Lawmakers Invite Abortion Seekers, Hostage Relatives, and Others Impacted by Reproductive Rights, Unjust Detentions, and Authoritarian Regimes as State of the Union Guests
• Several lawmakers have invited women who fled their states to receive abortion services as guests, including a woman who sued for the right to terminate a nonviable pregnancy in Texas.
• The parents of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will attend as guests, to highlight Russia’s “unjust” detention of him.
• Senator Tim Kaine will bring Elizabeth Carr, the first person born via in-vitro fertilization in the U.S., amid debates over reproductive rights.
• Seventeen relatives of American hostages taken by Hamas into Gaza last year will attend as guests of multiple lawmakers.
• Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was invited but is unable to attend.