4 August 6-12, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Month XX–Month XX, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | AN UNEXPECTED CALLING In the two years after Brandt had her abor- tion, she became accustomed to seeing her name in headlines. It was she, after all, who reached out to a journalist to share her story in the first place. That story led to another, and eventually led to Duane reaching out. Duane explained that two dozen women had signed on to a lawsuit known as Zu- rawski v. State of Texas, which alleged that Texas’ stringent abortion ban had put the lives of expecting mothers at risk and failed to offer practitioners the proper guidance needed to make medical decisions. Brandt “signed on and never left.” The Texas Supreme Court ruled against the Zurawski plaintiffs in May of 2024, but by that point, the case had gained national attention. Many of the women had joined the campaign trail. Amanda Zurawski, the lead plaintiff, emerged as a leading surro- gate for Kamala Harris’ presidential cam- paign. Kate Cox, the Dallas woman who became an “unlikely face of abortion” after traveling out of state for a procedure, fea- tured prominently in Collin Allred’s 2024 Senate ads. Then, two months before election day, Brandt saw her name appear in a news arti- cle that she wasn’t expecting. The write-up appeared in Live Action News, a pro-life publication that had taken swings at other women named in the Zu- rawski case. The headline questioned whether Brandt’s abortion was necessary, and the piece ended by stating that “instead of being treated with love and compassion, Ashley’s aborted twin was denied her hu- manity, unnecessarily labeled a threat to her sibling and killed by abortion” Brandt knew that it was likely her Catholic community had read the piece, and she felt “disappointed” that an outlet that purports to care about the life of mothers and children would “skew the information” of her case. “I offered to chat with them,” she said. “I let them know that [the article] was poorly researched. I let them know that it was full of misinformation and I didn’t appreciate the way that they were framing it. I said, if you have any questions, I’m happy to an- swer. … And I heard nothing back.” The news site has been a frequent attacker of women who publicize their decision to have an abortion, even in instances where the procedure was medically necessary. In more than two dozen articles, videos and social media posts, the outlet has claimed that Cox “eugenically killed” her baby, who was diag- nosed with a fatal form of Trisomy 18 that doctors determined would be lethal. Still, Brandt is heartened that her conver- sations with real people tend to go the oppo- site direction: empathy comes fast, even from unexpected places. Her Catholic mother-in-law, who was once the type to hold pro-life signs at protests, became an ad- vocate for women’s choice in the wake of Brandt’s abortion. “I live in a very conservative area. I mean, Ken Paxton is 15 minutes down the street. It’s religious and it’s conservative,” she said. “Everyone I’ve spoken to has been very un- derstanding and they all agree when they hear experiences like mine, like ‘What was the government doing in your doctor’s of- fice?’ They’re all really scared of that; it’s very off-putting.” Gearing up for the 2026 Senate race, Brandt sees Attorney General Ken Paxton as an ideal boogeyman to campaign against. She’s petrified by the thought of him “in power at a national level,” but she also be- lieves that his record is an easy one to cam- paign against. It was Paxton who cleared the way for SB 8 to go into effect. It was Paxton who at- tempted to swat down the Zurawski case whilst it was still making its way through the court system. It is Paxton who is endorsed by right-to-life groups and vows to “defend the unborn.” And it is Paxton who, in recent months, told The Washington Examiner that the state needs to take action to further regulate women’s healthcare. “We need to have restrictions (on in vitro fertilization), so that we don’t lose fertilized eggs, if that’s possible, and we need to just examine the issue,” Paxton said. Despite his long-standing, full-throated support for Texas’ abortion ban, though, Paxton has been relatively quiet about the issue on the campaign trail thus far. Duane sees that as part of a pattern of extreme poli- ticians who have suddenly gone quiet after realizing “their anti-abortion stance isn’t popular, and [they] want to hide it.” According to a 2025 survey conducted by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs, Texans overwhelmingly sup- port exceptions to the state’s abortion ban. Only 23% of those polled believed that abor- tions should not be allowed at any time, and more than 80% agreed that abortions should be legal in instances including lethal fetal anomaly, rape or incest, or if the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother. Seventy per- cent supported abortions if the pregnancy threatened the mother’s mental health. Abortion access is still one of the top is- sues Duane sees Texas women talking about, online, during organizing activities and casually. So even if the front page of The New York Times or pundits on CNN have slowed down on talking about the fall of Roe, she still believes it’s an issue that could move the needle in November. “Texas women are watching,” said Duane. “They are paying attention to what is happening in the statehouse. They’re pay- ing attention to what’s happening in Con- gress. They’re paying attention to what’s happening in the hospitals around the state and with every day that goes by more people are impacted and they aren’t sitting down and taking this quietly.” ELECTION SEASON During a town hall in a DeSoto church on July 20, James Talarico, the seminari- an-slash-Democratic rising star who polling shows is neck-in-neck or leading against Paxton, took questions from the audience for more than an hour. The crowd asked Talarico how he planned to connect with Black voters, and where he stood on issues like police brutality and repa- rations. They asked about the rise of Christi- anity in public schools. And they asked about affordability: affordability in healthcare and in the grocery store, and what can be done to ease unemployment and debt. The audience did not ask Talarico about his stance on abortion access. (He has spo- ken against the state’s abortion ban, and said on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast that he believes Christian opposition to abortion is “not rooted in scripture.” When asked for further comment, the Talarico campaign provided a statement focused only on Pax- ton’s record on abortion.) Even if it’s not coming up as often as it did two years ago, Joey Teitelbaum, The forgotten issue from p3 >> p6 Provided by Ashley Brandt Photo by Maria Crane for the Dallas Observer Ashley Brandt & Marcus Brandt; Kate Cox
