Woman Who Almost Died Due to Anti-Abortion Laws In Texas Recalls Trauma

A woman from Austin in Texas recalled her trauma of how she nearly died when she couldn’t get a timely abortion.

The controversial Texas law on abortion left several families in agony and pain in the US state

Source : PTI

The controversial Texas law on abortion left several families in agony and pain in the US state with many of them sharing their ordeals and how the Supreme Court’s decision four months ago overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade verdict messed up their lives.

This year, the Supreme Court ended the constitutional protections for abortion that were in place for nearly a half-century. The court’s conservative majority overturned the ruling and led to abortion bans in roughly half the states, reported CNBC.

Several stories have unfolded since the decision came through putting the lives of mothers in danger and what they did to obtain medically necessary abortions. A woman from Austin recalled her trauma of how she nearly died when she couldn’t get a timely abortion.

Texas law leaves the couple scarred for life 

Amanda Eid and Josh Zurawski, both now 35, conceived after Amanda went through fertility treatments for a year and a half. But her water broke when she was in her 18 weeks, just four months into pregnancy. The amniotic fluid that her baby depended upon was leaking out and she was told that the baby would not survive.

“We found out that we were going to lose our baby,” the CNN report quoted Amanda. “My cervix was dilating fully 22 weeks prematurely, and I was inevitably going to miscarry.” It is when Eid and her husband pleaded doctor to find a way to save the baby.

Most of the time when water breaks, the pregnant woman is at high risk for a life-threatening infection. Even though her baby was sure to die, she still had a heartbeat, and as per Texas, law doctors were unable to terminate the pregnancy.

She was sent back home to watch for signs of infection, and only when she was “considered sick enough that my life was at risk” would they terminate the pregnancy, as per Amanda.

The law in Texas permits abortion if the mother “has a life-threatening physical condition aggravated, caused by, or arising from a pregnancy that places the female at risk of death or poses a serious risk of substantial impairment of a major bodily function.”

However, it doesn't clearly state what it means, and a doctor found to be in violation of the law has the risk of losing their medical license and a possible life sentence in prison.

The couple considered going to Ohio where the new abortion law forces doctor to fight to protect patient's life. But the nearest ‘sanctuary’ state was at least an eight-hour drive, Amanda stated in an online essay on The Meteor. “Developing sepsis – which can kill quickly – in a car in the middle of the West Texas desert, or 30,000 feet above the ground, is a death sentence,” she added. 

Three days later Amanda was shivering in the Texas heat and was rushed to the hospital. Her fever touched 102 degrees, and it is the time doctors felt she is sick enough to legally terminate the pregnancy. 

It’s when a woman's doctor warned her not to get pregnant in Texas. She was moved to the ICU as she had developed symptoms of sepsis.  In Sepsis condition, the body’s extreme response to an infection is a life-threatening medical emergency.

By then antibiotics weren't able to contain the bacterial infection raging through her body and not even a blood transfusion could cure her. Doctors and nurses kept monitoring her situation even after 12 hours when the pregnancy was terminated.

Amanda’s uterus was scarred from the infection, and she may not be able to conceive again. She had undergone surgery to fix the scarring but it’s unclear if it will be successful. The couple is extremely worried that they might never have a family because of Texas law.

Standing by women who faced such ordeals, abortion rights activists demonstrated in support of women's rights on July 16, 2022, in Santa Monica, California.

“These barbaric laws prevented her from getting any amount of health care when she needed it, until it was at a life-threatening moment,” added Josh.