Two women from southern states spoke. forward on tuesday About the trauma of not receiving medical care when she lost her pregnancy in the fall. Roe v. Wade.
Amanda Zulawski of Texas and Caitlin Joshua of Louisiana both said they were trying to get pregnant.
Zulawski went through what she describes as a grueling year of infertility treatments, but her hard-fought pregnancy ended tragically after fatal complications at just 18 weeks.
However, abortion is almost completely prohibited in Texas. Zulawski was told by doctors that her daughter's life needed to be put in jeopardy before she could give birth to her daughter before she was viable, effectively having an abortion. said. She endured two bouts of sepsis before having her abortion. The damage from this experience will likely make her unable to conceive in the future.
“I am in this position because of what happened to me as a result of the ban that is in place in the state of Texas,” Zulawski said. Forward. “…I can't speak enough about the emotional and psychological toll it takes. I'm much better now, but it was pretty bad for a while.”
Zurwaski's story I'm about to die After her miscarriage in 2022, now. new tv ad From President Joe Biden's re-election campaign.
“because [former President] murder of donald trump Roe vs. Wade, Amanda was denied a standard medical treatment to prevent an infectious disease: an abortion,'' the ad reads. “…she almost died twice. This infection has taken such a toll that Amanda may never be able to become pregnant again.”
she also has sued Texas.
Zulawski and Joshua traveled to Lansing, Detroit and Grand Rapids on Tuesday to represent the Biden campaign. They stopped in Lansing to speak with Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, about concerns about abortion in Michigan if former President Donald Trump is re-elected this fall.
Joshua told Nessel that she discovered she was pregnant weeks after Louisiana enacted a near-total abortion ban. She and her husband were excited about the idea of having a second child. with my 4 year old daughter. However, if she was more than two months pregnant, she was told that she would have to wait a month to receive a prenatal appointment, and was denied reproductive health care from the start.
“I called them and said, 'Is this because of my idea?'” And they said, “Yes.” “Because abortion is prohibited, the prenatal appointment was scheduled during a time when miscarriages are less common to avoid potential legal liability for health care providers,” Joshua told Nessel. “Just after my first prenatal visit, a week before she was 11 weeks old, I started experiencing heavy bleeding and pain worse than childbirth.”
she had had a miscarriage. But instead of technically being allowed an abortion to safely get her through her pregnancy, Joshua was sent to her home, she said.
in louisiana illuminator column In the book, published last month, Joshua writes that staff members “told me they were praying for me. I'm a Christian woman and I go to church every Sunday. That's what I needed.” was not their prayer, but their access to answers and care.”
But Joshua said he was unable to receive the care he needed and had to suffer alone.
“It took me weeks to get through the pregnancy alone at home and it was really scary. This experience opened my eyes to how black women are dying at an alarming rate in this country. ” Joshua said Tuesday.
Black women are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women; According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If you look at access to obstetrics and gynecology, as always, if you look at access to just basic prenatal care; Roe vs. Wade After that there is a clear contrast [in terms of] “The correlation with abortion bans is responsible for the fact that abortion rates are worse than they were before,” Joshua said. forward. “As a black activist woman, and most importantly, as someone who has experienced adversity as a result of the abortion ban, I have the opportunity to bring that conversation to the table.”
Nessel said that 20 years ago, when she was pregnant with triplets, she had to have an abortion to save the lives of her other two babies, which she did.
“I can't imagine, literally can't imagine, that you would be in the situation that you've been in right now in your home state.egg'' Nessel said. “I have politicians telling me what I can and can't do with my body and have to risk my life just because I happen to be a woman who wants to reproduce and have children. Either I have to, or I could potentially say that. I never had any children, but that doesn't seem like a professional life to me in any way. .”
Nessel said she is frightened by the prospect of Trump becoming president.She insisted there was no mysterious claim that she had no interest in enforcing the federal abortion ban. be against What voters know: President Trump happily accepts responsibility for national collapse egg.
And with states attacking in vitro fertilization (IVF) and questions being raised over surrogacy, the path to parenthood is less clear for many under Republican leadership, Zulawski said. forward.
Earlier this year, she and her husband Josh Said They had planned to move her frozen embryos out of Texas, fearing the state would ban IVF.
“It really opened my eyes to how these laws and the way they're written are actually without limits. And we're seeing MAGA Republicans take them as far as they can to control women up and down the United States.” I know I’m going,” Zulawski said. forward. “Anyone who lives in a state that thinks they're safe thinks they're protected. If Donald Trump is reelected, no one is safe.”
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