– Even though we would with great certainty lose the child in the womb, the doctor refused to carry out an abortion as long as her heart was still beating or until I was sick enough, says Amanda Zurawski to the BBC. Zurawski, who was denied an abortion by her doctor before she got blood poisoning herself, is one of five women who are now suing Texas after similar cases. The lawsuit comes after a US Supreme Court decision last year that led to a ban on abortion in as many as 14 of the country’s states. Texas is one of the states with the strictest abortion laws after the decision. Would not survive In week 17 of the pregnancy, Zurawski suffered cervical insufficiency. It then became clear that the child in the womb would not survive. But since the child’s heart was still beating, Zurawski did not get the health care and abortion she wanted and needed. – What would happen first? Would her heart stop, or would I be terminally ill, Zurawski asks the assembly she is speaking for in a press conference on Tuesday. WAS REFUSED: Amanda Zurawski hopes that no more women experience being refused an abortion until their own lives are in danger. Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP Abortions prohibited In the large American state, abortion is completely prohibited, except when there is a great danger to the mother’s life. For Zurawski, who had spent 18 months conceiving through assisted reproduction, the abortion she had only ended when she herself developed septicemia with a damaged fallopian tube. – This injury will make it even more difficult for me to get pregnant in the future, she says. A doctor who performs an abortion where the heart of the child is still beating can in Texas be sentenced to 99 years in prison, or a fine of 100,000 and be deprived of his medical license. Was advised to have an abortion – was still refused Lauren Miller from Dallas was pregnant with twins. Twelve weeks into the pregnancy, it turns out that one twin was not viable. It had developed a diagnosis which, among other things, led to a deformed brain and an underdeveloped heart. The BBC writes that a specialist advised Miller to carry out an abortion with regard to the healthy twin and, not least, her own health. But in the stomach the sick child’s heart beat. This deprived Miller of the option of abortion. Among the three other women too, there was great uncertainty as to whether the fetus would survive, but they were still refused a medically assisted abortion. HAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF STATE: Lauren Miller had to travel out of Texas to get an abortion. Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP Uncertainty Although the law allows for exceptions in medical emergencies for mothers, there is much uncertainty about what this means in practice. The five women, together with two doctors, are now suing the state to get clarity on what this really means. The women believe that the current regulations lead to pregnant women being forced to go through serious and life-threatening complications, right up to the point where their lives are in great danger. Something they themselves claim happened to them. Traveling to other states Miller tells VG that the only solution for her and the healthy child in her womb was to fly to the more liberal state of Colorado, where abortion is still legal and self-determined. Miller is still pregnant with the healthy twin. – I was lucky enough to have access to a network and doctors outside of Texas to get the help I needed. I know that not everyone has it, and I felt guilty for it in the whole thing, says Miller to VG. Of the five women, four traveled to other states to have their abortions. COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENT: The lawsuit against the US state is a whopping 91 pages. Photo: SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP – Dangerous to be pregnant The aim of the lawsuit, which is the first of its kind, is to make it easier for doctors to provide abortions when medical emergencies arise. – Because now it is dangerous to be pregnant in Texas. That’s what Nancy Northup, head of the human rights organisation, “The Center for Reproductive Justice”, who, together with the five women, is behind the lawsuit. They also hope the lawsuit will lead to a slight softening of the regulations, which will affect many women’s lives. – Doctors in Texas are afraid to talk about the problem publicly, for fear of retaliation, says one of the doctors, Damla Karsan, in the lawsuit. Think the regulations are clear enough On the other side of the dispute, opponents of abortion believe that the regulations are good enough as they are. Bryan Hughes, state senator and the man behind the abortion ban in Texas, writes in a letter to the Texas Medical Board that the law clearly defines an emergency as “a life-threatening physical condition caused or aggravated by pregnancy” and “which exposes the woman to danger of death or a serious threat to damage to bodily functions if an abortion does not take place.” The doctors who refused the five women abortions are not mentioned by name in the lawsuit, and they are not sued either.
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