Tennessee Woman Denied Medically Necessary Abortion Is Running For Office

DU thread from February: Tennessee Abortion Ban a 'Nightmare' for Woman With Doomed Pregnancy

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Source: HuffPost

Tennessee Woman Denied Medically Necessary Abortion Is Running For Office

Allie Phillips had to leave the state for medical care when her fetus had fatal abnormalities and her life was at risk.

By Alanna Vagianos
Oct 3, 2023, 04:16 PM EDT
|Updated 2 hours ago

A Tennessee woman who was denied an abortion earlier this year is using her experience to run for office in the state.

“Because of the trauma Tennessee’s [abortion] ban has caused me, I have been dedicating my time to try and change their barbaric law,” Allie Phillips said in her first campaign video, launched on Monday and first reported by the Nashville Post. “That is why I am now running for the Tennessee state House of Representatives, District 75.”

The lifelong Tennessee resident went viral earlier this year when she shared her story of pregnancy loss on TikTok. Phillips and her husband were elated when they found out she was pregnant with her second daughter in November 2022. The couple had decided to name the baby Miley Rose after the song “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus. And every night before bedtime, Phillips’ 6-year-old daughter, Adalie, would sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” to her belly — a sign she was going to be a good big sister.

Link to tweet

But during Phillips’ 19-week anatomy scan, her doctor told her the fetus had several fatal anomalies and that Miley Rose would not survive outside of the womb. ...

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Now, Phillips is running for office in an attempt to change the severe abortion restrictions in place in her home state. Although the general election is not until November 2024, Phillips, who is running as a Democrat, needs time to gain support in a historically red district. If she wins the Democratic nomination in the August 2024 primary, Phillips will likely face off with incumbent Jeff Burkhart.

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Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/allie-phillips-tennessee-denied-medically-necessary-abortion-running-for-office_n_651c6681e4b0c3956253bff8