K Monica Kelly had to travel to Florida for an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 13 – now she’s part of a group suing her state

When K Monica Kelly saw that women in Texas had filed a lawsuit challenging the contours of their state’s abortion ban, she posted on Instagram to cheer them on.

“I shared how terrible I thought it was, that they weren’t able to get the proper healthcare they needed in their state,” Kelly said. “It never crossed my mind that that was actually going to happen to me soon.”

Kelly and her husband spent a year trying to have a second baby. So when they discovered in February 2023 that Kelly was pregnant, the couple was ecstatic. They taught their son, who was then two years old, to describe their family as: “Mama, dada, me, baby, all four!” After an ultrasound looked promising, and they drove more than 10 hours from their home in northern Tennessee to announce the news to their family in Florida.

Only days later, after they’d returned home, in late March, the pair drove back to Florida. This time, though, the drive was “surreal and devastating”, Kelly said. A series of catastrophic fetal diagnoses had led Kelly to decide to get an abortion – a procedure she could not legally get in Tennessee.

    • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      I’m reading what you are saying. What you said is because Democrats have never the had power to make the changes you want, you will put Republicans in charge.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Democrats had the power and chose not to wield it. They love the Jim Crow Filibuster too much.

      • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        No, because I’m not a partisan who votes Republican or Democrat.

        For me, voting records matter. That’s why I vote third party. You’re the one voting for party no matter what they do.

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      I propose we all vote for a third party instead.

      Uh huh…

      Do you have any realistic suggestions?

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      So you want the Republicans to be in charge.

      If you want any viable third party, you need to be pushing for election reform at the state/local level. I’d prefer the Star system, but even ranked choice would be better than FPTP. The system was designed to be difficult to change at the federal level, but easy to change at the local level.