As Congress fights for abortion rights, two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, two doctors specializing in obstetrics and gynecology hope to bring their exam room knowledge and experience to Capitol Hill.
Dr. Kristin Lyerly and Dr. Kelly Morrison are running for Congress for the chance to become the only pro-abortion obstetricians on Capitol Hill.
The erosion of abortion rights since the 2022 Supreme Court decision is part of what led Lyerly to run for House in Wisconsin, she said in an interview.
“I hear the stories directly from my patients and their families. And I think once you — unless you’re in the room, you don’t really understand the depth of how it affects people,” she said.
Lyerly has worked as an obstetrician for more than 15 years and has managed care in Wisconsin, where she is seeking a congressional seat in the state’s Eighth District and neighboring Minnesota. She is running unopposed in the state’s Democratic primary on August 13 and in November she would face one of at least three Republican candidates, including Tony Wiedwhich is supported by former President Donald Trump.
She said that since the ruling, her practice in Minnesota has not been affected by the abortion ban, but “what I hear from my colleagues in Wisconsin is totally different.” She detailed several stories of colleagues who feared going to prison for counseling women on the use of abortion-inducing medications such as mifepristone.
There is “a chill that comes with laws like this, it’s confusion and misinformation,” Lyerly said.
Morrison, who is running in Minnesota’s Third District and also currently serves in the state legislature, expressed similar sentiments. She is the only candidate in the state’s Democratic primary, which also takes place on August 13. She will likely face Tad Jude, a lawyer and former Minnesota state representative, in November.
“OB-GYNs and other care providers see firsthand what [abortion] bans and restrictions affect people’s health,” said Morrison, who has practiced obstetrics and gynecology for more than 20 years, adding, “When I talk to my colleagues in states that have enacted these bans and restrictions, it’s really scary what’s happening in those areas. .”
These stories, she said, are what drove her to work to protect and expand access to reproductive care in Minnesota after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Morrison added that if elected, she would “feel a real obligation to work on an effort to codify Roe vs. Wade.” Wade so that American women have access and protection.”
Current OBGYN Congressmen Support Abortion Ban
Both women, if elected, would be the only pro-abortion obstetricians in Congress.
Currently, the deputy Michael BurgessR-Texas, and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, are the only obstetrician-gynecologists in Congress and both are vehemently anti-abortion.
In your congress websiteBurgess says, “I do not support the use of abortion” and details the work he did to ban abortions at three medical facilities in Texas.
His office did not respond to clarifying questions about whether Burgess believes there should be exceptions to the ban on abortions for rape, incest and for the life of the mother.
In 2022, shortly after the Supreme Court ruling, Marshall supported exceptions to abortion for the life of the mother, promising during a Senate committee hearing that “women with miscarriages and ectopic pregnancies will be treated in all states without exception. The mother’s life will continue to be honored.”
Still, both Marshall and Burgess supported false or misleading claims about abortion.
Burgess has falsely claimed that abortion “may pose a high risk to patient safety.” Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that, between 2013 and 2020, there were 0.45 deaths for every 100,000 abortions performed. In comparison, in 2020, there were 23.8 deaths for every 100,000 live births.
Marshall also supported the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Actwhich would have banned abortion after 20 weeks and claimed that fetuses have the ability to react “to stimuli that would be recognized as painful if applied to an adult human being, for example, by recoiling.”
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has availableuted this statementsaying that “science conclusively establishes that a human fetus does not have the ability to feel pain until at least 24-25 weeks.”
The way to the house
Although Lyerly has been active in left-wing politics in Wisconsin for years, including advocating for new state legislative maps, she first made headlines in 2021 for taking legal action alongside two other doctors which sought to overturn the 1849 abortion ban that resurfaced when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Wade, two years ago.
A county judge later ruled that the 1849 law did not prohibit abortion. What decision was appealed by a Republican district attorney at the county level and has not yet been resolved, although abortion currently remains legal in the state.
In 2020, Lyerly also ran for a state legislative seat, although he lost the race by more than 4 percentage points.
Lyerly attributed his defeat in that race to legislative maps that were “grossly gerrymandered,” which the state Supreme Court slaughtered last year. Although House Republicans and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers designed and approved a new legislative maphis campaign for Congress will also face an uphill climb.
Wisconsin’s Eighth District, located in the northeast of the state and includes Green Bay, is solidly Republican, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.
In 2022, former Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who left Congress last April, won the seat with more than 70 percent of the vote, although he ran virtually unopposed with no Democratic opponent. In 2020, with a Democratic opponent, Gallagher won with 64% of the vote.
Still, Lyerly said he hopes there are enough voters in the district who may have voted Republican in the past but who this time might be open to voting for a Democrat.
Former Republican Rep. Reid Ribble, who represented the district before Gallagher, said the district leans independent and said it would be “difficult but doable” for a Democrat to win.
“A moderate, kind and thoughtful person can win, but they will need to raise a lot of money and then be authentic in the way they campaign,” Ribble told NBC News in an email. He said the abortion issue in particular could give Democrats a boost.
One Marquette University Law School April Poll of Wisconsin found that a slight majority – 54% – of Wisconsin voters favor a national ban on abortion after 15 weeks, with certain exceptions.
The same poll found that more than 60% of voters in the state opposed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Wade.
Ribble added, “If they are motivated to vote, it could lead to a victory for a Democratic candidate for Congress.”
Still, Republican strategists are confident they will be able to keep this seat.
“I don’t think we see this as a competitive race,” a GOP strategist told NBC News, adding that Lyerly’s campaign “looks like a pipe dream.”
“With Trump at the polls, base participation will be [high]” said the strategist, pointing to Trump’s previous strength in the area.
But in neighboring Minnesota, Morrison faces a clearer path to Congress. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report with Amy Walter weighs in on the state’s Third District race as “Solid Democrat”. In 2022, Phillips was re-elected with almost 60% of the vote.
And Minnesota voters largely support access to abortion. Statewide last year, 41% of adults said they believe abortion should be legal in most cases, while 26% said they believe the procedure should be legal in all cases, according to a 2023 survey from the Public Religion Research Institute.
“I’m not ‘Pollyannaish’ about being able to change everything immediately in Congress. It’s obviously a pretty dysfunctional institution right now, but I really believe we have to continue to send people to Washington who believe in the promise of our country and who want the government to work,” Morrison said.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
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