Alsobrooks presses the case for national abortion rights in critical Maryland Senate race

GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) — Angela Alsobrooks sees the erosion of reproductive freedom for women with her 19-year-old daughter in mind.

“She’s a sophomore, and she literally has fewer rights in this moment than her grandmother and mother,” Alsobrooks said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Alsobrooks’ daughter, now entering her second year at Spelman College in Georgia, would have limited options under that state’s new six-week abortion ban if she faced a decision about whether to end a pregnancy. Now locked in one of the nation’s toughest U.S. Senate races in Maryland, and with Democrats’ thin Senate majority on the line, Alsobrooks hopes to be able to do something to protect not just her daughter’s autonomy but that of women throughout the United States with a new federal law protecting abortion rights.

Alsobrooks’ Republican opponent, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, has said he, too, favors federal legislation to restore abortion rights nationwide. But Alsobrooks says the need to protect women’s freedom to make those decisions for themselves is too important to risk giving Republicans a majority by electing the popular former governor in what is typically a reliably Democratic state.

“The question is not whether or not we like Larry Hogan,” she said at a recent campaign stop in Columbia, Maryland. “That is not the question. It’s not even whether or not it’s a good idea to vote for him for governor. The question we are answering is: Who should have the 51st vote?”

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