Women affected by GOP abortion bans are speaking out ahead of Trump-Harris election

On Monday, Michelle Obama, campaigning for Vice President Kamala Harris, delivered a rallying cry to the men of America: “The lives of the women you love are at stake in this election.”

During an event in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the former first lady spoke directly to the men in the crowd, explaining how strict abortion bans could put her friends in legal jeopardy, deny their mothers access to life-saving cancer screenings and put their daughters at risk. to call the doctor if complications arise during an unexpected pregnancy. For some across America, these hypothetical situations have already become reality. Since the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in 2022, many women have come forward with stories about the harrowing experience of pregnancy in post-Roe America. On Tuesday, “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski sat down with three of those women to discuss how Republican-backed abortion bans left them fighting for their lives.

In November 2022, Deborah Dorbert, a Florida mother, was five months pregnant with her second child when she found out her baby had a rare disease that would likely cause death soon after delivery. Due to the state's strict abortion ban, doctors refused to terminate Dorbert's pregnancy and forced her to carry the baby to term.

The Florida mother spoke with Brzezinski about the physical and mental toll these months have taken on her and her family.

“I fell into a deep depression and began to have suicidal thoughts,” Dorbert said. “I endured physical pain worse than the labor itself, and I fell into a deep, dark place both physically and mentally as I tried to prepare for (and prepare for) delivery – because life and death were before me met on the same day.”

Dorbert recounted how she was forced to explain the situation to her 4-year-old son. “He asks questions: What is an angel? Where did his brother go? What is heaven? Does he have toys? And I tell him, I don't know.” Kaitlyn Joshua, a mother from Louisiana, was also denied medical care in 2022 due to her state's abortion restrictions. Kaitlyn and her husband Landon were excited to welcome another baby into their family, but unfortunately she suffered a miscarriage just over ten weeks into her pregnancy.

Joshua said two emergency rooms in the state refused to provide her care because the procedures she would need to address her miscarriage were also used for elective abortions. Instead, a nurse offered to keep the mother in her prayers.

“I am a Christian, a woman of faith, and at that moment I did not want or need prayers. I needed access to abortion care,” she told Brzezinski.

Amanda Zurawski, a Texas mother who made headlines for suing the state in 2023 after being denied an abortion, also took part in the panel. She told Dorbert and Joshua that she was proud of them for speaking out and that the pain of their experiences would never truly go away.

“These conversations are not easy,” she told Brzezinski. “They don’t get any easier. They will never get easier. We have suffered enormous grief, trauma and loss – these things will be remembered forever.” At the end of the interview, Brzezinski asked the women why they had decided to speak out now, in the final days of the election.

“I’m coming forward to pass on my son’s legacy,” Dorbert said. “To make the change so no one else has to go through what I went through.”

Joshua added: “For me as a woman of color, as a black woman, I have to say that I stand up for all women of color that look like me. They don’t necessarily want to be on the front lines telling their story – and why should they have to? That’s why I’m here to make sure I am amplifying their voices.”

“I help people see the connections,” she continued. “And understand that if we don’t do what we need to do on November 5th, this could be you too.”

Zurawski then echoed the former first lady's words: “For those who think this might be niche: You will take care of it when it comes to your mother, your sister, your wife, your aunt. “We have to Stop suffering.”