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CHICAGO – Kate Cox, who fled Texas to terminate her pregnancy that was not viable due to the state’s restrictive abortion laws, helped announce the state party’s votes for Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee Tuesday.

She also announced that she is expecting a child in January.

“Today I’m pregnant again because I found a way to get abortion care,” Cox announced at the Democratic National Convention, receiving the loudest applause of the evening. “And my baby is due in January, just in time to see Kamala Harris sworn in as president.”

Abortion access has been a key pillar of the Democrats’ message this election, and Democrats have highlighted Texas and its restrictive abortion laws throughout the convention. Amanda Zurawski, who sued Texas over its abortion laws after doctors refused to terminate her nonviable and life-threatening pregnancy, spoke on the convention stage Monday night.

Cox’s story drew national attention to abortion options in Texas. She hoped to have a third child, but her doctors told her that her fetus had a fatal genetic disease and that she would need to terminate the pregnancy to preserve the ability to become pregnant again. But her doctors refused to perform an abortion, citing state law.

Cox sued the state to obtain an abortion, but ultimately left the state to have the procedure.

“I had to leave home,” Cox said on the congressional stage. “There is nothing family-friendly about banning abortion. There is nothing life-friendly about making women suffer and even die.”

Cox first publicly announced in June that she was pregnant again and expecting a child in January. She made the announcement in a CNN interview just before the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Cox was one of four Texans who helped announce the state party’s votes, along with actress Eva Longoria, state party chairman Gilberto Hinojosa and Cecile Richards, a former president of Planned Parenthood and daughter of former Gov. Ann Richards. The four Texans announced the votes to an instrumental rendition of Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em.”

Zurawski and her husband, Josh, spoke Monday night along with two other women affected by the state’s abortion restrictions: Kaitlyn Joshua of Louisiana and Hadley Duvall of Kentucky.

“Every time I tell our story, my heart breaks,” Amanda Zurawski said. “For the little girl we wanted so much. For the doctors and nurses who couldn’t help me deliver her safely. For Josh, who feared he might lose me, too. But I was lucky. I survived.”

Zurawski pointed out that more than a third of all U.S. women of childbearing age live under some form of abortion restrictions.

President Joe Biden mentioned the overturning of Roe v. Wade during his speech at the party’s convention on Monday night, saying it would persuade women to vote against Republicans. Democrats called the decision important to their ability to avert a major Republican victory in the U.S. House of Representatives and maintain control of the Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.

“The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade that you heard tonight – the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court wrote this: Women are not without electoral or political power,” Biden said. “No kidding. MAGA Republicans discovered the power of women in 2022, and Donald Trump will discover the power of women in 2024.”

Disclosure: Planned Parenthood has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in The Tribune’s reporting. A complete list can be found here.

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