Kaitlyn Joshua of Baton Rouge speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The Democratic National Convention heard the stories of three women Monday night who struggled to obtain reproductive health care after the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the 49-year-old Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.
They included Kaitlyn Joshua of Baton Rouge, who shared that she was refused treatment for her miscarriage because doctors feared the criminal consequences of Louisiana’s strict abortion ban. State law allows abortions in instances when a pregnant person’s life is in jeopardy or they risk permanent damage to a vital organ, but physicians have said the law lacks enough clarity to ensure they won’t face prosecution.
Joshua was unable to obtain prenatal care during the first trimester of her pregnancy, which she said her doctor attributed to the state’s abortion law.
When Joshua went into labor 11 weeks into her pregnancy, she said she was turned away from two emergency rooms. Doctors use the same drug to treat miscarriages as they do abortions, leaving some caregivers to fear they could face criminal consequences under Louisiana law even if they provide legal treatment for a miscarriage.
“I was in pain, bleeding so much my husband feared for my life,” Joshua said. “No woman should experience what I endured, but too many have.”
Also speaking on the first night of the convention were Hadley Duvall and Amanda Zurawski, who with Joshua have actively campaigned for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Duvall has spoken out frequently about the strict abortion law in her home state of Kentucky . When she was 12, Duvall was raped and impregnated by her stepfather. She eventually miscarried and, now in her 20s, remains critical of the narrow exceptions to Kentucky’s abortion ban that, like Louisiana’s, doesn’t allow the procedure in instances of rape and incest.
Zurawski experienced a pregnancy that became nonviable after 18 weeks, but she was unable to access abortion care for three days — and only then because she had developed a life-threatening sepsis infection.
Zurawski joined a lawsuit against the state of Texas over its abortion ban. It argued the law, just like a comparable measure in Louisiana, was too vague with regards to its language about when abortion is permissible to save someone’s life. The Texas Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Zurawski and other plaintiffs, without adding any clarity to the law.
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