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Happy Mother’s Day to all the fabulous moms out there.

So many women have helped mold me into the woman and mother I am today.

When I embarked on this journey into motherhood over 16 years ago, I couldn’t have imagined the highs and lows, the emotional intensity, the instinctual need to protect, the inescapable mom-guilt, the pure joy and unconditional love being a mom would bring out in me.

Today, I feel all of these things still—and also a horror and fear I’ve never experienced as I watch our country systematically go after the rights of women and girls, rights I have enjoyed for my entire life and thought my girls would enjoy as well. The things that have transpired in the last week have left me sick, numb, and full of anger.

So today, as we all spend moments reflecting on mothers and women who help hold our lives together, I ask you to pay attention.

If you really, truly love and support the mothers and women in your lives, vote for them to be respected as fully autonomous human beings with the same constitutional rights to make their own choices as every man in this country enjoys.

This should not be a battle we are faced with in 2022, especially since over 70 percent of Americans today support maintaining constitutional protection to choose under Roe v. Wade.

If you haven’t been paying attention in the last several years, I will say it again: Our democracy is failing—no, it is under willful attack—and we need more people who “love freedom” to pay attention and step up when it’s time to vote.

Celebrate the women in your lives today—and then step up and vote for the candidates supporting women and girls (and other disadvantaged groups also being targeted daily) in November.

We don’t need roses and Hallmark cards—we need rights.