A woman who joined in abortion clarification lawsuits against US states earlier this year after her own traumatic experience is now running for the Tennessee House of Representatives.
Allie Phillips was forced to leave her home state of Tennessee for emergency abortion care in February this year when doctors told her that her pregnancy was experiencing some tragic complications.
On 12 September, Ms Phillips joined seven other women who were denied an emergency abortion in filing a lawsuit to ask for clarification on abortion laws from top medical organisations. In Tennessee, abortions are banned except for extreme medical cases.
“I had to grieve the loss of my daughter in a city I’d never been to away from family,” she told reporters. “Politicians are passing cruel laws against something they know absolutely nothing about.”
Ms Phillips has now announced her candidacy as a Democrat for House District 75, which she made public on Monday.
She also told the Nashville Post that she plans to run in the hopes of enacting policies surrounding public education funding, anti-gun school zones and LGBTQ+ rights.
"This is something new for me," she told the local outlet. "Given my story and the outreach I’ve had with it, it seemed like a no-brainer to take this and open new doors. I can scream online all day, but in order to make a change I need to actually be in a position to make that change."
She initially found out her that her expected daughter, Miley Rose, had issues with her kidneys, bladder and amniotic fluid and was referred to a high-risk pregnancy specialist.
A diagnosis from the specialists confirmed that Miley also had only two heart chambers and was suffering from a rare brain defect known as holoprosencephaly.
If Ms Phillips carried on with her pregnancy, she would likely suffer a miscarriage, which would cause her psychological distress, but also prolonged suffering of the fetus.
Allie Phillips joined a lawsuit in September as a plaintiff for medical clarification of abortions in Tennessee— (Splash Cinema)
After Roe vs Wade was overturned in July 2022, Tennessee was one of 13 US states that had a full abortion ban.
Despite the emotional and physical agony Ms Phillips was enduring, she was forced to leave her home state and go and say goodbye to her daughter in New York, a state she had never visited.
Once she got there she needed to have an immediate emergency abortion as she was informed that Miley’s heart had already stopped beating she herself was now at risk of blood clots and sepsis, her campaign page states.
Speaking to The Independent at the time, Ms Phillips said that doctors told her she needed to“look out of state” for a termination; the doctor told her “there’s nothing that I can do.”
Allie already had a five-year-old daughter and was expecting to introduce her second child with her husband when she learned her baby would not survive— (Allie Phillips )
They didn’t think waiting to have a stillborn was healthy for me. Physically, mentally,” Ms Phillips recounted back in March. “To continue my pregnancy and wait for her to die, that’s an awful way to wake up every day. Thinking, ‘Is my baby gonna die today?’”
To try and raise awareness, she posted online about her abortion journey, and while she garnered a lot of support, others accused her of “murdering” her baby.
Her abortion process was complicated and emotionally taxing, she had to find a clinic that she could afford and then sort out the legal paperwork for her baby to be cremated and brought back to Tennessee.
Now, she wants to change the law so no Tennessee citizen will have to endure what she went through.
In announcing her candidacy, she wrote on Instagram, “I’m not a polished politician or a millionaire. I’m a mom, a sister, a daughter, a wife and a friend - and I believe that Tennessee can change for the better.”
The primary election in District 75 will be Aug. 1, 2024. The general election will be Nov. 5, 2024.
