Woman almost dies after being unable to get an abortion
Roe v Wade, the landmark law which granted women the right to abort up until foetal viability in the US, was overturned almost five months ago - and women are still being affected by the scaled-back legislation today.
And one woman has opened up about how the Supreme Court’s decision to peel back body autonomy for those with uteruses caused her to almost lose her life.
Tyla has shared the stories of those who are affected by the legislation, including one woman from Texas who ‘self-induced’ her abortion while the state she was in was living in a post-Roe v Wade state and men who downloaded period-tracking apps to cause ‘chaos’ in solidarity for those who could no longer access abortion care.
Amanda Eid and Josh Zurawski, 35, tied the knot in the city of Austin three years ago, and planned to have a family but struggled.
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Amanda underwent fertility treatments for a year and a half, and was elated when she finally fell pregnant with their baby.
“The fact that we were pregnant at all was a miracle, and we were beside ourselves with happiness,” she told CNN.
But tragically, at 18 weeks, Amanda’s water broke and they were told that their baby would not survive.
Amanda recalled to CNN of the heartbreaking moment: “We found out that we were going to lose our baby.
“My cervix was dilating fully 22 weeks prematurely, and I was inevitably going to miscarry.”
She and her partner pleaded with medical staff to save their baby, but there was sadly nothing they could do.
When a pregnant person’s water breaks during pregnancy, they are placed at risk of sepsis.
And as Texas bans abortions in all stages of pregnancy except if the mother has a ‘life-threatening physical condition’, doctors were unable to terminate her pregnancy for fear of violating the law.
Any doctor found to be in violation of this law can face the loss of their medical license and a possible life sentence in prison.
“My doctor said, ‘Well, right now we just have to wait, because we can’t induce labour, even though you’re 100 percent for sure going to lose your baby,’ ” Amanda recalled.
“[The doctors] were unable to do their own jobs because of the way that the laws are written in Texas.”
After Amanda’s waters broke, her physicians asked her to return home and keep an eye out for any signs of infection.
But three days later, Amanda began shivering in the August heat in her home state.
“We were having a heat wave, I think it was 105 degrees [Fahrenheit] that day, and I was freezing cold, and I was shaking, my teeth were chattering.
“I was trying to tell Josh that I didn’t feel good, and my teeth were chattering so hard that I could not even get the sentence out.”
It turned out that Amanda was suffering from sepsis as a result of being refused a termination of her pregnancy that inevitably was not going to be viable.
Even after antibiotics, a blood transfusion and a termination were administered to Amanda, she was not making any progress and had to be transferred to the ICU.
Eventually, the doctors inserted an intravenous line near her heart to deliver antibiotics and medication, which stabilized her blood pressure. Thankfully, she survived.
But because of the ordeal, her uterus has been scarred due to the infection, and it is unclear whether she will be able to carry any more children.
Amanda has had surgery to remove the scarring, but it is not yet known whether it will be a success.
“[This] didn’t have to happen,” Amanda said. “That’s what’s so infuriating about all of this, is that we didn’t have to – we shouldn’t have had to – go through all of this trauma.”
If you need support and advice following a pregnancy loss, you can contact the Tommy’s team at [email protected]. You can also call them for free on 0800 014 7800 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).
For help, support and advice about abortion, contact the National Abortion Federation on 1-800-772-9100, EST 8am-7pm EST Monday to Friday or EST 8am-4pm EST Saturday to Sunday.
Gabriella Ferlita