Imagine being in excruciating pain, fearing for your life, only to be turned away by doctors because they fear legal consequences. This is the reality for too many women in Texas. Women like Kyleigh Thurman, who nearly lost her life because her ectopic pregnancy was left untreated due to the state’s extreme abortion laws. Since 2022, over 100 women in emergency situations have been denied care or received substandard treatment because of these restrictive laws. These are real women, not statistics—women who could be your daughter, sister, or friend.
Our current laws are not only cruel but dangerous. Texas has passed some of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country, including a six-week ban, leaving women in life-threatening situations with no access to critical healthcare. Maternal mortality has increased by 56%. Women like Amber Thurman and Candi Miller in Georgia—states with similar bans—lost their lives when doctors hesitated to act due to fear of prosecution. Texas is not far behind.
The cruelty of these laws goes even further. More than 26,000 women in Texas have been forced to carry their rapist’s child, denied the right to make decisions about their own bodies and their futures. This is not just wrong—it’s barbaric. No woman should be forced to carry a pregnancy resulting from such trauma. Yet, Texas laws offer no exceptions for rape or incest, leaving victims without choices or protections.
As a mother of a disabled daughter, I understand firsthand the consequences of these extreme policies. I had to go to court to protect my daughter’s life because a pregnancy would have killed her, and these laws would have prevented her from receiving life-saving care. This isn’t just policy—it’s personal. I’ve fought for my daughter’s life, and I’m ready to take that fight to Austin for all women and girls in Texas.
I also know the struggles many families face when trying to conceive. As a former IVF patient myself, I understand the life-changing journey of fertility treatments. Texas’ extreme reproductive laws are threatening IVF and fertility treatments, putting hopeful parents at risk of losing access to the care they need to build their families. During my IVF journey, I made the deeply personal decision to carry a child with Down syndrome. That was my choice—one that Texas lawmakers would strip away from others. Every woman deserves the right to make her own healthcare decisions without interference from politicians.
We need a representative who will fight for exceptions to these harmful laws—exceptions for women’s lives, health, and for victims of rape and incest. And as the mother of a special needs daughter, I will advocate for protections for disabled girls who should not be subjected to these inhumane policies.
To the women of McLennan County, and the men who love them, I ask for your vote. Together, we can stand against these cruel policies and restore compassion and common sense to Texas’ reproductive healthcare laws. I’m willing to take this fight to the Texas House—with my daughter at my side—and demand the change that pregnant women and their families deserve.
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