Amanda Zurawski spoke in Bucks County on July 12, 2024, about her near-death experience when she was unable to get an abortion in Texas just days after that state's abortion ban went into effect. (Emily Neil/WHYY)
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The Biden-Harris campaign hosted an event in Bucks County on Friday, highlighting the consequences of abortion bans through one woman’s story.
Amanda Zurawski and her husband, Josh, were “over the moon” when they discovered she was pregnant in the spring of 2022. But at 18 weeks, Zurawski developed “catastrophic complications,” which meant a miscarriage was inevitable and her life was in danger. Texas had just passed a near-total ban on abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, and doctors were hesitant to intervene until Zurawski’s condition was life-threatening. They waited three days, until she developed sepsis and nearly died.
Last year, Zurawski joined other plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging Texas law was too vague about what constitutes a “life-threatening” situation. The Texas Supreme Court rejected the argument, leaving the law unchanged.
Zurawski told WHYY News that the fight for reproductive health care affects even those living in states like Pennsylvania, where abortion is legal through 24 weeks of gestation and beyond if a pregnant person’s life or health is in danger. Currently, 21 states ban or significantly restrict abortion.
“We know that Pennsylvanians are pro-choice,” she said. “And it’s very clear and important that they understand that if Trump is reelected, that’s at risk, and no state will be safe. No one in any state will be able to access safe reproductive care if Trump is reelected in November, and so it’s critical that we vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
On Friday, Zurawski was joined by U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean and Mary Gay Scanlon, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Pa. first congressional district Democratic candidate Ashley Ehasz, state attorney general candidate Eugene DePasquale and other elected officials. All emphasized the importance of abortion rights in the upcoming election.
“Amanda being here today makes it crystal clear the impacts of a bunch of politicians who think they should decide for you some of the most fundamental, personal decisions,” Kenyatta said.
He said that though it is “unequivocally a women’s issue,” abortion rights should concern all people.
“They are coming for the right to choose because of the marker that it lays in the ground,” he continued. “If politicians can decide whether or not you start or expand a family, then there’s nothing else that they cannot decide for you.”
Bucks County resident Carrie Robb, 47, said she attended the event because she’s “terrified” of what Republicans want to do with abortion policy.
“I’m just appalled by it. And it makes me really sad,” Robb said, choking back tears.
She said she’s also worried about the lack of access to reproductive health care in Bucks County since the closing of the Warminster Planned Parenthood location in June. The county currently has one Planned Parenthood location.
“When I was in my young adult years, I didn’t know where to go. So that’s where I went,” Robb said. “And that was the best thing for me because they educated me. And Planned Parenthood does a lot of good work for women. It’s really upsetting to me, that there’s one less place for women to go to get help and receive help.”
Michelle Leiby, 55, a Bucks County resident, wiped tears from her eyes after speaking with Zurawski following the event. She said her own great-great-grandmother died from complications following an at-home abortion.
“I was born here, but I did live 20 years in Texas, and to know everything that Amanda has been through, as a woman, it’s just so important,” she said. “We have to stand up, we have to be present, to give us our own rights to our life. I mean, in her case, you know, her life was in jeopardy. But this is just a fundamental right, as a human being, as a woman in America.”
Over the last couple of months, Zurawski has been traveling around the country, sharing her story and encouraging voters to support Biden-Harris in November.
“What really motivates me is the people that I meet, because every time I attend an event or a rally, a press conference even, I meet so many people who are fighting in their own communities, in their own states,” she said.
Zurawski said she hasn’t considered moving from Texas.
“I think that’s exactly what they would like me to do,” she said. “I think they would like me to run away scared. But as long as I stay in Texas and keep fighting back, they can’t pretend that this problem doesn’t exist. And so no, I’ve always been a fighter, and I’ll stick around until we fix this.”
Anti-abortion activists argue that under Pennsylvania’s current abortion law, the mother’s life is protected.
“I think it’s important to remember that in Pennsylvania, under the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act, there is an exception for life of the mother and for irreparable harm to a major bodily function,” said Maria Gallagher, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation. “And any legislation that we pursue in Pennsylvania has a life of the mother exception.”
President Donald Trump has argued that states should determine abortion policy.
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