Kansas women overwhelmingly voted to protect reproductive rights in 2022—over 100 politicians continue to ignore the will of voters.

It was a typical Friday in the summer of 2022. I was driving my daughters to camp, sipping my coffee and listening as they belted lines to yet another Taylor Swift song in the backseat. It was about 9 a.m., which also meant it was about time for the Supreme Court of the United States to release its weekly opinions.

I had been anxious for weeks. The unprecedented leak in May of a draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade had given us a glimpse of what was to come. But I, like many Americans, continued to hold onto the false hope that the actual decision would be different. Waiting for these decisions to be announced became an odd ritual in my week. For over a month, we had heard nothing.

But that Friday — June 24, 2022 — would be different.

As we rolled into the camp parking lot, my phone began to buzz. I glanced at the messages and my heart dropped. For the girls singing in the backseat, America had changed in an instant. I felt sad and angry and afraid, but I took a deep breath, parked the car, and let them run happily to their day at camp. What they didn’t know — because I didn’t have the heart to tell them yet — was that they would now grow up in an America where they had fewer rights than I did at their age.

The next 40 days would be the toughest but most inspiring days of my professional career. As my daughters joined their fellow campers — strong, boisterous, and carefree — I turned my attention to my job. I was the communications director for the campaign to defend abortion rights in Kansas. My brilliant colleagues were already working. Reporters were already calling. And Americans were already starting to see the post-Roe reality that would put our health, safety, and lives at risk.