i like them. ♪ ♪ >> announcer: this is. >> jimmy: tonight, landmark lawsuit. the women coming forward with heartbreaking stories of loss. >> i shall be looking and think i'm so glad you made it despite the laws of the state. >> forced to leave their home state of texas for potentially life-saving abortions. >> should not have to be on death's store to get the healthcare that you need. >> the chilling effect on doctors and their patients. >> you feel like you are going to get in trouble. >> how they are hoping to save lives. plus, triumph over tragedy. an exclusive interview with rick

allen, the one on drummer from def leppard. ♪ pour some sugar on me ♪ >> byron: with his like "pour some sugar on me." his first interview since a brutal attack. >> must have seen that i was not a threat because i have only got one arm. >> byron: how past trauma taught him to heal. >> i started to think about the fact that i'm still here. >> announcer: "nightline" we will be right back. ♪ ♪ when you find your reason to go on, let it pull you past the doubt. past the pain, and past your limits. no matter what, we go on. biofreeze (psst psst) ahhhh... with flonase, allergies don't have to be scary spraying flonase daily gives you long-lasting, non-drowsy relief.

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♪ ♪ >> byron: thank you for joining us. we begin tonight with the women caught in the middle of the hot button issue of abortion. they happen -- they face medical emergencies and were forced to leave their home state of texas. now they are behind the first of its kind lawsuit. here is abc's correspondent rachel scott. >> reporter: for lauren miller the joy of holding her newborn son henry still feels surreal. >> hi. hi. >> reporter: 30 to get here was filled with both pain and loss. laurent first found out she was pregnant with twins in july 2022.

>> we first and -- first found out that it was twins, i was shocked but then ecstatic. >> reporter: she kept a journal throughout the pregnancy. >> i hope especially with the fall of roe v. wade that this pregnancy is uncomplicated and normal. as my pregnancy was logan was not. it took a very different terms. >> reporter: at 12 weeks, she learned that one of her unborn twins, which the doctors had named baby b would likely not survive. >> for maybe later because they were also seeing these two large fluid mass is in his brain. it was just heartbreaking. >> reporter: baby had a condition with a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth. low survival rates beyond the first year of life. and if you like your world turned upside down? >> it did. i'm just thinking through, growing up and people are going to refer to the miller twins. there are no miller twins.

just the one now. >> reporter: she had to make an excruciating decision. the best mode of survival of one twin, she would have to abort the other. >> he had no future. and for his twin i risk losing that one. that was devastating, too, sometimes when i'm holding my newborn son because of the laws of the state, he could have not made it. that is not even touching on the risk to myself. >> reporter: in a post roll world, texas' restrictive abortion ban, lauren says it was impossible to get the care she needed. she flew to colorado to have an abortion. >> i remember i was visibly pregnant and going to the security lines. could they pull us aside and asked why we're going? there's this sense of fear that is so pervasive and it should not be. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: texas law bans abortion with few exceptions. leaving women like lauren in

impossible situations. texas does have an exception for medical emergencies. the details are ambiguous. now she is part of a group of women suing the state of texas, saying they were denied necessary and potentially life-saving obstetrical care because medical professionals throughout the state liability under texas' abortion bans. the lawsuit was originally filed in march. eight more women doing today. in march, a spokesperson for texas attorney general ken paxton said in a statement that paxton will continue to defend and enforce the laws newly enacted by the texas legisla legislature. examples in the women who come forward in this lawsuit is that their doctors have gone to the hospital boards seeking to have the permission to terminate a pregnancy. the boards are saying now. and so they have to go back to their patients and say there's nothing that we can do.

the suit is the first to be filed by women impacted by statewide abortion bans since the supreme court overturned roe versus wade last year. 15 states now have either a total or six-week abortion ban. for many women, even >> they say the because they have an end exception for life for saving your life that is okay. in reality, those are not met and we see that in this case in texas. where the lead plaintiff had a life-threatening complication. she ended up in the icu and yet she was not granted an abortion until she was at that's door. >> reporter: that plaintiff, amanda, says she was told her baby would not survive. but she cannot get an abortion. it was not until she went into septic shock and nearly died that she received an emergency abortion delivering her stillborn daughter. the infection caused permanent damage to one of her fallopian

tubes. she testified before congress last month. >> i was not permitted to have an abortion and the trauma and the ptsd and depression that i have dealt with in the eight months since this happened to me is paralyzing. i am still struggling to have children. >> reporter: lauren, too, is grappling with the aftermath of what happened. >> it was not until he was born i could finally hold my son that i was just so happy he was here. i think that is what i said to him. i said, you made it. it is hard to get over that. and frankly, it makes me mad, too. >> reporter: it makes you angry? >> i should not be looking at my son saying i'm so glad you made it despite the laws of the state. i was far enough along. i was really excited for twins. and every time i see -- i will see things for twins now and

every single time, it kind of hits. my son is a twin list twin >> reporter: lord's ob/gyn was by her side throughout her pregnancy. both women worry about what it means in a post roll iraq. in texas, it is a second-degree felony to perform or attempt an abortion, huntsville by up to those punishable by life in prison or fine. >> it is not this -- it is part of me. it is who i am. it is woven into my dna at this point. so when these laws came into effect, it was not just violating the autonomy that i felt like i have with my own training. it was putting my own life -- livelihood on the line and in addition to my patient. >> reporter: did you have to change the way that you talk to

your patients, the type of conversation that you have? >> i have had to change the way that i speak to my patients about abortion. it is even hard to say the word because you feel like you are going to get in trouble just by saying the word abortion. >> reporter: dr. kennard understands what the patients are going through. she has been there herself. did you ever think as an ob/gyn that you would be sitting down to tell this story as both a doctor and a patient? >> the short answer is no. i never ever thought that i would be getting an abortion or that i would be struggling to help my patients get abortions. >> reporter: in july of 2022, did not go to the news she and her husband had been waiting for. they were pregnant again and welcoming their third child. at her 11-week ultrasound, she saw something startling on the monitor. >> i could tell there was something not right with the brain. and it was just a moment of --

sorry. sorry just realizing that this was not going to end up being a sibling for my children. and then i thought to myself can't believe i'm going to go out of state for an abortion. it just felt surreal. >> reporter: her unborn baby was diagnosed with a rare and fatal condition affecting the development of the brain. still, if she wanted an abortion, she let her patient would have to travel out of state to get one. >> i knew immediately that i do not want to continue the pregnancy and i think i do not want to put my health physical

mental emotional health at risk. continuing my pregnancy. but for somebody else, caring a pregnancy, feeling the baby move, delivering their baby, holding their baby while it passes away, potentially, might be what is right for them. i just know it was not right for me. so as soon as i had the diagnosis, i started seeking abortion care out of state. >> reporter: she is now pregnant again. expecting her third child in the fall. she and lauren, this lawsuit could save lives. so for patients in this situation, i hope they are able to access the abortion care that they need. for lawmakers, i hope that they actually read our stories, absorb them because i just them, and realize that -- digest them and realize that there are so many of us. they are hurting.

>> i want autonomy back. as a woman and as a p >> reporter: do you feel like sitting down and doing this interview is even a risk? >> absolutely. even surrounded by april i love and care about. it is still scary. >> reporter: and you still believe it is worth it? >> i do. i do. >> byron: our thanks to rachel. coming up, triumphed over tragedy. the exclusive interview with ray allen, the drummer with the allen, the drummer with the registry rock band de medicine e the risk of hiv without daily prep pills. with one shot every other month, just 6 times a year. in studies, apretude was proven superior to a daily prep pill in reducing the risk of hiv. you must be hiv negative to receive apretude

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♪ ♪ >> byron: now to ninja theory def leppard robert rick allen who overcame a tragedy to keep making music. he opens up about a terrifying attack and how he leans on trauma to heal. here is phil lipof. >> i know i'm not going to be playing music in a band forever. but while i am, i plan on making as many people happy as i possibly can. this is my opportunity. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: rick allen is a rock ledge and not just for being the number of def leppard, one of the best-selling rock bands of all time with megahits like "pour some sugar on me." ♪ pour some sugar on me ♪ ♪ oh, in the name of

>> reporter: but for doing it with just one arm. he lost his left arm in a car crash in the '80s and recovering from another setback. sitting down for his only interview since being attacked in much outside a hotel following the band's show in fort lauderdale. >> i heard a couple of steps back and then i just saw this dark sort of flash and the next thing i knew was i was on the ground. are landed on my, you know, my. and then continued on. i hit my head on the pavement. >> stunned, rick says it happened fast. >> i reached my hand into the air. and i just said, i am no threat to you. i don't think he knew who i was. but she must have seen that i was not a threat because, you know, i have only got one arm. fort lauderdale police arrested 19-year-old max hartley that night. for how teen's six charges

including criminal mischief. he has pleaded not guilty. a motive for the attack is unclear. in pain, rick immediately drew from what he learned while recovering from his car crash. in a way, you were almost better prepared for this venue were for the accident? >> absolutely, 100%. >> reporter: his wife, lauren, a big part of that. >> everything stopped in our house. and focused on him. >> i immediately when to that place of just feeling grateful for the fact that i have an amazing wife and an incredible family. i just started just thinking yeah. just started thanking a higher. the fact that -- higher power for the fact that i'm here here. >> reporter: rick takes a quiet moment to prepare, something he

has been doing since losing his arm. rick joined def leppard when he was just 15. by the time he was 21, the band was a success. and he bought himself a brand-new corvette. on the afternoon of december 31st, 1984, he took a drive in that car, a drive that would change the course of his life. >> as the car rolled, the seatbelt came undone. the seatbelt took my arm as i was flying out through the car. spoke rick's right shoulder broken. relearning how to do everything from water skiing and shooting pool to play the drums with just one on. >> this is where it all happens. >> we visited them in their california home. rick showing us his drum kit and how the technology allows him to sound the way he did before the crash. the foot pedals mimic what their left arm would do. >> exactly what it does. so i can actually go here instead of-2 reach all the way

over here. >> def leppard! ck 'n' roll hall of fame mite long standg atn rock royalty. >> if you tell the 21 version of yourself one thing that would help him get through the rest of the hospital stay, what would it be? >> yeah —-dash [crying] ♪ ♪ >> reporter: if you were given the chance to go back and not have that happen, would you? >> that is a really good question. in many ways, i think it enabled me to grow in so many ways. it became a blessing, a

responsibility, a responsibility to other people, to myself, and i think that has become a huge gift. >> reporter: rick and lauren created the drum foundation in 21. the goal to help trauma survivors especially veterans and first responders. a focus on physical as well as -- as well as mental health. >> we can't answer that question. together -- why did this happen to me? we can't answer that question either. we focus on, what is right now. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: for rick, part of recovery has always been music. this week, def leppard back in england, where the band was formed. ♪ ♪ yet another chance to show the world and himself what resilience looks like. >> i'm definitely not super mad. and i definitely know my superpower is asking for help. ♪ ♪ >> byron: our thanks to phil parker coming up, the color

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♪ ♪ >> byron: n'faly tonight, first look at the long-awaited movie musical, "the color purple." >> i will write you every day. >> it is base on the classic alice walker novel. the all-star cast is led by fantasia.

♪ and i feel >> we are more than just kings and queens. we are at the center of the universe. >> byron: oprah winfrey andrew stuandsteven spielberg. the musical opens on christmas day. and that is "nightline" for this evening. catch our full episodes on hulu. we will see you right back here same time