Jill Biden brings Austin couple to State of the Union to highlight abortion

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WASHINGTON — An Austin girl who almost died after being denied a medical intervention as a result of of Texas’ abortion legal guidelines will probably be one of first woman Jill Biden’s visitors at the State of the Union tackle Tuesday.

Amanda Zurawski and her husband, Josh, will be a part of Biden in her viewing field for the president’s annual speech so as to highlight the administration’s need to tackle abortion entry, in accordance to the White House.

Last yr, Zurawski’s water broke when she was solely 18 weeks pregnant. Although there was no manner her fetus would in the end survive, there was nonetheless cardiac exercise, so her doctor refused to induce labor, citing the state’s abortion legal guidelines. Instead, they despatched her dwelling. Only after Zurawski developed sepsis, a life-threatening an infection, have been docs keen to terminate her being pregnant.

Texas’ near-total abortion ban permits the process solely to save the life of the pregnant affected person. But since the legislation went into impact this summer season, doctors have reported delaying care due to confusion over the exceptions and worry of prosecution.

The Zurawskis helped marketing campaign for Beto O’Rourke in his problem towards Republican Gov. Greg Abbott final yr, appearing in one of O’Rourke’s last ads.

The White House has been essential of Texas’ abortion ban, which went into impact shortly after the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional proper to the process final summer season. President Joe Biden said it would be his top legislative priority if Democrats retained management of Congress in the midterm elections. Republicans in the end flipped the House, however that hasn’t stopped a vocal group of Democrats from persevering with to introduce laws to restore abortion entry.

U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Houston, was a leading advocate for legislation protecting abortion access last summer, however the laws failed to move the then-evenly break up Senate. In the House final week, she reintroduced the invoice, which might codify the proper to journey to states the place abortion is authorized.

The Zurawskis will be a part of Oksana Markarova, ambassador of Ukraine, and others from round the nation as the first woman’s visitors. The White House additionally invited RowVaughn and Rodney Wells, the dad and mom of Tyre Nichols, and Bono of U2 for his efforts combating HIV and AIDS. They will sit with the second gentleman, Doug Emhoff.

Texas members of Congress are additionally bringing their very own visitors to the State of the Union, providing a possibility for political signaling.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, invited Roya Rahmani, former ambassador from Afghanistan, to present “the women of Afghanistan that they have not been forgotten.” McCaul has been a constant critic of the Biden administration’s withdrawal from the nation, which opened the manner for the Taliban to take over and rescind girls’s rights to training and free motion. McCaul vowed to conduct an investigation into the administration’s withdrawal as chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, will carry Brett Cross, whose daughter Uziyah was killed in the Uvalde college capturing, together with 18 different kids and two lecturers. She was 10 years previous.

Reps. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, and Lance Gooden, R-Terrell, each reached throughout the aisle with their invitations. De La Cruz invited state Rep. Terry Canales, a Democrat representing her hometown, in a bid to transfer previous the bitter partisanship of final yr’s extremely aggressive South Texas elections. Gooden will carry his former Texas House colleague Eric Johnson, a Democrat who’s now mayor of Dallas.