Five Texan women, who suffered abortion refusals despite serious complications, counterattack

BET À DAY

“It kills me that my own state doesn’t care if I live or die”: In an unprecedented complaint and during a rare public speech, five Texan women told on Tuesday how they were denied an abortion despite serious complications. 

These women have gone to court in this conservative US state to ask it to clarify “medical exceptions” to laws that prohibit local doctors from performing pregnancy terminations, on pain of heavy fines and jail time.

According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents them, this is the first complaint filed by American women who have had abortions refused since the United States Supreme Court blasted the right to abortion.

Beyond the legal aspect, it is also a question of showing Americans “the concrete implications” of the restrictive laws adopted by some fifteen States after this historic ruling.< /p>

The complaint “contains frightening, direct testimonies from women who nearly lost their lives after being denied care,” said Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in a statement.

“In 2023 , in the United States, these stories are shameful and unacceptable,” added White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, denouncing “the extremist efforts of Republicans to take away women's freedom of choice.”

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“Russian Roulette”

At a press conference in Austin, in front of their state legislature, the plaintiffs explained that they experienced a first trauma when they discovered, after a few weeks of desired pregnancy, that their fetus was not viable.

< p>When the bag of waters broke, months before the end, “my heart broke into millions of pieces”, confided, very moved, Anna Zargarian, 33 years old.

“I wanted to curl up and cry,” added Lauren Miller, who, pregnant with twins, learned in the second trimester that one of the fetuses had fatal malformations. “But I couldn't because I had to arrange to have an abortion out of my state, to give the other baby a chance to survive,” the 35-year-old explained.

< p>Both took a flight to Colorado, where it is possible to abort late in a pregnancy. It was “the” most frightening experience of my life”, assured Anna Zargarian: “it was like playing Russian roulette: I could have a hemorrhage, an infection or go into labor at any time”.

They were able to receive the desired care and Lauren Miller, who appeared in front of the media with a very plump belly, is due to give birth at the end of the month.

“Despair »

At 18 weeks pregnant, Lauren Hall had discovered that her fetus had no skull and could not survive. She had traveled to Seattle to have an abortion at a clinic where she was greeted by “protesters who called me a killer while holding up posters of dead babies.”

Pregnant again, she was says “to be afraid of everything”, “to watch every little pain for fear of finding yourself in this unbearable situation again”.

For her part, Amanda Zurawski, 35, managed to terminate her pregnancy in Texas , but had to wait three days after her water broke because her hospital refused to intervene until she showed signs of infection.

Texas laws, which provide for up to 99 years in prison for doctors performing abortions, in fact provide for exceptions, but only “in the event of danger of death or serious handicap for the mother”.

Because of this delay, Amanda Zurawski has suffered from sepsis, spent several days in intensive care and lost one of his tubes. For her, “there are no words to describe the trauma and despair of having to wait to die, or having to wait for the death of your child, or both”.