Jill Biden held back tears Tuesday as she listened to women describe the physical and mental health consequences of being denied an abortion in the year after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade destroyed.
The first lady spoke with four women about the impact the Dobbs ruling had on their lives. It is part of a series of events that President Joe Biden’s administration is holding leading up to the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
“Dobbs’ decision was devastating,” said Jill Biden. “The Dobbs decision stripped women of their constitutional rights, their ability to make their own health care decisions.”
She hugged the women before their conversation got underway. And she fought back tears as the four women shared their personal stories, holding hands with some of them as they spoke. All women described the life-threatening danger they faced after refusing an abortion while carrying a fetus that could not survive.
An emotional Jill Biden listened to women share their stories of life-threatening conditions they faced after being denied an abortion
The first lady seemed particularly moved when Dr. Texas obstetrician/gynecologist Austin Dennard said she discovered her baby had anencephaly — a condition that causes a baby to be born without parts of the brain and skull.
Dennard wiped away tears as she shared how she knew her baby wouldn’t survive birth and how Texas’ ban on abortion forced her to leave the state for the procedure.
She said she and her husband were “worried and anxious about whether or not we should use a credit card or tell someone where we were going to the East Coast.” We were afraid that our ability to practice medicine would be compromised. It was utterly humiliating.’
“I’m here as a person, who also happens to be a doctor, to tell you that the state of Texas has completely abandoned me of my own reproductive rights, but it has also disassembled the very foundation of the doctor-patient relationship: trust and open honesty.” communication,” she said.
“I never thought I’d need an abortion before a planned one — let alone two. But I did and they were the right decisions for my family and me. The state of Texas should not be making these decisions for me or anyone else.”
Jill Biden listened to women discuss the impact of the Dobbs’ decision on their lives and health
Jill Biden holds hands with Elizabeth Weller of Texas as she speaks about her pregnancy complications and her difficulties seeking medical care
Jill Biden also held hands with Elizabeth Weller of Texas, who described how her water broke when she was 18 weeks pregnant with her first child.
Weller was told by doctors they could not intervene until they could no longer detect a fetal heartbeat or she developed a life-threatening infection.
She returned until she developed an infection severe enough for the hospital to have an abortion.
“I was given two options. I could either stay in the hospital waiting for my baby to die. At that point, I was able to get the abortion I needed to protect my health. Or I could go home and wait for my daughter to die or an infection that could bring about my own demise,” Weller said.
“We asked if we wanted to move to another state, but my doctor who was concerned about me said traveling was too dangerous. The darkest week of my life began when I left the hospital with amniotic fluid actively leaking from my feet down my legs. Every day that passed I felt the willful cruelty of the state.’
Jill Biden has spoken out about her own experience with abortion, when she helped a close friend recover from the procedure before Roe vs. Wade, when it was still illegal.
She has criticized Republicans for rolling back abortion rights. And she has used that and other issues as a rallying cry for the Democratic grassroots. She has copied President Joe Biden in criticizing the policies the Bidens say “MAGA Republicans” will pursue.
“You know what to expect if these MAGA Republicans win. We know it because we’ve lived it,” Jill Biden said at a fundraiser in California last week.
“Remember how hard it was last time? This time it will be even harder,” she noted. The fight for freedom never ends. This is the most important election of our lives.’
Jill Biden kicked off a series of events the White House is hosting to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs’ decision
The first lady met four women in the Blue Room of the White House to hear their stories
On Tuesday’s roundtable, Florida’s Anya Cook described how she faced life-threatening denial of care following a miscarriage.
Her water broke at 16 weeks, but was sent home from the emergency room due to Florida’s abortion ban. The next day she had a miscarriage and returned to the hospital.
“Doctor said I lost more than half of the blood in my body. And I was so weak that I have to stay in the hospital for another six days,” she said.
“All because professional politicians who are not doctors had interfered with basic and essential health care, policy decisions, very personal and private decisions. We don’t know if I can get pregnant now or carry to birth. But the target of our wrath is well known: it is the people who have taken away our human rights to health and liberty and personal autonomy. Someone needs to fight back against these insidious laws in states across the country. This is my fight. This is our fight,” she said.
Nancy Davis of Louisiana shared how she discovered that at 10 weeks her fetus had a condition called acrania, in which the skull does not develop.
Doctors confirmed it was a fatal diagnosis, but said they couldn’t have an abortion because of the state’s abortion laws. She traveled to New York for the procedure.
“I was forced to carry my baby while still grieving. I had to navigate 2,400 miles to a strange place, leaving my children and my family to access abortion,” she said.
The White House is planning a series of high-profile events around the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision.
On Friday, President Joe Biden, Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will join several Democratic abortion rights groups for a special event ahead of Saturday’s anniversary.
For the anniversary itself, Harris will travel to North Carolina to deliver a major speech on the issue of abortion rights as she and Biden run for a second term in the White House.
The Supreme Court decision on June 24, 2022 gave individual states the authority to regulate any aspect of abortion not protected by federal law.
In the aftermath, Democrats used the issue to rally their base ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The party’s ability to retain the Senate and Republicans’ small gains in the House have been blamed on the anger of voters about the Dobbs decision.
Fourteen states currently have bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, one when heart activity can be detected around six weeks, and three after 12 to 15 weeks, according to a tally by the Associated Press.
Of the 17 states with the strictest restrictions, 12 have no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. They all have exceptions to save the woman’s life in certain circumstances.
At least six states have bans that have interrupted courts.
Another state, North Carolina, has a ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy that doesn’t take effect until July 1.
The abortion ban also applies to prescribing pills to induce abortions.
The series of events planned around the anniversary shows that Biden and his campaign are using the issue to rally their voters ahead of the presidential election.
And on Friday, President Biden, Jill Biden, Vice President Harris and Second Mr. Doug Emhoff will join EMILY’s List, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund in marking the one-year anniversary.