Abortion rights advocates convene in Austin
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Abortion rights advocates and lawmakers will meet in Austin this weekend to strategize how to amplify personal stories of pregnancy complications in a post-Roe America — an approach they believe could be key to swaying anti-abortion voters.
Why it matters: Organizers of Abortion in America, one of the final initiatives of the late former Planned Parenthood head Cecile Richards, chose Texas for the summit because the state has long enforced some of the nation's most restrictive abortion laws.
- The Austin gathering also comes as the GOP-controlled Legislature appears poised to impose restrictions on abortion medications.
What they're saying: Richards felt "so strongly that (the summit) be held in Texas" because it's "the epicenter of so much of our country's conversation around abortion rights and reproductive health," Abortion in America co-creator Lauren Peterson told Axios.
- "So many of the storytellers who we've worked with through Abortion in America, or who the public has gotten to know over these last several years, are in Texas."
State of play: Abortion in America, co-founded by Richards, Peterson and Kaitlyn Joshua, launched last year with the goal of boosting stories about the impact of abortion bans.
- A video from an Abortion in America panel featuring a man sharing the story of his wife's miscarriage went viral last fall.
- "We need to be telling these stories now — while state legislatures are in session, or conversations are happening around implementing ballot measures that would restore abortion access, or proposals to add or clarify exceptions to abortion bans," Peterson said.
Driving the news: More than 200 people are expected to attend the private event, including Austin resident Amanda Zurawski, a plaintiff in a legal challenge against the state's abortion ban.
- Zurawski said she was denied an abortion, despite life-threatening complications during her pregnancy. The Texas Supreme Court last May declined to clarify medical exceptions to the state's abortion ban.
- Summit speakers include former state Sen. Wendy Davis, writer Renee Bracey Sherman, radio host Ryan Hamilton and author Jessica Valenti.
Between the lines: Organizers are not publicizing the event's precise location, citing security concerns.
Flashback: Democrats had hoped that focusing on post-Roe abortion bans could be a winning message in the 2024 election cycle. Former Vice President Harris came to Houston just days before the election to point to Texas as ground zero for abortion restrictions.
- Voters in seven of 10 states approved ballot measures to expand or protect abortion access.
The other side: Voters in Nebraska, South Dakota and Florida rejected efforts to expand abortion access in their state constitutions, and anti-abortion advocates held the annual March for Life in Washington last month, followed by the National Pro-Life Summit.
- In another win for anti-abortion advocates, a Texas judge fined a New York doctor for sending abortion pills to a patient in the Lone Star State. The case is expected to reach the Supreme Court and test the future of shield laws.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who brought the lawsuit, vowed to punish out-of-state doctors attempting to send abortion pills to the state.
- "In Texas, we will always protect innocent life and uphold the laws that protect mothers and unborn babies," Paxton said in a statement last week.