The first question I ask is, so what am I supposed to do now?

When Ali Phillips was 19 weeks pregnant, doctors discovered that only two of the four chambers in her unborn daughter's heart had formed.

That meant the fetus wouldn't survive.

So Phillips could either stay pregnant and brace for miscarriage or... I could terminate my pregnancy but due to Tennessee's ban I could not do it here I would have to look out of state

Philip spoke with nPR reporter Katie a riddle This all unfolded last year. At the time, abortion was almost

completely illegal in Tennessee. The state has since added some narrow exceptions. But back then, Phillips had to fly to New York to have an abortion.

When she got there, the fetal heartbeat had already stopped. Phillips was in danger of becoming septic.

She did manage to get her abortion.

I'm very thankful for that clinic

because they treated me like a human being,

unlike my state did.

I felt like a very small person going through that situation.

That experience started her path toward politics. Phillips signed on with several other women suing Tennessee

with the help of the Center for Reproductive Rights

in hopes of changing the state's law.

And she began documenting her story.

I posted every moment on Tik-Tok

because I wanted people to see what somebody has to go through

when they live in a state like Tennessee.

I was pretty inspired by watching it, did a double take and realized she lives here, she lives in Clarksville.

Charles Elfelman saw her tick talks. He also happens to be head of Montgomery County Democrats. That's the county where Phillips lives.

Uffelman reached out to her to see if she would get involved with a party. Her involvement became much more than that.

...