Congresswoman Katherine Clark, Former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, Patients, Providers, and Advocates Spotlight Anniversaries of Deadly Texas Abortion Bans
Watch the event here.
Austin, TX –– Today, Congresswoman Katherine Clark (MA-05) and former Texas State Senator Wendy Davis joined Free & Just patient and physician storytellers from across Texas to highlight how Trump-era and Republican-led attacks on abortion access are harming Texas families. Through the power of storytelling, patients and providers will spotlight not only deeply personal and painful moments, but also will uplift the real-world consequences of abortion bans.
The event kicked off a week of action in Texas, with advocates, storytellers, and partner organizations across the state spotlighting how abortion bans harm women and families. The week of action is bookended by two grim anniversaries: August 25th marks three years since the enactment of Texas’ trigger ban, which outlaws almost all abortions in the state, and September 1st marks four years since the enactment of SB 8 in 2021, which banned abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected – usually around six weeks.
At the event, Congresswoman Clark, patient and physician storytellers, and community leaders shared how attacks on reproductive freedom harm women and families in Texas and across the country.
"For three years, Texas Republicans have systematically banned reproductive health care, criminalized doctors, and stripped their own residents of bodily autonomy,” said Democratic Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (MA-05). “Clinics are boarded up, doctors are fleeing the state, and innocent people are paying the price with their lives. And now, these extremists are doubling down and trying to take this chaos nationwide. The American people are fighting back – and we will not let up until we restore reproductive freedom in every state and every zip code.”
“Unfortunately, Texas tends to be ground zero for the passage of these impingements on our constitutional freedoms, and also, unfortunately, tends to write the playbook for so many other states. We see that not only in abortion bans on the restriction of abortion medication, the fight to try to restrict that medication and its use all over the country, but we're also seeing it with the dramatic defunding of reproductive health care,” said Former Texas Senator Wendy Davis. “When we are denying women the ability to control our own reproductive choices, when we are denying women the ability to control our own health, our lives, and our ability, of course to pursue becoming parents one day as we choose to do, and to live the life that we all deserve; These constraints, upon constraints, upon constraints are creating an absolute traumatic, dramatically terrible situation in the lives of women in our state — and it will continue to have consequences.”
“Instead of helping families recover after July’s devastating floods, instead of listening to Texans, the legislature has spent this session redrawing congressional maps to protect their power and advancing another cruel abortion ban,” said Kaitlyn Kash, an original plaintiff in Zurawski v. Texas. “As a Texan with firsthand experience of what happens when men hastily pass laws about medical care, I am terrified at the thought of what health care will look like if SB 7 passes. When my baby was diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly, I was sent home with my medical records and told to figure it out. I was then treated like a criminal for trying to access the medication that this bill targets for a subsequent miscarriage. And then I nearly died in childbirth because I needed a D&C, a procedure that is constantly caught up in these bans. That is what it looks like to live in Texas under our existing three abortion bans. And I have to ask, what will it look like under a fourth?”
“I am here because Texas law forced me to flee my home state, not once but twice in one year, to receive abortion care that was medically necessary. I worry every day that more women in Texas will suffer, or even die, because of the extreme abortion bans that politicians have forced upon us,” said Hollie Cunningham, an original plaintiff in Zurawski v. Texas. “Since SB 8, since the Supreme Court's cruel Dobbs decision, and since Texas' trigger ban, dozens of women like me have been denied the care they need in the face of dangerous life-threatening pregnancies. No woman should ever be forced to suffer or risk her life because of an extreme political agenda. The fear, pain, and abandonment I felt will stay with me forever, but I will not stop speaking out. My hope is that by sharing my story and by standing together, we can make change. We can restore reproductive freedom, not only for Texas women, but for women across this country.”
“Despite taking every step I could as a teenager to be proactive about my reproductive health, and being in no position to navigate pregnancy or parenthood, I was forced to schedule an appointment a month out and travel over 700 miles, or 11 hours, from San Antonio, TX to Albuquerque, NM to access an abortion,” said DakotaRei Frausto, a college student who struggled to access birth control as a teenager. “To complacent politicians, we are nothing more than numbers. We are not patients, friends, mothers, or daughters. My abortion saved my life. It opened doors. It allowed me to invest in my community and myself and recognize the power an individual can have. And this is exactly why Texas is relentless in its attacks on all forms of reproductive justice. Pregnancy should not be a death sentence, and abortion should not be a prison sentence. Texans deserve to have a say in how they have children, don't have children, and raise the children they have in safe, sustainable environments.”
“As the mother of three wonderful children, I know how beautiful and special pregnancy and motherhood can be. However, as a doctor, I also know that pregnancy is not without risks. Abortion restrictions rob people of choice and make my job harder to do,” said Dr. Anitra Beasley, obstetrician gynecologist. “During SB 8, it was heart-wrenching to tell people that they could not have an abortion, because there was cardiac activity in their five-week pregnancy. To walk out of the room and hear a patient that had been so stoic during the appointment sobbing because they know that they could not get out of state and would have to continue the pregnancy. Now post Dobbs, these patients are often unseen and left out of conversations, but they should not be forgotten. I stay here practicing in Texas because I am a Texan, and my fellow Texans need a good doctor and good health care, but it is hard. It is hard to be constrained by harmful laws that do not help women. We should be doing everything in our power to help women lead healthy lives, have healthy pregnancies, and have healthy outcomes.”
Texas has imposed more abortion restrictions than almost any other state, but extremist lawmakers want to go even further. Last week, the Houston Chronicle’s editorial board blasted Texas Republicans for advancing SB 7, the dangerous bill being considered during the second special legislative session, allowing private citizens to sue anyone who provides abortion medication — even when it’s used to save a woman’s life.
If you are interested in speaking with any of the storytellers quoted above, or any other Texas storytellers impacted by the state’s abortion bans, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us and malachi@freeandjust.us.