In her new book set to go on sale Tuesday, Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate in the Texas gubernatorial race, reveals that she had two abortions in the 1990s when she learned that both pregnancies had severe complications. Ms. Davis rose to Democratic fame when she filibustered against new state restrictions on abortion clinics.
In her memoir “Forgetting to be Afraid,” Ms. Davis writes about ending one pregnancy in 1996 because the brain of the fetus had developed in complete separation on the right and left sides, the Associated Press reported Friday. Several doctors told Ms. Davis that the baby would be born blind, deaf, and in a permanent vegetative state if she survived delivery.
“I could feel her little body tremble violently, as if someone were applying an electric shock to her, and I knew then what I needed to do,” Ms. Davis wrote, “She was suffering.”
She added that after the abortion, “an indescribable blackness followed,” and that the loss changed her forever.
In 1994, Ms. Davis chose to terminate an ectopic pregnancy, in which an embryo implants outside the uterus. Terminating the pregnancy was considered medically necessary because generally the fetus cannot survive and the pregnancy can endanger the mother’s life.
Both pregnancies happened after she had given birth to her two daughters but before she began her political career. Ms. Davis is currently a state senator.
According to polling data from Real Clear Politics Ms. Davis’ Republican opponent, Greg Abbott is ahead by 12.4 points. Mr. Abbott is expected to take over the Republican state’s gubernatorial seat once Gov. Rick Perry leaves office next year.
Anti-abortion groups told the Associated Press that were sympathetic toward the tough choice Ms. Davis was forced to make but said they hoped all decisions end in choosing to continue a pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, the daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards praised Ms. Davis for her “unwavering courage.”
“We are grateful to her for sharing her story and shining a light on a subject that is too often hidden in the shadows of shame and stigma by people like Greg Abbot and his allies,” Ms. Richards said, according to the Associated Press.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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