A woman whose IVF was canceled, the sister of a Uvalde school shooting victim, a woman forced to travel out of state due to Texas’ abortion ban, the prime minister of Sweden and a civil rights activist who marched on Bloody Sunday are among the guests who will join First Lady Jill Biden to watch President Biden’s State of the Union address Thursday night.
20 guests will join Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in the box when the president delivers his prime-time address on Capitol Hill.
The White House said the guests who come from across the country were invited because they embody issues or themes in the president’s speech or “embody the policies of the Biden-Harris Administration in action for the American people.”
Among the guests is Latorya Beasley of Birmingham, Alabama. She and her husband were working to expand their family when their in vitro fertilization (IVF) process was abruptly canceled in the wake of the Alabama Supreme Court’s controversial ruling that embryos are boys.
Kate Cox asked the court for an order allowing her to have an abortion in Texas but had to leave the state to receive care
The shocking decision that forced families across the state into limbo as clinics suspended treatments is expected to take center stage in the president’s speech along with abortion access as the White House takes aim at Republicans over the issue. which has proven to be a motivation. strength for Democrats in an election year.
He also joins First Lady Kate Cox, a mother of two, who spoke publicly about her experience trying to get medical care after Texas banned abortion. She requested a court order for an abortion after it was determined that the fetus had a genetic condition and would not survive and her life was at risk. She ended up having to travel out of state to have an emergency abortion.
Also in the guest box will be Jazmin Cazares, whose 9-year-old sister Jackie was killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Cazares has been traveling the country speaking out in support of gun violence prevention, including alongside other leaders of the March for Our Lives at the Texas State Capitol.
Jazmin Cazares (left) will attend the State of the Union as a guest of First Lady Jill Biden. Her sister Jackie (right) was killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.
As the president pressures Congress to have Ukraine fund and support NATO, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will also be present. Sweden will formally join NATO on Thursday, two years after Russia invaded Ukraine, forcing European nations to rethink their policies and increase support for the alliance founded 75 years ago.
Sweden joined NATO on March 7. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to attend President’s State of the Union address
The White House confirmed that Biden also invited Ukraine’s first lady and the widow of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but both declined the invitations.
Commander Shelby Nikitin received the Bronze Star for her leadership after the USS Thomas Hudner was deployed to the Red Sea.
Navy Officer Commanding Officer Shelby Nikitin, who recently completed her tour on the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, is also a guest. She recently received the Bronze Star for her leadership after her ship was deployed to protect shipping from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Also attending after heroic action will be Kameryn Pupunu, a Maui County police officer who was one of many officers who jumped into action when fires swept through his hometown of Lahaina. He helped save 15 people from the deadly fires, but lost four immediate family members in the disaster.
Civil rights advocate Bettie Mae Fikes, who was at Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, in 1965, is also a guest after joining the president to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma last year.
Author Maria Shriver is the founder of the women’s movement against Alzheimer’s
Maria Shriver is also a guest. The author, journalist and member of the Kennedy family founded the Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and works with the Cleveland Clinic.
The First Lady also invited several guests to highlight the administration’s economic priorities.
Samantha Ervin-Upsher of Pittsburgh, PA, is an apprentice with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 432 and met the First Lady last year during a visit to the state.
Shawn Fain, the president of the United Auto Workers who was with the president when he joined the picket in Michigan last year will also be there, as will Dawn Simms, a member of UAW Local 126 in Illinois who joined Biden last year to commemorate the reopening of an assembly plant that had closed.
Mayor Garnett Johnson of Augusta, Georgia, was invited after his city was named one of Investing in America’s five workforce centers.
Augusta Mayor Garnett Johnson will be at the State of the Union address on March 7.
Steven Hadfield, who has a rare blood cancer and is diabetic, is another guest attending the event after his insulin copay cost was capped at $35 a month. He is benefiting too and next year he will benefit from limits on out-of-pocket costs for his cancer drugs.
And Minnesota educator Keenan Jones, who wrote the president an email thanking him for the public service student loan forgiveness program that has helped eliminate billions in federal student loan debt, will also join the First Lady as Biden continues to move forward on canceling student loan debt.
Other guests include Kris Blackley, oncology nurse; Natalie King, who founded electric vehicle charger manufacturing company Dunamis Charge; Governor Stephen Roe Lewis, who is in his fourth term as governor of the Gila River Indian Community; Justin Phillips, who founded the nonprofit Overdose Lifeline; Rashawn Spivey, who owns Hero Plumbing and has been working to replace toxic lead pipes; and Tiffany Zoeller, who works as a military wife and medical coder and met with the president last year when he took executive action to help military wives.