Pregnant, and No Civil Rights

[moonbladem]

WITH the success of Republicans in the midterm elections and the passage of Tennessee’s anti-abortion amendment, we can expect ongoing efforts to ban abortion and advance the “personhood” rights of fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses.

But it is not just those who support abortion rights who have reason to worry. Anti-abortion measures pose a risk

Comments

[mickeym]

Reading this made me sick to my stomach, and so very glad I'm not in any position to get pregnant.

I got pregnant in 1994 (it was a planned pregnancy, and very wanted). My husband was in the Army at the time, so care was coordinated through the hospital on base, where we lived. At that time the midwives who took care of the non-emergent/critical care pregnancies did a "conference" type orientation to pregnancy -- all the newly pregnant women attended before beginning their one-on-one care.

I was, I think, about nine weeks pregnant. Just enough to start experiencing the joys of morning sickness. There were probably forty of us in the room, all within our first trimester. The first thing that was said to us, after "good morning" was "25% of you will miscarry before the end of the first trimester."

I remember thinking that was pretty harsh to hear. Thinking about it now makes the current views and attitudes toward pregnancy and miscarriage seem even harsher, and I can't help but think about all the women I've known over the years who could have been arrested in this day and age for things that were completely beyond their control. A friend who miscarried twins in the fifth month. A woman I babysat for who bled all through her pregnancy. Another friend who had a stroke in her eighth month and was kept in the hospital until her due date. I experienced bleeding and cramping myself a couple of times. In today's hostile climate toward pregnancy/miscarriage, if I'd gone to the hospital, who knows what might happen?

[qara_isuke]

A friend of mine suffered what was essentially a miscarriage while her husband was in the military. During a check-up, they discovered that the pregnancy was no longer viable, as the fetus had just....stopped developing. It wasn't even really at a stage to be called a fetus at that point, but technically had a heart beat. But it had very clearly gone horribly wrong, and there was zero chance she would give birth to a viable baby.

She was given the option to continue the pregnancy and basically deliver a dead, half-formed....thing.

Or have an abortion. It is listed on her medical records as an abortion. She said she could not imagine going through the next several months with something dying inside her, and give birth to something dead that wasn't even recognizable as a human. The very thought gave her nightmares.

I shudder to think what might have happened to her, in this day and age of increasingly oppressive laws.

[mickeym]

Oh, my god, your poor friend! I'm glad she was given the option to have an abortion, because yeah. God.

One of my cousins went through something very similar, except hers wasn't a matter of development. The umbilical cord got wrapped around the baby's throat and he strangled, essentially. But since she was within a month of her due date, she wasn't given the option to abort, and the doctor refused to do a caesarean. She had to wait until she went into labor, and then deliver a dead baby :( She was pretty messed up about it, for quite awhile. (This was also back in the mid-80's, not any time recently.)

[qara_isuke]

It was pretty rough for her, especially since she was so excited about having a second child. But thankfully, she got the care she needed and has since been able to have a healthy pregnancy. He's such an adorable little troublemaker.

Oh geez! Your poor cousin. That doesn't even make any sense, because it sounds like not delivering would be a greater risk to her health. I cannot even imagine how she suffered, being forced to go through that.

[darsynia]

This is always so freaky to me, because I was born with my umbilical cord wrapped around my neck three times; it was so tight that I had bruises on my neck! I was two weeks early and only 3 pounds, 5 ounces. Just Sunday I had my third child, who was 5 pounds, 3 ounces--and had her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck three times! I feel very lucky twice over, given what might have been.

[seeinglife]

This very thing happened to my aunt in the 90s, except they induced her and had her deliver a dead baby.

[moonshaz]

OMG, that's horrible. I think it would be preferable to being forced to sit around and wait for it to happen on its own. But still horrible. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to live through either of those scenarios.

[seeinglife]

What's horrible to me is hearing multiple instances of almost the exact same thing on this post-- that it wasn't just an isolated shitty happening, but is a pattern occurring across the US.

[emofordino]

almost the exact same scenario happened to my friend who was a military wife and whose husband was stationed in Texas. she was 20 weeks when she was told that her baby had stopped developing and was essentially dead, and since the abortion laws there are so strict, she was forced to be induced and deliver her baby only a couple weeks later instead of getting a D&E.

then, to make things worse, when she was trying to get everything arranged prior to being induced, none of the receptionists/nurses bothered to read her chart and acted all cheery as though it was just your typical delivery and not in essence a miscarriage, which naturally did nothing whatsoever to make things any easier for her. thankfully the nurses who assisted in the delivery to were absolutely wonderful and supportive, but still. its stories like those of my friend and yours that just makes this reproductive rights battle even more horrifying.