By Democratic Party Chair Nancy Worley
“We are now in that joyous part of the year when we celebrate our graduating students and the mothers who raised them. But for both our graduates and Alabama moms, times are certainly tougher than they used to be.
Under the leadership of the Republican Supermajority, public education has been under constant attack. From the loss of educators to the budget cuts and wastes of taxpayer dollars on risky “reforms” that have been proven unsuccessful, it is harder today than ever before for our children to graduate.
Moms have also been under attack for the last five years. This year, Republicans in the Alabama Senate attempted to pass legislation that would kick new moms out of the hospital less than 48 hours after giving birth. And under Republican leadership, only 17 of Alabama’s 54 rural counties still have OB/GYN clinics to provide delivery and pre-natal care to expecting mothers.
It is clear that after only five years in leadership, and with a supermajority that gives them absolute power in the state, the Republicans have failed the people of Alabama, and have especially failed Alabama’s mothers and students.
So as we celebrate moms and graduations, let’s consider how much harder it is now under this Republican Supermajority to be a mom and to finish school. Let’s use this time as both a celebration and a call to action; a call to stand with Alabama students and mothers, and fight back against these anti-women and anti-education policies of the Republican Supermajority.”
Nancy Worley is the Chairwoman of the Alabama Democratic Party. She spent more than 25 years as an educator in the Decatur public school system, and is a former Secretary of State and former president of the Alabama Education Association.
