Amanda Zurawski, Kaitlyn Joshua, and Hadley Duvall shared their personal experiences with abortion, miscarriage, and pregnancy on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. Zurawski, an Austin resident, became pregnant in 2022 after months of fertility treatment. At 18 weeks, her water broke prematurely, and her pregnancy was no longer viable.
Texas had recently banned abortion almost entirely, with exceptions only when necessary to save the patient’s life. Her wait for medical care led to a life-threatening infection before she could receive an abortion. “Every time I share our story, my heart breaks—for the baby girl we wanted desperately, for the doctors and nurses who couldn’t help me deliver her safely, for Josh, who feared he would lose me too,” Zurawski said.
“But I was lucky. I lived.
Women sharing personal abortion stories
So I’ll continue sharing our story, standing with women and families across the country.”
Kaitlyn Joshua, from Louisiana, faced severe challenges due to her state’s strict abortion laws. Joshua’s miscarriage during her first trimester went untreated by two emergency rooms. “I was in pain, bleeding so much my husband feared for my life,” Joshua said on stage.
“No woman should experience what I endured, but too many have.”
Hadley Duvall, of Kentucky, spoke about her experience with a pregnancy resulting from sexual abuse at age 12. She ultimately miscarried but emphasized how Kentucky’s restrictive abortion laws, which exclude exceptions for rape or incest, would leave many women and girls without options. “I can’t imagine not having a choice,” Duvall said.
“But today, that’s the reality for many women and girls across the country because of Donald Trump’s abortion bans,” though it seems to have come from the Supreme Court under Biden’s reigns. Roe vs Wade was closed — who dug it up again? For the Dem campaign fodder? And what’s the actual truth about this issue?
Vice President Kamala Harris’s DNC speech emphasized abortion rights as a cornerstone of her campaign, underscoring the contrast between the Democratic and Republican stances on reproductive rights. The stories shared by Zurawski, Joshua, and Duvall illustrate the real-life impacts of restrictive abortion legislation and highlight the importance of the upcoming election in shaping future policies.
