USA – Abortion Bans Upended Their Lives—Now They’re Fighting Back, One Story at a Time

Across the country, abortion storytellers are putting the struggle for reproductive freedom into powerful new words.

Regina Mahone, The Nation
April 7, 2025

Shanette Williams sat patiently on the stage of an auditorium in Austin, Texas, staring at the photograph of her daughter Amber that was resting in her lap. The photo appeared on the front of a rose-dappled pamphlet, below the words “Celebration of Life” and “September 16, 1993–August 19, 2022.”
Occasionally, Williams looked up, out past the audience of 200 or in the direction of the other women who shared the stage with her, each recounting the horrors they had experienced under new, extreme abortion bans. Then it was Williams’s turn to speak.

“Good morning, everyone,” she said. “My name is Shanette.”

Continued: https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/abortion-in-america-storytelling/

Inside the Harris campaign strategy linking abortion and freedom

The messaging is part of an effort to pick up conservative and independent voters in purple and red states in the wake of the end of federal abortion rights.

Jennifer Gerson
November 4, 2024

Speaking to voters in Malvern, Pennsylvania, last month, former Rep. Liz Cheney — a noted anti-abortion Republican — said that the current state of abortion bans was “not sustainable” and needed to be rethought.

“I think that there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life, but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision, and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need. I think this is an issue that we’re not seeing break down across party lines,” said Cheney, campaigning alongside Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

Continued: https://19thnews.org/2024/11/harris-abortion-freedom-campaign-strategy/

Democrats Aren’t Afraid to Say “Abortion” Anymore

At the Democratic National Convention, the party’s bold new messaging on reproductive rights takes center stage.

Abby Vesoulis, Mother Jones
Aug 21, 2024

In a coveted primetime speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Monday night, three women shared the stage to speak about their harrowing personal experiences with pregnancy and abortion.

Amanda Zurawski told the story of how she was denied an abortion after going into pre-term labor well before her desired pregnancy was considered viable; the Texas woman developed a life-threatening case of sepsis and spent three days in an intensive care unit. Kentucky’s Hadley Duvall recounted how her stepfather raped her when she was 12, resulting in an (obviously) unwanted pregnancy that she (thankfully) did not carry to term due to a miscarriage. Kaitlyn Joshua discussed being turned away from two hospital emergency rooms that refused to treat her active miscarriage due to Louisiana’s strict abortion laws.

Continued: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/08/democrats-arent-afraid-to-say-abortion-anymore-dnc-chicago/

Bleeding and in pain, she couldn’t get 2 Louisiana ERs to answer: Is it a miscarriage?

December 29, 2022
ROSEMARY WESTWOOD
7-Minute Listen with transcript

BATON ROUGE, La. – When Kaitlyn Joshua found out she was pregnant in mid-August, she and her husband, Landon Joshua, were excited to have a second baby on the way. They have a 4-year-old daughter, and thought that was just the right age to help out with a younger sibling.

At about six weeks pregnant, Joshua, 30, called a physicians' group in Baton Rouge. She wanted to make her first prenatal appointment there for around the eight-week mark, as she had in her first pregnancy. But Joshua says the woman on the line told her she was going to have to wait over a month.

Continued: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/12/29/1143823727/bleeding-and-in-pain-she-couldnt-get-2-louisiana-ers-to-answer-is-it-a-miscarria