Idaho – When “abortion travel” becomes a nightmare: A tale of no good choices

She wanted a baby — but her fetus had no chance of survival. How Idaho's abortion laws led to devastating trauma

By NICOLE KARLIS
JUNE 12, 2024

Rebecca Vincen-Brown was still in her first trimester of pregnancy, in the late fall of 2022, when things started to go wrong. She had blood drawn for a standard genetic test called noninvasive prenatal testing, or NIPT, which can detect increased risks for various chromosomal disorders. The results of the test took slightly longer than normal to come back, and when they did, Vincen-Brown received a troubling phone call: The test was “inconclusive” because not enough fetal DNA was detected in her blood.

NIPT cannot diagnose fetal disorders conclusively, but the possibilities were troubling: Her fetus might have triploidy, trisomy 13 or trisomy 18, rare and serious genetic conditions involving either an extra set of chromosomes or an extra copy of one chromosome. While the specifics vary, most infants born with these conditions will live only days or weeks, and almost none will survive to adulthood.

Continued: https://www.salon.com/2024/06/12/when-abortion-travel-becomes-a-nightmare-a-tale-of-no-good-choices/

USA – The Unlikely Women Fighting for Abortion Rights

The end of Roe has turned women who terminated pregnancies for medical reasons into a political force.

By Kate Zernike
May 27, 2024

For a long time, many women who had abortions because of catastrophic fetal diagnoses told their stories only privately. Grieving pregnancies they dearly wanted and fearing the stigma of abortion, they sought the closely guarded comfort of online communities identified by the way many doctors had described the procedure — TFMR, or “termination for medical reasons.”

In the two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, their pain has been compounded into anger by new abortion bans across the country. While these women account for a fraction of abortions in the United States, they have emerged as the most powerful voices in the nation’s post-Roe debate, speaking out against bans with their stories of being forced across state lines and left to feel like criminals in seeking care.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/us/abortion-women-tfmr.html

Florida’s 6-week abortion ban ‘catastrophic for the region,’ activist says

Women in the Southeast may have to travel as far as Virginia for care.

By Nadine El-Bawab
April 4, 2024

Despite abortion being on the November ballot in Florida, pro-abortion groups say a six-week ban going into effect next month will have devastating consequences for women in the Southeast.

…Florida, despite its 15-week limit, has been a key point of access to women across the southeastern U.S. living in states that have ceased nearly all abortion services due to bans. At least 14 states have ceased nearly all abortions since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion rights.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/floridas-6-week-abortion-ban-catastrophic-region-activist/story?id=108816318

Why more women are joining a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s abortion ban

Melissa Brown, Nashville Tennessean
Jan 8, 2023

Rachel Fulton and her husband had reached the nesting phase of her second pregnancy last fall, pulling up their baby stuff from the basement to dust off and decorating the new nursery.

Despite a few concerning conditions identified early in her pregnancy, Fulton was ecstatic to bring another baby boy home to join their toddler. They named him Titus, from the Bible.

But a November appointment changed everything.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/08/tennessee-abortion-ban-more-women-are-joining-a-lawsuit-against-the-law-medical-exceptions/71962621007/

Meet 18 women who shared heartbreaking pregnancy journeys in post-Roe world

On the Brink: Women detail impact of abortion restrictions on their health care.

By Nadine El-Bawab, Tess Scott, Christina Ng, and Acacia Nunes
December 16, 2023

…In a monthslong investigation, 18 women from across 10 states shared their deeply personal stories, chronicling their heartbreaking journeys and how, in some cases, they were brought to the brink of death because they couldn't access timely care in their home states.

The women appeared in a companion broadcast, "Impact by Nightline: On the Brink," with exclusive interviews by Diane Sawyer and Rachel Scott, which looks at the hidden health care crisis playing out in clinics and exam rooms across the country. So many families posing the question: is this what lawmakers intended? "On the Brink" premieres Dec. 14 on Hulu.

These are their stories.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/meet-18-women-shared-heartbreaking-pregnancy-journeys-post/story?id=105563366

Part 3: In post-Roe America, women detail agony of being forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term

ABC News interviewed 18 women as part of the series on abortion "On the Brink."

By Nadine El-Bawab, Tess Scott, Christina Ng, and Acacia Nunes
December 14, 2023

For many women unable to access care in their own states, traveling to get care in other states is not an option. One of the biggest barriers is cost -- further along in pregnancy, abortion care can get very expensive. The cheapest option is medication abortion, but it is only an option up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.

One maternal fetal medicine specialist -- who told ABC News that she left the state of North Carolina because of its 12-week ban -- said that she often diagnoses fetal anomalies sometime between 18 and 20 weeks of pregnancy because many anomalies cannot be seen earlier in pregnancy.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/post-roe-america-women-detail-agony-forced-carry/story?id=105563349

14.12.2023

fatal fetal anomalies

Part 1 – Fighting for their lives: Women and the impact of abortion restrictions in post-Roe America

Women had to wait until they were sick enough to get care in their home states.

By Nadine El-Bawab, Tess Scott, Christina Ng, and Acacia Nunes
December 14, 2023

Anya Cook had reason to celebrate. After 17 miscarriages, she was pregnant again, in her second trimester, and she and her husband, Derick, were ready to share the good news with family and friends.

After the joyous announcement in December 2022, Anya and Derick attended the Coral Springs holiday parade in their Florida neighborhood, then went to dinner at a local restaurant. It was a good end to a good day.

Continued: https://abcnews.go.com/US/fighting-lives-women-impact-abortion-restrictions-post-roe/story?id=105563174

Texas Supreme Court rules against woman who sought abortion hours after she says she’ll travel out of state

A state district judge granted the request last week, but the Texas Supreme Court directed the lower court to vacate its order Monday.

Dec. 11, 2023
By Daniella Silva and Aria Bendix

A Texas woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis and who was awaiting a decision from the Texas Supreme Court about whether she would be allowed to get an abortion said Monday that she has decided to leave Texas to get the procedure.

Kate Cox, a mother of two who is around 20 weeks pregnant, found out just after Thanksgiving that her developing fetus has trisomy 18, a fatal diagnosis. Seeking to terminate the pregnancy to protect her health and future fertility, she and her husband sought a court order to block Texas’ abortion bans from applying in her case.

Continued: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/texas-woman-sought-abortion-court-order-leave-state-rcna129087

Kentucky couple ‘furious’ state abortion laws meant they couldn’t hold their daughter to say goodbye

By Elizabeth Cohen, Carma Hassan and Amanda Musa, CNN

Fri July 7, 2023

All Heather and Nick Maberry wanted to do was hold their dead baby, but strict Kentucky abortion laws meant they couldn’t.

They were “furious” that the laws meant they never got to kiss or cuddle their daughter, Willow Rose, or tell her goodbye, Heather said. “We’ll never know what her face looked like. We’ll never know what it was like to hold her in her arms,” she said. “We’re grieving someone that we’ve never seen.”

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/07/health/kentucky-abortion-anencephaly/index.html

Tragedies mount for women with ill-fated pregnancies under Texas’ abortion bans

Bridget Grumet, Austin American-Statesman
May 24, 2023

Life took a wrenching twist for Jessica Bernardo last fall. She went from being an elated, expectant mother — listening to audiobooks about pregnancy, teasing her husband about installing child safety gates on the stairs of their Frisco home — to using a private browser on her computer to search for an abortion.

Bernardo desperately wanted the child she named Emma. About 15 weeks into the pregnancy, though, doctors said the child had severe medical conditions and would not survive to birth.

Continued: https://www.statesman.com/story/news/columns/2023/05/24/grumet-texas-abortion-bans-inflict-growing-toll-expectant-mothers/70248396007/