Tennessee law denied Allie Phillips an abortion. So she's now running for office
Tennessee law denied Allie Phillips an abortion. So she's now running for office
Phillips, 28, never expected to go into politics. But after she got devastating news about her pregnancy, everything changed.
The path to Tennessee politics for Allie Phillips began last year in her doctor's office. She was 19 weeks pregnant when she got the devastating news about her unborn daughter: only two of the four chambers in her heart were formed.
It was one of many severe congenital issues. The fetus was incompatible with life.
Phillips is 28. She and her husband already have a 6-year-old daughter. They had picked out a name for her sister: Miley Rose.
Phillips already knew there were complications with the pregnancy, and she had been bargaining with the universe for days leading up to this appointment. Maybe there would be treatment for whatever condition her daughter had. A transplant. A cure, even.
That was not the case.
I donate to her campaign. Lets go get every fucking Republican out of office.
She is running for office in House District 75 of the State of Tennessee. The current incumbent is Jeff Burkhart who won in 2022 when Burkhart ran unopposed.
While abortion access is indeed important to Tennesseans, it is greatly diminished by poverty issues, cost of living, deteriorating education, medical debt, insurance cost, and opioid problems, in that particular order. Tennessee is having an exploding homeless population, ranking in the top 5 of the entire nation. Additionally, Tennessee has enjoyed a relative low cost of living, so when the pandemic inflation began, it hit Tennessee very hard.
I applaud her for running. I just wish more people could see that Governor HVAC and his crew's policies aren't helping this State. But 2024 for local elections, abortion is so far down on the list of priorities for Tennesseans in general. Homelessness and poverty has to be anyone running in 2024 top talking point.
Fueling that poverty is the sudden shock that the State received in the pandemic. Tennessee was in the top 10 States that people moved to during the pandemic. People from States with lots of wealth came to this State and the flood of cash coming into the State priced natives out of literally everything and dealing with that massive influx was just massively mishandled by Señor Air Duct. It hasn't washed evenly across the State (because what are taxes?) which has created pockets of massive wealth inequality.
Which of course leads to all of the other issues like education falling apart in this State, which it's crazy how it plays out, because you can go to one town where a lot of new people moved in, and they'll have one of the best schools in the State, and then drive not but ten minutes away and the school there is just happy the majority of the school is getting D as grade or better. For education in the State, there's not schools get worse as you travel away from the city. There's schools where everyone from out of State moved to that is doing wonderful, and then literally a school in the same town that's been there for ten-fifteen years is just in shambles. There's very little in-between.
Then of course with education going to shit, that plays into poor health, drug issues, and so forth. I live here, I assure you, most people think the State's current abortion policy is crap and want some exceptions carved out. But holy crap, that is so far off in the distance for a lot of people here. Like, even the secure border thing, that I know a lot of media likes to play up as an issue we have, that too is really low on the priorities here. Cost of living, homelessness, and education are pretty much dominating the political landscape here.
I honestly hope she wins, I don't live in Burkhart's district but all of those good ol' boys run government like crap and can't understand the basics of economic policy to save their lives. But she's going to need a very large platform outside of abortion to stand on. But I would highly caution folks who attempt to read anything Tennessee related in State elections as a referendum on abortion policy. There are just so many other fish to fry at the moment in this State.
And yes, anything anyone wants to say about "Republicans" and "Making people poor" trust me, you aren't going to say something that's not been clearly obvious to Liberal leaning folks in Tennessee since forever. It's all uphill, been that way since as long as I've been voting.
I agree that homelessness SHOULD be a big issue any candidate running should make priority. But the fact is most MAGAs in this state are voting R all the way down the ticket whether the issues affect them or not. The failing school systems hasn't taught critical thinking in quite some time.
Phillips already knew there were complications with the pregnancy, and she had been bargaining with the universe for days leading up to this appointment.
Took me a moment, but that means "praying", for those of us who aren't great at unusual euphemisms.
I'd say it's like praying without the religious connotations. Bargaining is one of the five stages of grief.
It does not necessarily mean praying. I am an atheist. I've definitely done things like say, "well universe, if X doesn't happen, I'm going to do Y." I don't expect the universe to do what I say, I just need the mental fortitude.
Good for her.
I'm not optimistic about her winning - this is Tennessee, after all. Outside of Nashville and Memphis, it's a sea of painful ignorance and R voters. Even relatively purple places like Knoxville can't seem to elect anyone other than R's who are hellbent on destroying civil society for no particular reason - the pro-wrestler mayor dismantled the county health department in the middle of the pandemic, for crying out loud. And people applauded him for it!
I'll donate to her campaign and cross my fingers, but I'm not holding my breath.