Gail Pellerin — who is running for California State Assembly District 28 — had an abortion when she was 26. She told her daughter, Emily, her story just before Emily left for college. It was hard for the then-Santa Cruz County Clerk to make herself that vulnerable. But her openness changed their relationship and made Emily more willing to talk to Gail about her sexual assault a few years later. In a Community Voices opinion piece, they talk about their mother-daughter bond, their fury over the end of Roe and the fight that lies ahead to secure abortion rights for women.
