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La. House Candidate Katie Darling's Campaign Ad Shows Her Giving Birth: 'This Is Real for Me'

Katie Darling, a House of Representatives candidate in Louisiana whose most recent campaign ad shows her giving birth for a story on the ad and her candidacy
Katie Darling, a House of Representatives candidate in Louisiana whose most recent campaign ad shows her giving birth for a story on the ad and her candidacy

Katie Darling Twitter

A candidate for U.S. Congress in Louisiana's first congressional district released a new video showing her giving birth.

On Monday, Katie Darling's campaign released a 75-second-long video on Twitter detailing her family's life on a farm in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, and her decision to run against Republican incumbent Rep. Steve Scalise, 56, in this November's election.

Darling, 36, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that she was seven months pregnant when she decided to enter the race in June after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade eliminated constitutional protections for abortion.

"I wanted to share that this is real for me," Darling told the AP about the video. "I am literally the one hooked up to the machines and the IVs in the hospital bed, going through childbirth and nobody else should be deciding how I handle that."

"Louisiana ranks 50th in crime, 48th in education, and 46th in health care," Darling wrote on Twitter alongside her video. "I'm running for Congress to stop this race to the bottom because our children deserve better."

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In the video, Darling voiced concerns about climate change and Louisiana's public education system.

She also discusses the state's strict abortion bans that have gone into effect since June. The near-total abortion ban only provides for exceptions if there is "substantial risk of death or impairment to the patient if they continue with the pregnancy" or in the case of pregnancies in which the fetus has a fatal abnormality, according to the AP.

There are no exceptions in the state's law for rape or incest.

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"We should be putting pregnant women at ease, not putting their lives at risk," Darling said in the clip. "I haven't spent my career in Washington. I've worked my way up from bartender to CEO. Now I help nurses organize their complicated health records, because nurses aren't just heroes, they're saints."

"Louisiana deserves better than the path we're on," Darling added, as the video showed her in the delivery room giving birth to her son. "I'm Katie Darling and I'm running for Congress because I want that better path."

"For you, for her, and for him," she concluded, as shots of her husband, her daughter and her newborn son were shown.

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Darling announced her candidacy for the seat on Sept. 1, according to a release available on her campaign's website. She faces a likely uphill climb to defeat Scalise, the House minority whip, who is projected to win the election 99 times out of 100 simulations ran by FiveThirtyEight's election forecast model.

"Steve Scalise has held the office for 14 years," Darling said in a press release her campaign issued Tuesday, after the video's release. "Louisiana ranks 50th in quality of life in the United States and GOP leadership has not improved Louisiana's ranking after decades of power. It's time for a new generation of leadership."