I had just finished my freshman year of college when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade four years ago. Overnight, my friends and I went from thinking about classes and summer internships to coming to terms with a decision that left our generation with fewer rights over our own bodies.
The impacts of this ruling were sweeping and immediate. My feed was filled with stories of women across the country struggling to get the care that they needed in the wake of severe abortion bans. One story about a woman named Emily Waldorf, a 38-year-old physical therapist in Arkansas, really stuck with me. In 2024, Emily was 17 weeks pregnant with a daughter she desperately wanted when she started miscarrying. Her doctors told her the standard of care was to empty her uterus right away, because every hour her cervix stayed open raised her risk of a deadly infection.
Then they told her they couldn’t do it. The fetus still had a heartbeat, and under Arkansas law they faced up to 10 years in prison if they acted. So she waited in a hospital bed for five days, in the same hospital where she worked, while her water broke, her temperature climbed, and her doctors monitored her for signs she was getting sick enough to treat. One of them told her, “Tell your friends to vote differently.”
Her sister called the governor’s office and was told to seek legal advice. It took a lawyer’s intervention to get Emily into an ambulance to Kansas, where doctors induced her and then fought to stop a hemorrhage that nearly killed her. She lost a liter of blood. She came home alive, with more than $147,000 in medical bills and a 4-year-old asking when her little sister was coming.
Stories like Emily’s prove that the fight for reproductive freedom is not merely a political talking point. It is an urgent issue that deeply impacts real human lives. But this November, we have the opportunity to build political power for these issues and hold anti-abortion politicians accountable.
I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t fully grasp how critical midterm elections were until my generation’s reproductive rights were put on the line. Nearly 50 million Gen Z Americans are eligible to vote this year. That’s an enormous amount of power, and we can’t afford to leave it on the table. Young women can decide elections, shape what happens in statehouses, and send leaders to Congress who will protect our reproductive freedom. But only if we show up — not just for presidential elections, but for every race and ballot measure that determines who controls our bodies and our futures.
Nov. 3 is our chance. We may be the first generation to grow up with fewer rights than our mothers, but we have the power to be the last.
Right now, 21 states ban abortion outright or cut it off in the earliest weeks of pregnancy. We already know what happens when we don’t elect leaders who will protect reproductive freedom. In Idaho, a near-total abortion ban has made the state a more dangerous place to give birth. Since 2022, more than a third of its OB-GYNs have stopped practicing obstetrics, left the state, or retired. Half of Idaho’s 44 counties no longer have a practicing obstetrician.
Young women can decide elections, shape what happens in statehouses, and send leaders to Congress who will protect our reproductive freedom.
And the impact extends beyond abortion, threatening access to contraception, IVF, and the full range of reproductive healthcare. This is what abortion bans do: They don’t just deny care, they weaken entire healthcare systems. And on Nov. 3, Idaho voters will decide on a ballot measure that could restore abortion rights in their state, giving them a direct chance to choose a different future.
Idaho isn’t alone. Voters in Virginia, Nevada, and Missouri will also decide on ballot measures that could restore, strengthen, or defend abortion rights. These measures, and the state leaders elected to uphold them, will determine whether millions of people can access care.
State victories matter and will compound towards a future with more rights for more people. But they aren’t the finish line. Right now, whether you can access reproductive healthcare depends on your ZIP code. Changing that requires national legislation and leaders in the White House and Congress who will pass and protect it.
None of this gets fixed in a single election. Senators serve for six years, so every seat we win now helps shape what’s possible for years to come. A reproductive-rights majority could protect access to medication abortion, stop anti-abortion judges from being confirmed, and build support for a federal right to abortion. Winning this year won’t finish the fight. But it will move us closer to a country where our rights don’t disappear when we cross a state line.
Emily Waldorf had a doctor as a father, a hospital badge, and a connection to the governor. None of it got her care. What could have made the difference? Different people in office. Before Nov. 3, look up what’s on your ballot with Reproductive Freedom for All’s 2026 midterm map, then send it to your group chat and make a plan to vote together.
If you’re wondering whether one vote or one conversation can really change anything, I get it. But elections are built from individual choices, and ours add up.
On Nov. 3, we get to decide who writes the rules that shape our lives. Our rights are on the ballot, and our generation has the power to protect them.
Prepare for the upcoming election by understanding what’s on your ballot, checking your voter registration, and finding your poll site with the resources below: