First lady Jill Biden invites Texas woman who sought illegal abortion to State of the Union address

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A Texas mother who went to court to obtain an illegal abortion will attend the State of the Union address in March as a guest of first lady Jill Biden.

President Biden and the first lady spoke to Kate Cox on the phone Sunday as Biden seeks to make abortion rights a signature issue of his re-election effort. Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two, made national headlines after she asked the Texas Supreme Court for permission to obtain an abortion when her unborn child was diagnosed with a fatal condition. She was denied and later left the state to abort her baby elsewhere.

The Bidens "thanked [Cox] for her courage in sharing her story and speaking out about the impact of the extreme abortion ban in Texas," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday.

"The first lady invited Kate to join her as a guest at the State of the Union and Kate accepted," she said.

TEXAS SUPREME COURT RULES AGAINST PREGNANT WOMAN HOURS AFTER SHE LEAVES STATE TO OBTAIN ABORTION

The Biden campaign put abortion in the spotlight this week with a "Reproductive Freedom" rally in Virginia to commemorate what would have been the 51st anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. The court overturned Roe in 2022, ending federal protections for abortion and permitting states to regulate the procedure as lawmakers see fit.

Since then, 14 states,