Thursday, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) publicly shared her personal abortion story for the first time in front of a St. Louis crowd rallying against the recent Texas abortion ban. She shared her experience surviving abuse and managing her mental health. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri president and CEO Yamelsie Rodríguez joined Congresswoman Bush in calling on all Missourians to resist any and all abortion bans.
Bush’s story comes on the same day the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas after the Supreme Court allowed the six-week abortion ban to take effect. The Texas law is already impacting Metro East providers. Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and the Hope Clinic for Women are seeing Texas patients travel to their Illinois health centers to access abortion.
STL Post-Dispatch: St. Louis activists rally against abortion restrictions
- “U.S. Rep. Cori Bush told her personal abortion story Thursday on the steps of the Old Courthouse, at a rally days before a federal appeals court will consider whether a strict abortion law will take effect in Missouri.”
- “‘People thought she wouldn’t turn out to be much,’ Bush said, referring to herself in the third person. She related few details, but described growing up through sexual abuse and depression. She became pregnant. ‘She didn’t know herself, let alone know how to care for anybody else. She wasn’t ready … (but) services were available to treat her.’”
- “Bush, D-St. Louis, told a crowd of abortion rights supporters that the girl who got pregnant was now standing before them as a member of Congress. She said it was the first time she was publicly sharing her experience.”
Read the full story by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch here.