and restore access to abortion care nationwide. Abortion care is healthcare and an essential human right. Ayanna has continued to organize, legislate, and push back against the cruel attempts to tear away bodily autonomy and necessary healthcare. She has also successfully expanded access to abortion medications and birth control and worked closely with the Secretary of Health and Human services to use every tool available to protect families and providers who need abortion care. Everyone in this nation should have access to the care they need.

For years, policymakers, advocates, and community members have known that our criminal legal system disproportionately punishes Black and brown people – from the failed war on drugs to mass incarceration, to cash bail and the perverse incentive of a for-profit prison industry – yet we have seen too little progress made towards addressing these inequities. To meaningfully address the legacy of these destructive policies, Ayanna knows we must completely reimagine our racist, xenophobic, and fundamentally broken criminal legal system, and construct a new system that is centered on the principles of shared power, freedom, safety, equality, and human dignity. Ayanna has introduced the People’s Justice Guarantee, a bold framework and vision for a more just criminal legal system, to move us closer toward the yet unfulfilled promise of justice for all. Ayanna has advocated for an end to the federal death penalty and secured a commitment from President Biden that no one will be executed by the federal government as long as he is President.

And we’ve delivered more than $35 million in funding to build a more just and equitable district by supporting community health centers, vital transit projects, workforce training, climate justice, and more.

Working together, we’ve made vital progress on issues of deep consequence to the communities we call home, from abortion access and reproductive freedom, to student loan cancellation and housing justice.

And we’ve delivered more than $35 million in funding to build a more just and equitable district by supporting community health centers, vital transit projects, workforce training, climate justice, and more.

Ayanna is working with urgency to create an immigration system grounded in the dignity and humanity of all people who come to our country seeking refuge, to be reunited with their family, or simply in search of greater opportunity. We must continue to advocate for an immigration system that centers compassion and empathy, and support for our immigrant communities that goes beyond immigration status – including more inclusive and accessible public institutions, healthcare and education systems to foster safer and healthier communities, and greater opportunity for all.

Ensuring that all residents have access to safe, reliable, and efficient transit options is critical to protecting communities in the Massachusetts 7th and beyond. Our transportation infrastructure connects residents to opportunities and essential services like jobs, school, child care, the grocery store, the hospital, recreational activities, and more. But this opportunity is not equitably distributed across our communities. We have an opportunity to reimagine what the future of our transportation system can and must look like – one that prioritizes community-led innovation, clean energy, sustainability, and multi-modal transportation projects. As co-chair of the Future of Transportation caucus, Ayanna will continue to advocate for federal transit investments and policies that help us meet this moment, and press for safe public transit for everyone who calls this District home.

As a survivor of sexual violence, Ayanna understands, on a personal level, the lasting challenges associated with trauma. For communities disproportionately impacted by violence – including Black, brown, Latinx, and Indigenous communities, women and girls, the LGBTQIA+ community, and immigrant families – the collective impact of violence-related trauma can lead to severe inequities in health outcomes, educational progress, and economic opportunity. We must be intentional about shining a light on the experiences that lead to trauma and the ongoing challenges it creates, and about pursuing specific policies that address its root causes and create pathways to justice and healing. Ayanna convened the first ever Oversight hearing in Congress about childhood trauma and worked to successfully pass legislation to support trauma survivors – from surviving family members of homicide victims, to those impacted by horrific violent events like the Boston Marathon attack.

Ayanna believes that the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power and that a diversity of voices in the political process is essential to crafting more effective public policy.

Working together, we’ve made vital progress on issues of deep consequence to the communities we call home, from abortion access and reproductive freedom, to student loan cancellation and housing justice.

Fighting for a Just Economy Abortion Care as a Human Right Standing Up Against Hate and Violence Education for All Foreign Policy Centered on Empathy and the Pursuit of Peace Addressing the Impact of Violence and Trauma Tackling Entrenched Healthcare Disparities Confronting the Climate Crisis Imagining the Future of Transportation A Just and Humane Immigration System Housing as a Human Right Transforming Our Criminal Legal System Our average contribution this year $10 $20.53 $100