HOUSTON, TEXAS –– Today, Free & Just’s “Ride to Decide” national bus tour arrived in Houston to highlight what’s at stake as extremist lawmakers work to ban abortion nationwide. The “Ride to Decide” bus tour comes as attacks on reproductive freedom escalate across the country. Support for legal abortion has increased since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, but that hasn’t stopped anti-abortion extremists and conservative lawmakers from continuing to undermine Americans’ access to abortion care, birth control, and IVF treatment. 

At the event, Amanda Zurawski and Samantha Casiano, who sued the state of Texas after being denied care joined health care providers, and community members to highlight how attacks on reproductive freedom harm women and families in Texas and across the country.

“I went to Washington, DC to beg our senators to do something about this crisis, and they couldn’t even be bothered to be in the room while I was testifying,” said Amanda Zurawski, who went into septic shock twice and nearly lost her life after being denied an abortion in Texas is 2022. Zurawski sued the state of Texas, but her challenge was recently rejected by the state’s Supreme Court in a devastating blow to patients across Texas. “The way to fix this problem is to continue to tell our stories. We need to have these conversations with the people that we care about, and we need to have them often. We need them to understand what is at stake and why they should care.”

“Medical boards and lawmakers will tell us that there are exceptions to abortion bans, but where? I was not an ‘exception,’ Amanda Zurawski was not an ‘exception,’” said Samantha Casiano, a mother of four who was forced to give birth to her daughter, Halo, in 2023, despite knowing that she would survive just a few hours. “Women aren’t being granted exceptions, and people need to see that.” Casiano joined the women suing the state as a plaintiff in Zurawski v. Texas, and continues to share what happened to her family, despite how painful it is reliving the experience. 

“When abortion is banned, people don’t stop needing access to this care. It’s these people who I think about every time a new restriction is passed,” said Dr. Bhavik Kumar, a local abortion provider and family medicine physician who serves as the Medical Director for Primary and Trans Care at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. “Anti-abortion extremists will not stop until abortion care is completely banned in the entire country. Their tactics are ruthless and senseless.”

“It’s just as normal to feel dread about a pregnancy as it is to feel excitement – what is not normal is conservative politicians thinking that they get to have any kind of feelings about your pregnancy,” said Micaela, a nurse midwife in the Houston area who shared how Texas’ strict abortion ban has changed the practice environment for health care providers across the state. “I have seen friends and colleagues – nurses, midwives, and physicians alike – leave Texas altogether because they’re tired of politicians trying to practice medicine, and they’re unwilling to work in a state that threatens to sue them for taking care of people.”

“We know it doesn’t have to be this way,” said Gjabrielle Guterrez, the Managing Director of Deeds Not Words, an organization which seeks to elevate the voices and power of young women through civic engagement and advocacy training. “That’s why we’re fighting to hold lawmakers for harmful attacks on the people and families in our communities. We all deserve better.”

The “Ride to Decide” tour is headed to Louisiana next, where local storytellers in Baton Rouge and Shreveport will spotlight the real-life impacts of abortion bans and attacks on reproductive freedom and share why federal action to protect access to abortion and reproductive health care has never been more important.

You can watch the event here. If you are interested in speaking with any of the participants in the press event, please contact kelly@freeandjust.us. 

Free & Just is committed to fighting for reproductive freedom. Join us in sharing stories, raising voices, and securing our future. 

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Free & Just is fighting to stop attacks on reproductive freedom and rights. We’re working with people across the country to share real stories to show the devastating consequences of attacks on our reproductive freedom. We all deserve the right to control our bodies and lives. That’s why we’re sharing our stories, raising our voices, and fighting for our future.