‘I would not carry my son … knowing his life would be filled with pain and suffering’: Abortion takes central role in Senate race

Kelsey Leigh dropped off her 3-year-old son at day care one cold morning in February 2016 and drove to UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital for a routine ultrasound. She’d been pregnant for nearly 21 weeks and on this day was anticipating seeing images of her second child for the first time, learning the baby’s gender and then heading to work.

Leigh’s first pregnancy had been a joy. She called the baby in her womb her “little buddy” who accompanied her everywhere. He was an energetic baby — in fact, he moved so much during his first ultrasound that Leigh and the technician laughed about it. She looked forward to experiencing pregnancy a second time and had developed a short list of names for her baby.

This time, however, the ultra sound experience was different. It took longer than expected. Unlike her first child, this baby wasn’t moving, so the technician had trouble obtaining enough views. After an hour, the technician had determined the gender — it was a boy — then told Leigh, “I see clubbed feet. I’m going to get the doctor, he’ll tell you more.”

The technician then left. Leigh sat in the examination room and processed what she’d just heard.

“OK, my baby has an orthopedic issue,” she said to herself. “Clubbed feet. That’s going to be hard, but we can do that.” Others had dealt with this — one of her friends had a baby with clubbed feet. What’s more, Leigh has a background in disability studies, so she knew something about the care involved. “And we live in Pittsburgh — we have Children’s Hospital,” She thought. “We’ve got this.”

Several minutes later, the physician walked into the examination room. Leigh could tell from the look on his face that her baby’s health issues involved more than orthopedics. 

Her baby’s limbs and neck were deformed, she learned. If she continued with the pregnancy until birth, her child would most likely lack the ability to swallow or breathe. His bones would break during delivery, no matter the method. The doctor explained that the baby’s health issues were likely caused by an underlying systemic issue, such as the malfunctioning of a key element that builds a developing child’s muscles.

Leigh spent a day at the hospital, undergoing tests. She then went home and sat on the couch, realizing the future would not be what she’d envisioned.

“I called it getting hit by the Mack truck of life,” she said.

“So I did what I knew was right for my son, myself and my family. I chose to have an abortion. I would not carry my son four more months knowing his life would be filled with pain and suffering.”

That experience moved her to become an advocate for abortion rights.

“I said goodbye to him before I ever got  to hold him,” she said, “a decision I made on my own, supported by my loved ones and my compassionate health care team.”

Leigh told her story Thursday morning to dozens of labor leaders, advocates and lawmakers who gathered in the lobby of the United Steelworkers, Downtown, to show their opposition to Republican David McCormick’s candidacy for a U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Bob Casey.

Others spoke, too, but Leigh’s brief speech proved to be the event’s most emotional moment — her voice broke on a few occasions — and it highlighted one of the key points of attack for Democrats: McCormick’s opposition to abortion.

As expected, McCormick kicked off his Senate bid during a rally later Thursday at the Senator John Heinz History Center in the Strip District. This is McCormick’s second try at winning a seat in the upper chamber. He lost a Republican primary battle last year.

Leigh described McCormick as “a dangerous extremist whose out-of-touch views on abortion are just one of many reasons why he has no place in elected office.”

Polls show most people disapprove of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which ended a nearly 50-year federal right to abortion. One example: An NBC News poll released in June found 61% of voters opposed the decision. It’s a potent political issue for Democrats.

“Mr. McCormick has proudly stated that the Dobbs decision was, quote, ‘a great step forward, a huge victory,’” Leigh said. “I worked in our local independent abortion clinic in the six months following the overturning of Roe. I spoke to dozens of patients every day. They were suffering and scared and desperate. They were traveling hundreds of miles and were worried about being arrested. I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider that a victory, and it is certainly not what I call freedom.”

Abortion, however, was just one point of criticism. Other speakers criticized Pennsylvania native McCormick as a “millionaire Connecticut hedge fund manager” who’s falsely claiming residency in Squirrel Hill and has, in his past business dealings, hurt Pennsylvania workers.

Lt. Gov. Austin Davis called McCormick “one of those people who left Pennsylvania behind, laid off dozens of Pittsburgh workers as a corporate CEO and got rich by shifting jobs overseas. He doesn’t even live here. He’s a mega millionaire living in a mansion on the Connecticut Gold Coast.”

To drive home that last point, Davis held up two “gifts” for McCormick — a Pittsburgh visitors guide and a Pittsburgh map.

State Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, was next to jump on the topic of McCormick’s residency.

“For 50 years, I’ve lived in the community he now wants to try to call home, the Squirrel Hill community,” Costa said. “I went to school two blocks from the home he says he lives in.”

“To think that this gentleman will call Squirrel Hill, the 14th ward, his home, having never lived there — we know he’s not there because I work in that community day in and day out — it’s offensive to me, and it should be offensive to all of us.”

Like the other speakers, Costa took time to praise Casey for the senator’s support of legislation benefiting working people. Casey, he said, is “working to protect our children, working to protect our workers and working families, to ensure that he’s able to be a seat at the table making important decisions and driving policy that impacts workers across Pennsylvania and throughout this country.”

Dave McCall, vice president of the United Steelworkers, praised Casey for his support of President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill, the CHIPS and Science Act, which provides billions in new funding to boost domestic research and manufacturing of semiconductors, and the Protect the Right to Organize Act, which secures workers’ union rights.

Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Central Labor Council, brought chuckles from the crowd when he pointed out that one news article compared Casey to oatmeal.

“Well, to the working families of Western Pennsylvania, oatmeal fed a hell of a lot of us, generation after generation,” Kelly said. “You know what else it did? It strengthened our children. It gave them something in their bellies to go to school and get their piece of the American dream. Bob Casey, you are our oatmeal.”