Unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. From the Nations Capital to wherever you are. Because the opinion that matters most is your own. This is what democracy looks like. Cspan powered by cable. First Lady Jill Biden hosted several women directly affected by the supreme courts reversal of the roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed abortion access. They each talked about their experiences in the wake of the building that was handed down one year ago and the impact that decision yet on healthcare. [inaudible conversations] how are you . Well, i like that right off the bat. Nice to see. Thank you for being here. Nice to meet you. How are you doing . Molly, do you want a hug, to . [laughing] is this might or somebody else . Its mine. [laughing] okay. You want me to start . All right. I have prepared remarks. Anyway, thank you all for being here today. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having us. Nearly one year ago, the Dobbs Decision took away womens constitutional rights, their ability to make their own health care decisions. Today, 18 states have abortion bans in the fact. And the consequences of these bands are far beyond the right to choose. Women are being denied Access Communications that treat arthritis and cancer, even when they arent pregnant. Survivors of rape and incest are being forced to travel across state lines for care. Doctors have stopped providingct the care that they know is best for their patients because they dont know which procedures are legal. And like those who are with us today, far, far too many women are experiencing devastating consequences to their health, theirnc fertility, and their lives. Turned away from emergency rooms. Delayed treatment. Mourning loss, while barely surviving the resulting infections. The Dobbs Decision was devastating. And joe is doing everything he can do to fight back. But the only way that we can ensure that every woman has the fundamental freedoms she deserves is for congress to make the protections of roe v. Wade the law of the land once again. So weve got to make our voices heard. For the women whose lives are on the line ande for the fathers ad brothers and husbands and sons who love them. We need men in this fight, to come which im sure youll all probably saying the same thing. Today, we are joined by four women who are doing just that, speaking up about their experiences. And i know that it isnt easy to relive what youve already gone through. But stories like yours are how we shed light on the cruel and devastatinghe consequences of those bands. I want toqu thank you all for yr candor and your courage. And now we are going to have a conversation led by jenn klein, the director of our gender policy council, who has worked tirelessly on this issue i know i can already feel the emotion. Honestly. Thank you. Thank you, dr. Biden, and thank you to all of you for coming to join us today for this really important conversation. Im going to start with you, if youre ready, elizabeth, i will start with you. Can you start by sharing your experience . In may of last year i was 19 weeks pregnant and an c abortion ban was already in effect. This is my first pregnancy and we would soon be starting a family. We opted to skip genetic test because i was born with policy which cause partial paralysis in my right arm. I knew i want to continue the pregnancy and death to this time everything looked great. But the day after celebrate our first mothers day my water broke. My doctor told me once that happened a baby can no longer develop or thrive. She also said my body was no vulnerable to serious infection and that doing nothing could result in the loss of my uterus, meaning my future fertility and potentially my life. It was heartbreaking and terrifying all at once. I could either remain pregnant and give birth to my baby that would inevitably die, or terminate the pregnancy and preserve my own health. We decided to have an abortion. But the next day my doctor told me that due to texas law my requests for an abortion have been denied. Consequently,sa i was given two options. I could either stay in the hospital to wait for my baby to die at which point i could get the abortion are needed to protect my health, or i could go home and wait for either my daughters death or for an infection developed that might cause my own demise. We asked about going to another statement by doctor concern for me said the traveling was too dangerous. The darkest week of my life began as i left the hospital and amniotic fluid actively leaked down myy leg. With every passing day i felt the states intentional cruelty. My baby would not survive. Ilife didnt matter and it ws nothing i could do about that. With every passing day i was reminded of my inadequacies of not being able to bring a baby to term. The anguish of losing my daughter was a given your pregnancy loss happens but in no circumstance should we as a society of its intrusion into our health our privacy and her dignity. Life is fragile enough. Everyonesas reasons first seekg out an abortion is personal to them and valid. I see and feel that now more than ever. Denying access to abortion is denying fundamental healthcare and if we allow this to continue, women will die if they havent already. Thank you. Thank you so much, elizabeth. Anya, can we turn to you next to share your story . Last year the state of floridas taking week abortion ban very nearly killed me, and we still dont know how much damage that experience has done to our dream of one day having a family. Like countless other couples we hard to have a child before starting ivf we lost more than a dozen pregnancies. Only one of us making it past six weeks, and that was an ectopic pregnancy. Similar experiences has helped me ease some of my pain. Then last december 18 pregnancy was going alongk so well that te weeks ticked off, passing 12, 1016. We allowed ourselves the luxury of hope in went shopping for the first time and nicknamed her our bunny. But a few days later my water broke, gushing everywhere. And my dear husband derek rushed me to the er at the local hospital we had come to trust. The diagnosis wasex devastatingy vital. My membranes had ruptured, every condition. Our daughter cannot possibly survive without amniotic fluid, and doctor said she likely would be stillborn in the next 12 to 24 hours. They explained that the standard of medical care for the situation has always been a termination. Yes, an abortion. And until that happened in my life wouldo be at risk from the potential for an infection or hemorrhaging. Under floridas new abortion ban, the standard of care was very different foror me. Doctor said that only option was to wait and see. Because she was beyond 15 weeks and there was still a heartbeat if they couldnt touch me, treat me, or admit me. They sent us so to deal with it ourselves. Thats when i went intoo a realy dark place, convincing myself i am going to survive this. I wasnt thinking straight and was on the verge of being suicidal. I kept a hair appointment leaned that if i died within the next two days my dear mom wouldnt have to go to the trouble of getting my locks done before the funeral. And thats why my daughter was stillborn in the bathroom of the beauty salon. Derek was waiting for me outside and i called in and said call 911 right away, then come inside. I was hemorrhaging so much blood that i passed out as the paramedics arrived. While on life support an er doctor took derek aside and said the best way to preserve my life was to do an emergency hysterectomy. Later, i learn that derek implored the doctor to not compromise our dream. Please save my wife and her uterus, he told them. Doctor said a lost more than half the blood f in my body, and was so weak i needed six more days in hospital and two followup surgeries. All because politicians who are not doctors had interfered with fundamental and essential Health Care Policy decisions, very personal and private life decisions. We dont know if i can get pregnant now or kerry to birth, but the target of our wrath is very well known. Its the peoplee who have taken our human rights to health and liberty and personal autonomy. Someone needs to fight back against these in city u. S. Laws in states across the country. This is my fight, this is our fight. Thank you. Donancy, can we turn to next . And august 2022 my family and i had a very life altering experience. When i was ten weeks pregnant i received devastating news about our pregnancy. Our baby was diagnosed with a crania, a rare and fill condition which the school and the brain does not develop properly. In august of 2022, y and i had a very life altering experience. When i was 10 weeks pregnant, i received devastating news about our pregnancy. Our baby was diagnosed with a cranium. It is a rare and Fatal Mission in which the skull does not develop property. Properly. The doctor said my baby would die within minutes if not in birth and recommended we terminate the pregnancy to avoid physical and further emotional trauma. To make a painful story short, we were denied a termination because health care providers, people trained and trusted to do their jobs were afraid of prosecution and losing their license. At that very moment, i knew i was being forced to carry my baby, to bury my baby. While still grieving i had to navigate 1400 miles to a foreign place, leaving my children and my family behind just to access abortion care. Every day that passed pushed me further into pregnancy, depression and deeper pain but i was determined to reclaim my power. Health providers deserve the right to give us the health care we need and deserve. Physicians should be operating with the strength of their government behind them. Being worried about losing their job or being prosecuted or find does not put them there. For this reason and more i have become a fierce advocate, turning my pain into action and i will continue to speak about my experience and advocate for laws that actually support Womens Health and their ability to make their own decisions about their health care. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, nancy. Can we turn to you . It is much easier to be a doctor than it is to do this. Ive always wanted a big, messy happy family, my husband and i have two healthy and remotest children. Our longawaited third is due this fall, this august. From the meeting and abortion is valid and personal. And that people dont realize that even thank you. Peoplein dont realize that even prayed for planned pregnancies can in an abortion. I know m how essential and fundamental abortion care is. Abortions save lives. The first time i needed an abortion i was able to receive it in my home state and is able to talk openly with my doctor about my options. While it wasnt an incredibly difficult decision, my husband and i did not need to leave the state for this essential medical care. But then fastforward to last summer when everything changed after roe fell. I was nervously pregnant again and a routine ultrasound showed that myy pregnancies brain and skull had never developed, a condition known as anencephaly, also known as a crania. I remember looking at the ultrasound screen and just knowing immediately that i was going to need another abortion. Only this time i would have to flee the state in order to risk having one. Because of texas new laws, my husband and i commissary think about how to fit a toddler bed and two, beds and accrued in our nursery, or worried and afraid of it wasnt not we should use a credit card or tell anyone where we were going to the east coast, we were worried that our ability to Practice Medicine would be compromised. It was completely humiliating. I felt physically and emotionally broken. Especially coming so soon after my previous miscarriage. Texas new abortion laws were written by politicians and not by doctors. And now physicianss like me, and patients like me, cant even discuss the safest options for the bodies and future families without fear. For me the risk physically and emotionally of caring and anencephalic legacy to term come something that had no chance of survival was something i couldnt fathom or handle. But in the eyes of my state it was my only option. Everyone needs to be able to these decisions that are right for them and write for the families. After having an open, honest conversation with their physician. So i am here as a person who also happens to be a doctor to tell you that the state of texas has completely stripped me of my own reproductive rights, but it has also disassembled the foundation of the doctorpatient relationship, trust and open on his communication. I neverer thought i would need n abortion for a planned pregnancy let alone two, but i did, and those with the right decisions for my family and me. The state of texas should not be making these decisions for me or for anybody else. Thank you. As thank you all for sharing your stories, for your courage, for your resilience, and for speaking out about the impact of the Dobbs Decision and what followed has hadat on your heal, your lies, your families. I know thats not easy and would really appreciate your being willing to come today to talk about that with us. To state the obvious you never shouldve had to go through the experiences and if the protections of roe v. Wade had been inou place, each of you wouldve had the right to choose the care that you needed. The stories that we just heard and countless others that we are hearing from women all across the country underscore what we already know, that these abortion bans, these extreme laws stand between, as you just said, womenod and the doctors ad interfere with access to care including Emergency Care. I want to talk a little about what this administration has been doing and what were going to continue to do. First, we having laser focused and the president has been laser focus on Emergency Care. It was included in the First Executive order that he signed within weeks of the Dobbs Decision coming down. And following that executive order the department of health and Human Services sent letters to providers, hospitals and doctors to make clear that all patients including those that are experiencing pregnancy loss should get Emergency Care, even when that Emergency Care is abortion. In fact, there is a federal law that requires it called impala. Obviously more work needs to be done but that is something that will continue to work on for obvious reasons and feel strong and credible about. Weve also taken steps to strengthen privacy protections for Reproductive Healthcare information so that providers can get accurate and complete information to the patients. Another piece that we work to detect access to abortion which is more than half of the abortions that happened across the country. We will continue these efforts but as the first lady said early on in this conversation the only way to ensure that every woman in every state has access to these rights is for congress to pass a federal law to restore the protections of roe v. Wade. Well continue to call on them to do that. After all, the majority of americans, the passenger of americans support just that and the president has been quite clear again since a break, he was a first person i heard say that come 45 years after the Dobbs Decision condemned was the only way we could fully restore this right was to pass federal legislation. So with that, thank you again for coming and sharing your stories. Going to give the press a moment to department they were going to continue our conversation. Dr. Biden, can we get your reaction to t [inaudible] saturday marks the First Anniversary of the supreme courts Dobbs Decision overturning roe v. Wade. Former Vice President mikeence joins others for the National Celebrate lif they rally at the lincoln memorial. Watch live coverage saturday morning beginning at 10 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan, cspan now are free mobile video at, or online at cspan. Org. Booktv every sunday on cspan2 features the authors discussing the latest nonfiction books. At 19 eastern Heritage Foundation senior fellow robert coeditor of modernizing medicare shares their views on how to reform medicare so recipients receive better and more a Affordable Care act in the future. At 10 p. M. On after words journalist Rebecca Graham reports on Maternal Health care in the u. S. And discusses a social and political dynamics and back pregnancy and motherhood with her book birth pitches interviewed by near times reporter. Watch booktv every sunday on cspan2 and find a full schedule under Program Guide or watch online anytime at booktv. Org. 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