Page 77 of 107 Days

I am the daughter of a woman who dedicated her life to women’s health.

Shyamala Gopalan could have had a very easy life in India, but she chose to come to America because it was the leader in breast cancer research.

Finding a cure was her life’s work, and by isolating and characterizing the progesterone receptor gene, she advanced understanding of breast oncology.

I had the words “mammary gland” and “uterus” in my vocabulary long before I could spell them.

When I got my first period, I was at my best friend’s house.

My mom’s reaction: “I wish you’d been home!

” For her, it was a special moment, something to celebrate.

If she saw a Playboy magazine on a newsstand, she’d note: “The female hip and breast exist to procreate our species.”

Once, when we were living in Montreal, she came home visibly angry about something that had happened in the lab. A male scientist had been walking around with a breast, uncovered, on a petri dish. “Do you think he would have walked around with an uncovered penis on that plate?” she fumed.

As a prosecutor I worked with women and girls who were victims of rape and incest. To tell a victim of a violent crime, a violation of her body, that she has no say in what happens to her body next is immoral.

You do not have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to say that the government shouldn’t be telling her what to do.

Some advisers told me not to put those words in my stump speech: “It will turn people off.” But my mother’s daughter was not going to leave these truthful words unsaid, no matter how uncomfortable some may feel.

Since Trump enabled the overthrow of Roe , the consequences have gone beyond denial of basic rights to the denial of care and the loss of health and life.

I had chosen to come to Texas to talk about this because the state’s elected leaders had enacted the most restrictive and cruel laws in the country.

There are no exceptions for rape, incest, or fatal fetal anomalies.

The medical emergency language is so vague that doctors, fearing prosecution, have turned away women who needed lifesaving care.

Because of confusion about what is and is not legal in Texas, women have unnecessarily lost fallopian tubes due to delayed treatment of ectopic pregnancies.

Dozens have died of sepsis due to delays in treating miscarriages.

Although Trump, when he finally got to Michigan, derided me for being “at a dance party with Beyoncé,” the superstar did not come to the rally as an entertainer. She came to speak from the heart about an issue that mattered to her and about the country she wants to see.

Months earlier, she had given me permission to use her song “Freedom” as my campaign anthem.

No matter how many times I walked out onstage to those stirring lyrics and her powerful voice, it always lifted me.

When Beyoncé let me know she would rather speak in support of my candidacy than merely perform, I was moved by her sincerity and her courage.

“I’m not here as a celebrity, I’m not here as a politician,” she said. “I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies. A world where we are not divided.”

She told the crowd: “It’s time for America to sing a new song.”