Austin couple attends State of the Union as guests of President Biden

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin couple is attending Tuesday night's State of the Union as guests of President Biden. 

Last October, People Magazine first reported about the Texas abortion law being partially responsible for almost killing an Austin woman. 

Amanda Zurawski got sepsis after doctors were too afraid to remove her unviable fetus. She and her husband, Josh, will be in the balcony during the State of the Union.

The White House says she continues to suffer from medical conditions because of the delay in care. 

Democratic analyst Ed Espinoza and Republican political strategist Ashley Brasher joined FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas to discuss.

REBECCA THOMAS: Ashley. No matter which side of the aisle you sit on, this case is very concerning. Should Texas lawmakers add some common sense medical provisions while still enforcing the state's abortion law? 

ASHLEY BRASHER: You know, Catholic hospitals have been enforcing these kinds of rules as long as I've been alive, including in blue states like Illinois, where I grew up. I don't think the abortion ban in Texas really has much to do with this. It's really some separate issues here. 

REBECCA THOMAS: Ed, what is your take on this? The president likely wants this Austin couple to represent the chilling effect the Texas abortion law has when it comes to real life medical emergencies. Will that resonate with those who are against abortion? 

ED ESPINOZA: Well, I don't know if it will resonate with that because it is a very small minority of this state, regardless of what we would see from the legislature. But the truth is, the law in Texas absolutely had an effect on this couple. It is why hospitals operate in fear when it comes to medically necessary care, because they don't know what the legal liabilities that will come after them will end up looking like. In the end, they only know that those legal liabilities now exist because of the legislature. Now, it may have existed at Catholic hospitals in the past, may have been able to deal with this, but that was not a totality of the hospitals in a state like Texas. Patients had other options. In Texas. They have no other options. This is a critical health care problem and something needs to be done urgently about it. 

REBECCA THOMAS: Ashley focusing now on the state of our union, how do you think it has been under President Biden? 

ASHLEY BRASHER: I think we're all feeling what our vote can actually do or not do at this point. Inflation is at an all-time high, and over four decades, the feds have raised rates eight times within the last year. That's absolutely insane. I mean, paying $10 for a carton of eggs. I think we're all kind of miserable under Biden. And I think the left needs to realize that things need to change. We're having issues at the border. We're having issues with communication across the aisle. Honestly, Biden just has communications issues, period. I don't know if you've recently heard any of his interviews or speeches, but they're practically incoherent. We need leadership, and we're just never going to have that with him. 

REBECCA THOMAS: Ed, same question. How do you think President Biden is doing and does he need to change people's minds on certain aspects of his job performance? 

ED ESPINOZA: First, hard to talk about coherency of a presidency after four years of Trump. But let's move on to Biden. Look, the most important issue that people are going to look at is the economy. That's the one they feel the most. There are a lot of other issues can tap into that voting rights, abortion rights, climate change, which we're feeling the brunt of very much here in Austin right now. But the economy is one they're going to feel now, inflation. That is an issue that has to be addressed. The housing market in Austin and other places has to be addressed. The fact we need more housing supply in this country and that is a priority there. But job growth under Biden, we had a record month in January, something like 315,000 new jobs created. Unemployment is at a something like a three-year low right now, down to three and a half percent when it comes to unemployment and job growth. Biden is succeeding right now. And that is something that I think that Americans should really be proud of. Does he have work to do? Absolutely. Has he accomplished a lot? Absolutely.

REBECCA THOMAS: We are out of time. But Ed Ashley, thank you both for sharing your time and perspectives with us tonight.