Abortion-rights advocates share stories at Grand Rapids campaign event

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Two women from Texas and Louisiana visited Grand Rapids Tuesday to discuss how abortion bans in their states affected them and rally support for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign.

Amanda Zurawski nearly died from childbirth complications after she was denied an abortion in her home state of Texas. The state’s abortion ban went into effect two days after her water broke.

Kaitlyn Joshua was turned away from two emergency rooms while experiencing a miscarriage in Louisiana.

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Alongside state Rep. Kristian Grant, D-Grand Rapids, the two called for citizens to vote for the Democratic ticket this November to preserve reproductive freedom.

Zurawski said abortion bans don’t align with a pro-life platform.

“In my situation, the bans nearly killed me. So that’s not pro-life for me. It’s not pro-life for my future fertility, my future children that are now harder for me to conceive because of what I went through,” she said. “…There’s nothing pro-life about these bans.”

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Joshua called for the safety of women to be a priority.

“It’s crucial that we have the conversation around pro-life being about both women and babies, not just babies, right? And I think for decades the conversation has been, how can we save the potential of a life? But we don’t ever center women in those conversations,” Joshua said. “So what it would look like to center women as well?”

The two will make campaign stops later Tuesday in Lansing and Detroit before heading off to New Hampshire.

According to a report from The Associated Press, Former President Donald Trump in April said he was proud of the overturn of Roe v. Wade but did not specify whether he would support a national abortion ban, instead saying abortion would be up to the states.

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