00:00My first pregnancy was fairly textbook, so when I started trying again for a second baby,
00:04never in my wildest dreams did I think it would bring me here.
00:08I found out I was pregnant with my second pregnancy in July of 2021. All of my prenatal
00:13appointments had been fine. I went in to my end of first trimester scan with no concerns,
00:20and I left with a referral to a specialist. At that appointment, we found out that our baby
00:25had a lethal genetic diagnosis affecting bone development. Soon, my baby's bones would begin
00:31to break in utero, even at the slightest movement, like bending down to pick up my then three-year-old
00:37son. At birth, his rib cage would be too small to support lung function, and we were told that he
00:43would suffocate at his first breath without extreme medical intervention. That diagnosis came 25 days
00:49after Texas's SB-8 went into effect. Because of that timing, my doctor was silenced. SB-8 turned
00:57every Texan into a potential bounty hunter. Any private citizen could sue anyone who aided and
01:03abetted an abortion. That resulted in an appointment where I was told that my baby was going to die,
01:09and my doctor could not give me the dignity of explaining all of my options. We could talk
01:15about my right as a mother to not put my baby on life support after birth, but we couldn't talk
01:21about removing the only life support my baby had ever known, my body. At the end of the appointment,
01:27I was handed a printout of my medical records, and I was advised to seek a second opinion,
01:32but outside of Texas. As a grieving mother, instead of being able to focus on processing the loss of the
01:39future that I had been dreaming of from the minute the test turned positive. I was on my bathroom
01:45floor, catching my breath between crying and throwing up, Googling clinics. My husband went
01:51to buy a printer so we could print and scan waiting period consent forms from home because we were too
01:55afraid to use a public printer. Ten days later, I had the privilege to board a plane. I walked past
02:03protesters at the clinic who called me a murderer, and I said goodbye to my baby in a room alone
02:08with a
02:08nurse and a doctor that I'd just met that morning. A few days later, I flew home, making sure to
02:14get
02:14up frequently enough to avoid blood clots and hoping a super maxi pad would be enough to prevent me from
02:19bleeding on the seat. My husband and I were grieving, but we desperately wanted to grow our family.
02:25A few months later, I was pregnant again, but my third and fourth pregnancies ended in miscarriage.
02:31Nine weeks into my third pregnancy, after clinging to the denial and bleeding at home for five days,
02:36I finally went to the OB to confirm that I was losing this baby too.
02:41After finding no heartbeat, my doctor confirmed that I needed medication, the same medication that
02:47is used in medical abortions. My prescription was challenged, and I was treated like an addict
02:52looking for drugs instead of a mother losing her child. I was finally able to obtain the medication
02:59I needed through an online pharmacy and took it a few days later. My husband and I then chose IVF.
03:05We started injections the September after Dobbs was decided, and in case IVF wasn't stressful enough,
03:12every appointment ended with my doctor and I deciding if she felt comfortable proceeding
03:16as she navigated the growing uncertainty around how IVF intersects with abortion restrictions.
03:22Eleven months later, we finally welcomed our second child, the result of my fourth pregnancy in less
03:28than two years. As I lay there holding my baby on my chest, my doctor informed me that my placenta
03:34was not delivering. I needed a DNC, a procedure used to clear tissue from the uterus, and yes,
03:41it is also used in abortions, and I needed it quickly.
03:45Fifty minutes after my daughter's birth, I started violently throwing up and shaking,
03:49still in the delivery room, waiting to go to the OR. When they finally took me back,
03:54I remember rushing and shouting. I lost consciousness as I went into hemorrhagic shock.
04:01My records indicate that we were finally able to start my procedure one hour and 59 minutes after
04:07my daughter's birth. When I woke up, I had lost half of my blood, and I was told that I'm
04:13lucky
04:13I still had my uterus. Instead of spending my daughter's first night in the world with her,
04:18I was in an ICU bed while a nurse cared for my baby three floors away. After attempting to get
04:25answers on what had gone wrong, a hospital social worker listened to my account. When I got to the
04:30part about the DNC, she interrupted and plainly stated, well, we don't do those procedures anymore.
04:35That one sentence said everything. This delay wasn't chaos. It was policy.
04:42You do not know the health care you need until you need it. You can be against abortion for
04:48yourself. You can never choose it. But you cannot restrict access to a category of medical care
04:54without consequences that reach every pregnant person in this country. Restricting health care
04:59often means that the medication and equipment isn't readily available or needs administrative
05:05approval, delaying care with deadly or life-altering impacts. Reproductive health care is a continuum,
05:11and the government should not be able to decide what parts of that care you can access.
05:16When politicians get to decide what health care is moral and immoral, every woman you have ever
05:22loved is put at risk. These states' bans are forcing unimaginable pain and pushing hundreds
05:28of thousands of women into a possible situations they never saw coming. Trust me, I never saw it either.
05:37Subscribe to OneIndia and never miss an update. Download the OneIndia app now.
