Right Now: Louisiana House Debating "Heartbeat" Bill; Protesters Rally Against Alabama's New Abortion Law
BALDWIN: Alabama is not alone on its tough stance against abortion. Take a look at the map with me and you'll see. Several states have already either passed more restrictive abortion laws or are considering them. Right now, Louisiana's House of Representatives is debating a heartbeat bill that would basically limits abortion to the first six weeks of pregnancy. Louisiana's state Senate already passed it and its Democratic governor says he will buck party politics and sign it. And here is how he explained his stance.</s>GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): In eight years in the legislature, I was a pro-life legislator, 100 percent with the Louisiana rights to life. When I ran for governor, I said that I was pro-life and so that's something that's consistent.</s>BALDWIN: Demonstrators marched on the Alabama capital, Sunday, and protested that state's new ban. More protests are set for tomorrow at state Houses and city halls all across the country. And my next guest, Dina Zirlott, is from Alabama. She wrote this incredibly compelling piece for the "Huffington Post" about her own experience at being raped at age 17 and then forced to carry her daughter to term even after learning her little girl would have a condition that would eventually be fatal. So, Dina, a heartfelt welcome and thank you so much for your words and for joining me. And if you can, just take me back. You wrote about this. You were 17. You were studying quadratic equations with a boy from your Algebra 2 class. What did he do to you?</s>DINA ZIRLOTT, FORCED BY LAW TO GIVE BIRTH TO HER RAPIST'S CHILD: Yes. There was a moment where he reached over and put his hand on my leg, and I became uncomfortable. And so I got up to try and move away and diffuse the tension because I'd asked to stop and he was very verbal that he did not want to. And when I got up to move away, he followed me, and at that point I was backed into the kitchen, and he proceeded to assault me.</s>BALDWIN: To rape you? He raped you at age 17?</s>ZIRLOTT: Yes, ma'am. Yes.</s>BALDWIN: You become impregnated with your rapist's child. And before you even gave birth, you found out your daughter would not live long in this world, and she didn't. Can you tell me about that?</s>ZIRLOTT: Right. The doctor within moments of having the ultrasound, the tech who was giving me the ultrasound, her face just fell. I knew immediately something wasn't right. And within moments of that, we were back in the doctor's office. And she was explaining to us how Zoey (ph) had this -- has a condition called hydranencephaly where the cerebrum fails to divide into two separate hemispheres and that area fills instead with cerebral spinal fluid while the cerebellum and brain stem remains intact and regulates just the most fundamental of, you know, physical function to keep you alive, your heart beat, your respiration. But that -- this defect would eventually lead to several other complications with her health, diabetes insipidus, seizures, insomnia, the inability to regulate her temperature. It was a constant process of trying to combat what was coming next and all the preexisting things that were happening to her.</s>BALDWIN: So eventually you lose her right around one year of age. And you wrote a couple of graphs, way more compelling coming from you than from me. Would you mind sharing?</s>ZIRLOTT: Yes. I wrote, "I would have done anything, anything at all to help prevent even one moment of Zoey's relentless suffering. I've been told this is selfish. I've been called cruel. I've been called a monster. I have been called unthankful for not cherishing every moment with my child as there so many other parents who wished they even had a sliver of the time we shared. But explain to me how I'm supposed to watch my child live in pain, unable to relate to the world around her, unable to feel joy or anger or the mingled calamity of my love and be grateful for it. This is how we treat women where I live here in Alabama where men who have never once been inside of my body, never once been forced to endure my circumstances, and never once felt the residue of my violation eating away from within still feel divinely compelled to appropriate my autonomy. I feel such anger and sadness at their limitedness, their inability to perceive reality and their willingness to leverage our lives and well- being in exchange for a red meat vote."</s>BALDWIN: Just lastly, Dina, what are you -- what are women in Alabama going to do about it?</s>ZIRLOTT: We're going to continue to speak out, continue to tell our stories, continue to demand our constitutional right to choice. At the moment that's the best thing we can do is stand up for ourselves.</s>BALDWIN: Dina Zirlott, thank you so much.</s>ZIRLOTT: Thank you so much.</s>BALDWIN: We want to get you back to our breaking news. We are just seeing the Justice Department's opinion on why the White House is able to blocked Don McGahn from testifying tomorrow. That's next.