Cori Bush and other congresswomen share personal abortion stories
Democratic lawmakers shared the personal stories behind their past decisions to have abortions during a House oversight committee meeting about reproductive rights on Thursday.
Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri, Barbara Lee of California and Pramila Jayapalof Washington testified during the committee hearing and also shared details about their abortions earlier during an exclusive interview with MSNBC on Wednesday.
During testimony, Lee described how, in the days before the supreme court’s 1973 Roe v Wade decision legalized abortion in the US, she had to travel to a “back-alley clinic” in Mexico with a family friend to receive the procedure, an experience that terrified her.
“I was one of the lucky ones, Madam Chair. A lot of girls and women in my generation died from unsafe abortions … My personal experience shaped my beliefs to fight for people’s reproductive freedom,” said Lee during the hearing.
After experiencing severe postpartum depression after a previous pregnancy, Jayapal said she too decided to terminate her pregnancy.
“Whether the choice to have an abortion is easy or hard, whether there are traumatic situations or not, none of that should be the issue. It is simply nobody’s business what choices we as pregnant people make about our own bodies,” said Jayapal.
Bush, who also shared her experience in an interview with Vanity Fair and at a rally earlier this month, discussed her decision to have an abortion following a sexual assault when she was 17.
“To all the Black women and girls who have had abortions and will have abortions, we have nothing to be ashamed of. We live in a society that has failed to legislate love and justice for us,” said Bush during the committee proceedings.
The hearing examined Texas’s SB8 law, that bans abortions after six weeks and allows private citizens to sue anyone accused of aiding or abetting an illegal procedure.
The supreme court, which decided earlier this month not to block the Texas law, will also be hearing arguments on 1 December that could challenge the Roe v Wade decision, another critical moment that has brought conversations around reproductive rights to the fore.
The committee hearing examined the Texas law and other potential obstacles to abortion access.