Two women affected by abortion restrictions campaign for Biden in key swing states: North Carolina and Wisconsin

NORTH CAROLINA — Two women who experienced complications during pregnancy are now campaigning to get President Joe Biden to speak about the impact of abortion restrictions.

Amanda Zurawski and Kaitlyn Joshua will travel to North Carolina and Wisconsin over the next two weeks to meet with doctors, local officials and voters.

The Biden campaign sees their stories as powerful firsthand accounts of the growing medical danger for many women as Republican-led abortion restrictions complicate health care.

“The issue of abortion is a very heavy topic and I understand that,” Joshua said.

He is 31 years old and is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“But I also understand and believe that the Biden/Harris administration is the only administration that could do anything even remotely close to addressing abortion bans,” Joshua said, “and then also delve into research and understand women’s health in general”. “.

Biden and Democrats see reproductive health as an important factor in the 2024 election.

SEE | Future of medical abortion back in the spotlight ahead of SCOTUS case

Republicans, including Trump, are struggling to figure out how to talk about the issue, if at all. Trump took credit for overturning Roe and suggested abortion should be legal up to 15 weeks. He has promised to make a statement outlining his policies this week.

Since the high court ruling, voters have approved several ballot initiatives across the state to preserve or expand abortion rights. Support for abortion access drove women to the polls during the 2022 midterm elections, marking an unexpected success for Democrats.

Only about a quarter say abortion should always be legal and only about 1 in 10 say it should always be illegal.

Joshua and his husband were excited to have a second baby. But she started experiencing severe bleeding and pain around 11 weeks. She suspected that she was having an abortion.

At an emergency room in Baton Rouge, the doctors who examined her did not confirm whether she was having an abortion, Joshua said, nor did they discuss her medical options. She was sent home to wait.

The bleeding worsened and she went to a second hospital where doctors again sent her home and told her to contact her doctor in a few days. A midwife finally confirmed that Joshua had miscarried.

“Something that sounds as simple as dealing with a miscarriage can’t even be found with a true diagnosis anymore,” Joshua said. “It’s a little wild, right? And it’s really scary.”

Joshua and Zurawski will be in Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte, North Carolina, on Wednesday, a state Biden hopes to flip. The state has enacted a law banning most abortions after 12 weeks, overriding a veto by the Democratic governor.

Next week, they will visit Milwaukee, Eau Claire and Madison, Wisconsin, a state Biden won in 2020. Republicans in the state Assembly attempted to organize a statewide referendum on the April vote that would ban abortion after 14 weeks of pregnancy, more restrictive. than current law, but the legislative session ended without a state Senate vote.

Both women said they felt compelled to enter politics after their own experiences.

SEE | Abortion rights advocates call for greater access to mark anniversary of Roe v. Wade

“People don’t understand how bad it is and how bleak it is,” Zurawski said. “And so the more we continue to share our stories… I think it’s really important to raise awareness and paint this picture.”

Zurawski, 37, of Austin sued Texas last year after she and other women were unable to get medical care because of the state’s abortion laws.

Zurawski went into premature labor in her second trimester, after 18 months of fertility treatments. Then they told her that his baby would not survive.

Doctors said they could not intervene to perform an abortion because Zurawski was not in sufficient medical danger. He had to wait.

She recently returned from a family trip to Disney World and said, “I thought I was going to come home from that trip with a 1-year-old and put her down for a nap.”

“But instead, I’m doing this interview to help Biden’s campaign,” Zurawski said. “It’s the complete opposite world I would have ever seen.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.