She was a 'quintessential pro-life Texan' until she needed to flee her home to get an abortion

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:

Michael J. Stern
@MichaelJStern1
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She was a "pro-life" Republican.

When she needed an abortion in her home state of Texas because of medical dangers, she could not get one. She had to flee to New Mexico.

Now she supports abortion rights.

cnn.com
She was a 'quintessential pro-life Texan' until she needed to flee her home to get an abortion
Kailee DeSpain says her doctor told her that before Texas' six-week abortion ban went into effect, she would have advised abortion as "the safest course for you [and] the most humane course of action...
10:32 AM · Sep 9, 2022

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/09/health/abortion-restrictions-texas/index.html

In November, Kailee and Cade were overjoyed to learn she was pregnant. Full of hope, they posted ultrasound pictures and a gender reveal video of a cannon shooting out blue confetti. They named their baby boy Finley.

Then about three months later, they learned Finley had heart, lung, brain, kidney, and genetic defects and would either be stillborn or die within minutes of birth. Carrying him to term put Kailee at high risk for severe pregnancy complications, including blood clots, preeclampsia and cancer.
Even so, they could not get an abortion in Texas and fled to New Mexico.

"I've never felt more betrayed by a place I was once so proud to be from," Kailee said through tears.

"How could you be so cruel as to pass a law that you know will hurt women and that you know will cause babies to be born in pain?" she added. "How is that humane? How is that saving anybody?"

*snip*


No doubt this same woman was pleased to see Republican policies hiring people she'd been raised to hate. I'm doing my best to feel sympathy for this woman... It's a work in progress.

[gay texan]

1. Typical white Republican

All well and good until it effects them personally .

NRS syndrome, Nancy Reagan Syndrome

[Ray Bruns]

4. Exactly. I was about to post the same thing.

[CanonRay]

28. Precisely

Been saying this for years.

[TNNurse]

32. Abso...damn..lutely.

I worked with many of them.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

54. The article never says that she was ever a Republican.

[gay texan]

76. Seriously?

Pro-life and in the state of Texas, cmon....

[MagickMuffin]

2. Welcome to the reality of the party you belong to Kailee

This is who they are cruel and inhumane.

Now get ready to VOTE THEM OUT, while we still have that right!

[NQAS]

50. She won't.

She’ll still vote R. Guaranteed.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

55. Which party does she belong to?

[MagickMuffin]

59. In the text of the OP, WhiskeyGrinder, thanks for asking

[WhiskeyGrinder]

60. Do you mean the tweet from someone who had nothing to do with producing the article and was simply

retweeting it and appearing to add a detail that appears nowhere in the article itself?

[StarryNite]

3. Well, well, well

It's a whole different ballgame when it affects them directly. Until then they don't give a shit about anybody else.

[Sky Jewels]

13. Yabbut, see, they're special,

unlike those other people.

[phylny]

5. I want to be compassionate toward this woman

but I got nothin’.

[XanaDUer2]

6. Is there a bounty on her? Nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. It looks like her journey to change her stance began years ago, before this latest pregnancy.

IMO the tweet and headline really misrepresent her change of mind.

A year after they were married [several years ago], Kailee miscarried at 16 weeks and was hospitalized for severe complications, including blood clots and infection. It was one of three miscarriages she had in the early years of marriage.

"It made me realize that pregnancy can be dangerous," she said. "It made me think of my little sisters, and I wanted them to be able to have a choice if they ever had to go through something like that."

Last September, when a restrictive anti-abortion law took effect in Texas, Kailee pled on Facebook for people to contact their elected representatives to protect abortion rights.

Even people who support abortion rights can be under the impression that there's a Shirley Exception.

[Nevilledog]

10. I love it when someone knows about the Shirley Exception.

[intrepidity]

23. Oh, please do elaborate

it sounds fun

[Nevilledog]

25. Here's my thread about the Shirley Exception

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216927395

[betsuni]

63. Thank you for posting, that explains it very well.

[Ray Bruns]

8. Don't feel sympathy for her. She made her bed. Now she can lie (lay?) in it.

[3catwoman3]

52. Lie in it.

If she were a hen, she could lay eggs in the bed.

[Ray Bruns]

71. Thank you

[Nittersing]

77. lay rhymes with place, lie rhymes with recline (that's how I remember) nt

[catbyte]

9. I'm sorry she had trouble, but I can't stand empathy-free RepubliQans, which seems to

be their dominant trait. They're against it until it happens to them.

[Biophilic]

11. Yes, I agree, a work in progress. I know how I should feel

But it’s a stretch.

[Tetrachloride]

12. The New Mexico Redemption

she likes New Mexico.

but our question is Texas.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. Y'all, the headline isn't accurate according to the article. *Last September* she was begging her

friends and family to support abortion rights. She was pro-life when she was raised and got married, then started thinking about the issue more after her first miscarriage.

[Nevilledog]

17. You think she stopped voting for Republicans?

She only cared about it when it affected her.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

19. It's not clear from the article that she ever voted at all, so who knows.

[Nevilledog]

22. I understand your point.

[Mr. Ected]

15. So easy to choose the fate of others

But when others choose YOUR fate, you go cry to the newspapers.

No sympathy. Politics isn't about ME. It's about US.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

16. Republiscum:

“It hasn’t happened to me, so I really don’t care”.

Democrat:
“That shouldn’t happen to anyone, and that’s why I care”.

[ZonkerHarris]

18. The only way right wingers care about an issue is if it affects them

[Joinfortmill]

20. She finds empathy for herself.

[gratuitous]

24. I hope she becomes a very public advocate for women's health

Life and its attendant health care are a lot messier than some folks realize. I hope Kailee talks to her former fellow travelers and shares her story to illustrate that the oversimplified neat-and-tidy anti-abortion stance doesn't comport with reality. A person's health care choices should be made by that person in consultation with a qualified medical professional, not by some ignorant legislator who doesn't understand basic biology and anatomy. Perhaps she can speak to them in a language they understand.

[Demobrat]

26. At least she could afford to travel to another state.

She’s one of the lucky ones.

[txwhitedove]

38. They had to beg the money from a Trumpy relative, so

that person's eyes were opened a bit by this situation too.

[Solly Mack]

27. K&R

[DFW]

29. IF she becomes a public advocate for abortion rights

If she is willing to actively go around Texas telling her fellow Republicans why she is now pro-choice, and why anti-choice is so cruel, and so WRONG, then I say: that is her salvation. If she is just singing "Poor Poor Pitiful Me," then I am not interested in her tears. Only if she not only sees her wrong and is willing to do something about it, so that other women don't suffer as she has, has she really learned anything.

[fierywoman]

37. This: perfectly put.

[Whatthe_Firetruck]

40. If she returns to Texas....

.... Having admitted to the procedure, the forced birthers could sue her for the sweet, sweet $10k bounty.

[txwhitedove]

41. She posted all on Facebook which is WAY public outing in Texas.

And the link is to a CNN article, that's National news.

DU should have it in their hearts to understand when the veil is lifted and someone becomes more educated and understanding.

[DFW]

64. The "understanding" is the main part for me.

After what happened to her, she’s educated enough, no question. The important part is understanding that what happened to her under current state law can happen to ANY WOMAN IN TEXAS. If she’s willing to stay active in opposing that, I’ll be the first to cheer and send contributions.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

62. The couple appear in an ad for Beto O'Rourke.

[txwhitedove]

65. Yay!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

30. Texas terrorism is great until it's aimed at you, right?

Roe, Roe, Roe your vote
against theocracy!
Republicans revoke your rights
and kill democracy!

Donate to 38 House candidates: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217067267
Stick 'em up for a blue wave: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217078977

[DLCWIdem]

33. Now see what you have done

I am constantly hearing that tune in my head now. Can't get rid if it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

42. Bwahaha! The goal is to have that effect on every eligible voter. :)

[3Hotdogs]

31. Two pears and not one tot.

Get it? Pretty good, eh? Not one tot....

and I thought it up all by myself.

[NoMoreRepugs]

34. No empathy - sorry.

[onecaliberal]

35. How many women was she okay with hurting before it hurt her?

[sarge43]

39. I wonder if she squeeze out a tear

for the raped ten year girl in Ohio.

Doubt it. If she thought about it at all, probably "it was her fault".

[Ilsa]

68. "But was it legitimate rape?" nt

[sarge43]

69. Or that one n/t

[Grins]

36. "...a 'quintessential pro-life Texan" Republican. The question.

So the question now is: “Is she still a Republican?”

After all that if she still is, and if her Republican husband who had to go begging to his also-Republican family for financial help still is - I don’t give a damn about them.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

53. The article never says that she was ever a Republican.

[Grins]

74. Her husband is! Lifelong. To include all his family.

He is the one who had to ask his MAGA family for financial help which the reluctantly did, thus making them accomplices, according to Texas law, murder.

I’m willing to go to Vegas and put it all down that she, a lifelong pro-lifer (so she claimed), is a Republican - just like her husband.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

75. It said he was raised by "extremely Republican parents and grandparents," but also never says

that he considered himself a Republican.

I’m willing to go to Vegas and put it all down that she, a lifelong pro-lifer (so she claimed), is a Republican - just like her husband.

They didn't say they were Republicans in the ad they did for Beto, so who knows.

[gopiscrap]

43. fuck her, she can go eat shit

she was part of the reason why we are where we are at....as far as I am concerned, she can crawl in a hole and stay there

[Nululu]

44. Can't trust women to choose for themselves

Why are these people so eager to cast judgement on others? Their judgements are ignorant and bigoted. So women will die because of cruelty wrapped in religion.

[Hassler]

45. At least she changed her views. Usually they get the abortion then

Go right back to the picket line harassing women.

[dchill]

47. Literally - right back to the picket line!

[dchill]

46. Credit where credit is due. Many in similar situations...

...are still vehemently anti-abortion. Only THEIR abortion should be allowed.

[Skittles]

58. I'm tired of giving kudos to people for acting like human fucking beings

fuck them

[Zambero]

48. There will be many, many more self-bestowed "hall passes" to come

The "pro-life" trait of favoring the wholesale abolition of individual reproductive rights takes on an interesting twist whenever one of them realizes that they are in desperate need of an abortion. Absent their own predicament, most if not all of them could care less about another individual's plight occurring under the same circumstances.

[NQAS]

49. Of course

They’re republicans. It’s not a problem until it’s a problem for them. Fucking hypocrites.

[Mr. Evil]

51. Religion vs. reality...

The Death Party uses religion to pass these laws. Yet, they aren't religious even in the most loosely form of the term. It's simply political expediency for them. Laws have to be made based on reality only, not fantasy or mythology.

The only way to truly learn a lesson is the hard way. These draconian laws are only going to put thousands and thousands of women in harms way year after year if they are allowed to remain in effect. How can we progress as human beings and allow this travesty against human beings be allowed?

Why do we allow whatever warped beliefs someone has to be instituted upon the masses? Why is a doctor's knowledge superseded by a politician's beliefs or political desires? It should not be.

Unfortunately, it won't change until doctors go on strike. Until doctors ultimately decide that humanity's reality is paramount to religious and political expediency.

[niyad]

56. The whole article is very sad and disturbing.

[Bucky]

57. Empathy don't come easy to people who think they're better than you

[WhiskeyGrinder]

61. Kailee and Cade made an ad for Beto.

Link to tweet

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

66. She was not betrayed. She got exactly what she always voted for.

What did she expect the MAGAT King and his misogynist minions to do for her, and to do to her, when she voted to elect them?

I feel really bad for her. Hopefully she has learned her lesson and will not continue to vote against her own interests by voting for woman hating fascists.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

70. Where does it say she ever voted?

[Hotler]

67. Repugs never see how harmful their votes are untill shit happens to them or their family.

Fuck them and their feelings.

[Mariana]

72. She still doesn't get it.

"Finley (the fetus) and I were simply collateral damage in a much bigger picture." she says.

No, Kailee, you were not "collateral damage". You were the intended target of this law. The law was written to prevent you, Kaylee, from getting an abortion in Texas. It worked exactly the way it was meant to work.

[yardwork]

73. We don't need to feel sympathy for her.

I feel relief that another Republican has seen the light. The people she voted into office betrayed her. The pain she's feeling is a necessary symptom. She's waking up.