When she was around 22 weeks pregnant, the patient found out that the son she was carrying didn’t have kidneys and his lungs wouldn’t develop. If he survived the birth, he would struggle to breathe and die within hours.
The patient had a crushing decision to make: continue the pregnancy — which could be a risk to her health and her ability to have children in the future — or have an abortion.
“I don’t think I stopped crying for an entire two weeks,” she said. “The whole world felt heavy. … It’s not something anybody should have to go through. It’s not easy losing somebody you love.”
KFF Health News is not disclosing the woman’s name or the name of the community where she lives, because she fears harm if her identity becomes known. She lives in Missouri, which has one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation. KFF Health News confirmed details of her experience.
After the fetal diagnosis, the patient’s Missouri doctors told her that her life wasn’t in immediate danger, but they also pointed out the risks of carrying the pregnancy to term. And in her family, there’s a history of hemorrhaging while giving birth. If she started to bleed, her doctors said, she might lose her uterus, too. The patient said this possibility was devastating. She’s a young mom who wants more children.
So she chose to get an abortion. Her Missouri doctors told her it was the safest option — but they wouldn’t provide one.
The patient had to leave Missouri and cross the border to Illinois, which has become a legal haven for abortion rights. Because of her complicated pregnancy, she received the abortion in a hospital.
Since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, determining who can get an abortion and where has been complicated by medically ambiguous language in new state laws that ban or restrict abortion. Doctors in those states fear they could lose their medical licenses or wind up in jail.
Amid these changes, physicians in abortion…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply