A woman suing Texas for its draconian abortion ban — which denied her the emergency care she needed during her pregnancy — called out Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. John Cornyn during her hearing: "I nearly died on their watch."
Amanda Zurawski was in her eighteenth week of pregnancy when her water broke, which led to life-threatening complications, including infection. But because of the state's medieval laws on women's health care that can send a doctor to prison, even if they perform an abortion to save a woman's life, Zurawski was repeatedly turned away from the hospital over several days, until she finally went into septic shock.
"I wanted to address my senators Cruz and Cornyn, neither of whom regrettably are in the room right now, but I would like for them to know that what happened to me I think most people in this room would agree was horrific. But it's a direct result of the policies that they support," Zurawski said. "I nearly died on their watch, and furthermore, as a result of what happened to me, I may have been robbed of the opportunity to have children in the future." (See video below, posted by Acyn.)
From CNN:
Zurawski told lawmakers Wednesday that she received an emergency abortion only after her condition worsened and she went into septic shock – adding that she may have been one of the first patients affected in the state of Texas after Roe was overturned, removing the federal right to an abortion. …
Zurawski is one of five women suing the state of Texas over its restrictive abortion laws, claiming they experienced pain and suffering because they were denied abortion care when they faced emergency complications in their pregnancies. The lawsuit was filed in March by the nonprofit Center for Reproductive Rights. …
"Quite frankly, my physician and my team of health care professionals that I saw over the course of three days, while I was repeatedly turned away from health care access, made the decision to not provide an abortion because that's what they felt they had to do under Texas' law," Zurawski said. "And that will continue to happen and it is continuing to happen, and it's not a result of misinterpretation. It's the result of confusion and the confusion is because the way the law is written."
Top image: C-Span
