Patty Murray invites woman affected by Idaho abortion ban to Biden speech

When President Joe Biden delivers his State of the Union address Thursday, Central Washington mom Kayla Smith will be watching in the House of Representatives chamber, hoping her presence will keep the spotlight on anti-abortion laws that swept many Republican states after the fall of Roe v. Wade.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray, a longtime advocate of abortion rights, invited Smith as her guest after hearing of the onetime elementary school teacher’s difficulty in ending a pregnancy while living in Idaho, where abortion is illegal in most cases. She and her husband James had planned the pregnancy but learned at an ultrasound scan of a severe fetal anomaly, complicating an already high-risk pregnancy.

“I never wanted an abortion,” Smith said. “I needed an abortion.”

She traveled to Washington to get one, as did some 1,400 other people from other states in 2022, many living in places that have enacted abortion bans.

After Smith got pregnant again, she and her husband decided they couldn’t risk another pregnancy in Idaho. With one young daughter and a second on the way, Smith said they didn’t want to raise them in a state where they had no bodily autonomy. Originally from Washington, Smith decided to move back with her husband last year.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe in June 2022 unleashed cascading effects. Many are still playing out, including another Supreme Court case that could restrict access to abortion pills even in states where the procedure is legal, an exodus of obstetricians from anti-abortion states like Idaho, and dueling congressional attempts to ban abortion nationwide and to restore legal access across the country.

Murray, a Democrat and co-sponsor of a bill that would codify Roe, referred to opposing legislation when explaining why she invited Smith to the Capitol. “Everyone in America needs to know what happened to Kayla — and they need to understand that what happened to her in Idaho could happen to any woman in any state if Republicans succeed in passing their national abortion ban, which Donald Trump has made clear he supports.”

Biden appears likely to sound a similar theme at his Thursday address. He and first lady Jill Biden invited as their guest another woman affected by an abortion ban: Kate Cox, who sued Texas after being denied an abortion for a nonviable pregnancy.

The state Supreme Court ruled against Cox. And like Smith, she went elsewhere for the procedure.

Smith is also involved in litigation. She’s a plaintiff in an ongoing lawsuit against Idaho, seeking broader exceptions to the state’s two anti-abortion laws that would permit the procedure in cases that pose a risk to pregnant patients’ health and where a fetus is unlikely to survive after birth.

After what she’s been through, Smith said, “I’m just ready to fight.”

She talked about the experience last week at her sister’s house in Olympia, a pit stop on the way to D.C. With her husband nearby and their 3-year-old daughter Addison playing on the floor, Smith held her months-old baby, Nora, as she recalled finding out she was pregnant on Mother’s Day 2022.

She and James, then living in a small town near Boise, wanted a second child and welcomed the news. When they found out it would be a boy, they picked out a name, Brooks.

Meanwhile, the Idaho press was full of news about the state’s anti-abortion laws, including one passed in 2020 that, upon the overturning of Roe, would make performing an abortion punishable by two to five years in prison, except when necessary to prevent the death of a pregnant patient or in some cases of rape and incest. (Amendments have since added exceptions for nonviable and dangerous ectopic and molar pregnancies.)

Two days after the law took effect, as Smith neared her 19th week of pregnancy, she went for an ultrasound exam.

Smith and her husband noticed the technician behaving unusually. “She kept going over his heart … and then she kind of got really quiet,” Smith said. An obstetrician met with them to discuss the devastating results. The ultrasound revealed several abnormalities, including what the doctor said was the most severe heart defect she had ever seen.

The next day, a Boise specialist confirmed the results and then said something Smith said she will never forget. If she chose to continue with the pregnancy, “we will be here to support you.” But if not, she was terribly sorry, but there was nothing she and her colleagues could do for them in Idaho.

The couple discussed their options, which seemed grim. The heart defect was inoperable and they felt their son, if born, could suffer. Plus, Smith’s pregnancy was high-risk. With her first pregnancy, she had developed preeclampsia, a condition that causes high blood pressure and can damage organs, and there was a good chance she would develop it again.

They decided to end the pregnancy by early induction, rather than a surgical procedure, so they could meet their son, no matter how momentarily. That would have to be done in a hospital.

So they drove eight hours to the UW Medical Center, where Smith labored for 12 hours before delivering a baby that didn’t move or breathe.

On top of it all, the Smiths had to figure out a way to pay for the procedure, which cost around $16,000. Their Idaho insurance doesn’t cover abortion, given its illegality in the state.

Friends and family contributed some, as did a fund that helps people pay for abortions. The couple took out a loan for the rest.

Their ordeal has left them angry but also hopeful that by sharing their story they might change someone’s views on abortion. “It’s not just a black and white issue,” said James, a pharmacist. “You don’t know what emotions you go through until you’ve been in that situation.”

Smith, who has also shared her story with public radio’s “This American Life” and Idaho media, said she has received some ugly comments for having an abortion. But she said she sees her outspokenness, and her attempt to help others avoid what she went through, as a way of honoring her son.