In joint speeches on the first evening of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Amanda And Josh Zurawski, Kaitlyn JoshuaAnd Hadley Duvall shared through their own experiences the brutal realities of a post-Dobbs America.

Her presence on the first night set the tone for how Democrats will bring abortion rights to the forefront, a critical issue in November. A vote passed in March by the Wall Street Journal found that in seven swing states, “39% of suburban women cite abortion as a key issue in their voting decisions—making it by far the most motivating issue for this group.” Other speakers throughout the evening, including the 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clintonalso used their time to draw attention to attacks on “reproductive freedom.”

Amanda Zurawski, a Texas woman who nearly died due to pregnancy complications, was one of the first women to sue her state over an abortion ban that directly affected her.

Zurawski underwent months of fertility treatments before becoming pregnant – news that she and her husband, Josh, were delighted to hear. At 18 weeks, Amanda was diagnosed with “cervical insufficiency” and the Zurawskis were told a miscarriage was inevitable. They also learned she was at high risk of infection. But because of Texas’s near-total ban on abortion, Zurawski couldn’t get immediate treatment.

In her state, doctors who perform abortions face life imprisonment unless the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother’s life. It was only when Zurawski became ill with sepsis – a life-threatening illness – that she was able to have an abortion.

“Every time I tell our story, it breaks my heart,” Amanda said Monday night. “For the little girl we wanted so much, for the doctors and nurses who couldn’t help me bring her safely into the world, and for Josh, who was afraid of losing me too.” Josh told the crowd that “the fight for reproductive rights isn’t just a women’s fight, this is a fight for our families.”

“We must vote as if lives depend on it,” Amanda concluded her speech. “Because they do.”

Zurawski and dozens of other plaintiffs had sued the state of Texas because of confusion about who was entitled to a medical exemption and when. The state Supreme Court ruled against them in May.

“In Texas they are about to introduce the death penalty,” said a member of the US House of Representatives. Jasmine Crockettrepresenting the areas near Dallas, said on Monday evening. “While Kamala Harris fights to restore our reproductive rights.”

When Kaitlyn Joshua was six weeks pregnant, she called a group of doctors in Baton Rouge to schedule her first prenatal appointment, but was told she wouldn’t be able to see them for over a month. “And I said, ‘Oh God. Is this because of what I’m thinking?’ And they said, ‘Yes,'” Joshua told NPR.

Joshua remembered that the woman on the phone told him that due to the Supreme Court Dobbs Due to the decision of the Ministry of Health and the subsequent ban in their state, the doctors’ organization decided to postpone the first preventive examinations of patients.

When Joshua suffered a miscarriage a few years ago, she says she was turned away from two emergency rooms in Louisiana. Joshua cites Louisiana’s near-total abortion ban, which makes no exceptions for rape or incest, as the reason she was unable to seek medical care. Even before DobbsHer state had one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country.

“Because of the abortion ban in Louisiana, no one would confirm that I had had a miscarriage,” Joshua said on stage. “I was in pain and bleeding so much that my husband feared for my life. No woman should have to go through what I went through, but too many have,” she continued.

“They write to me and say, ‘What happened to you happened to me.'”

Hadley Duvall is from Kentucky and when she heard the news about roe against Wade When the ruling was overturned, she decided to share her story publicly for the first time on Facebook. She wanted to show Kentucky residents how her state’s near-total abortion ban, which also makes no exceptions for rape and incest, would affect young women – and children – like her.

“Growing up, I was a typical American girl, captain of the varsity football team, captain of the cheerleading team, homecoming queen and survivor,” Duvall said on the first night of the DNC.

About a decade ago, when Duvall was just 12 years old, she was raped and impregnated by her stepfather. “That was the first time I was told, ‘You have options.’ I can’t imagine not having a choice,” she said. “But today, that’s the reality for many girls and women across the country because Donald Trump‘s abortion bans.”

Then Kentucky gubernatorial candidate Andy BeshearEventually, Duvall’s team got in touch and she appeared in an ad for the campaign.

“This is addressed to you, (Attorney General of Kentucky) Daniel Cameron“Telling a 12-year-old girl that she must have the child of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable. I’m speaking out because women and girls must have choices,” Duvall said in the ad, directly addressing Beshear’s opponent, who has been a vocal opponent of abortion.

A few months later, in November 2023, Beshear beat Cameron by five points.

This section of tonight’s speeches stands in stark contrast to the conspicuous absence of the word abortion – let alone any substantive policy discussion – in any of the official speeches at the Republican National Convention. Despite concerted efforts in recent years to repeal the roe and the subsequent proliferation of abortion bans, RNC speakers were remarkably quiet on the issue. In his acceptance speech, former President Donald Trump did not mention the topic of abortion once.