What It Really Means to Get an Abortion After ‘Fetal Viability’

TIME

Even in states where abortion is legal, many restrict the procedure after 'fetal viability.' Here's what that means and why some abortions happen later in pregnancy.

Transcript

00:00In September 2022, I had my anatomy scan and I found out that there were some problems with

00:07my baby. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out the full extent of that. Because I live in

00:12a rural state like Montana, I had to travel out of state to get more advanced maternal care.

00:18And so that really delayed my diagnostic timeline. At 24 weeks, I got the full diagnosis.

00:25My son had a condition called Eagle Barrett syndrome, which affects the development of

00:30the renal system, the abdominal muscles, potentially the diaphragm. And we realized

00:35that this was really not a viable pregnancy. And so we decided to have an abortion to end

00:40the pregnancy. Several years ago, I was pregnant with my son, Teddy. It was a planned and deeply

00:49wanted pregnancy that was progressing without issue. And I had a routine ultrasound around

00:5632, 33 weeks. And during that ultrasound, I learned that he had suffered from a catastrophic

01:03stroke in utero. And he would either die in utero or be consigned to a life, however brief,

01:11of pain and suffering. So at that point in time, I was a patient at Mass General Hospital in Boston.

01:18And I was denied care. Because I live in Montana, abortion is safe and legal in Montana.

01:24But because of the Armstrong Amendment that we currently have in our constitution,

01:28abortion is banned at viability. So seeking care in my home state was not an option.

01:34And this was several months post Dobbs decision in 2022. And so a lot of the clinics who could

01:40give third and second trim, second trimester and third trimester abortion care were overwhelmed

01:46with clinics with, excuse me, with patients from out of state because their timelines had

01:50been pushed out to due to restrictions in their home state. And so I had to wait an extra two

01:56weeks to end my pregnancy. And so I was 26 weeks by the time that I could say goodbye to my son.

02:03I was forced to seek care out of state. And I was fortunate enough to have the resources to do so.

02:10I had an 18 month old at the time. I have a loving husband who's a wonderful partner.

02:15And we had the resources to drop everything to drive 500 miles to Bethesda, Maryland,

02:22and seek care at the care clinic there. The burden there is large. It requires a lot of logistics,

02:29a huge financial investment of traveling and paying out of pocket for care. And I was just

02:36floored that I wasn't able to access health care in my home state, which I think is arguably one

02:43of the most progressive in the U.S. To be blunt about the experience of seeking my abortion,

02:49it was absolute hell. The providers wouldn't refer me. So I had to arrange my own medical care.

02:55I had to call the clinic. That was the worst phone call of my life. They were extremely

03:00compassionate. Bless them. But it was it was hell. And then I had to wait two weeks. And that time,

03:08it is just so surreal because you're still pregnant. The world still sees you and treats

03:13you as pregnant. And so you have random people like congratulating you. Oh, when are you due?

03:18But your baby is going to die. And, you know, you've you've made that decision,

03:23that impossible decision, because it doesn't feel like a choice when you get a diagnosis like that.

03:29It's really just determining how and when do do I let my baby go? Because this isn't salvageable.

03:37And it's really just hell to keep grappling with that in such a prolonged period of time.

03:41I felt incredibly naive that I didn't understand the nuances of our state law

03:48here in Massachusetts. So the simple structure is that we have a 24 week ban on the books,

03:56often referred to as a viability ban or a gestational ban. And there are certain

04:01narrow exceptions for receiving care after that 24 week limit. And so, you know, I learned about

04:09this very fragile network of last stop clinics, depending upon how far along you are in your

04:14pregnancy. I was about 33 weeks at the time. There are a handful of clinics that will provide

04:19later abortion care, Colorado, D.C., Maryland or the primary. So I was able to I was lucky that I

04:28was able to secure an appointment and receive that compassionate care and to give my son peace

04:34and to give my family peace. And many other patients are not so lucky. I get really angry

04:39thinking back on it because it's like all of the medical providers that have been so involved in

04:44helping me coordinate care for this pregnancy vanished. And we're seeing it come out in other

04:48states. Doctors are terrified to touch pregnant patients with potential complications. And so I

04:55think I saw the early buddings of that. Especially now, after the fall of Roe, we're seeing patients

05:01pushed further and further into pregnancy. So this very fragile network of independent last

05:06stop clinics with courageous later abortion providers are really struggling to stay afloat.

05:12And they are inundated with patients. It's incredibly difficult to secure an appointment,

05:17even if you have the resources to travel. So the stakes are so high. It's not just an inconvenience

05:23of being denied care and having to travel. It's the likelihood that you're going to have to forego

05:28care and you're going to have to, against your will, carry a pregnancy to term and birth a

05:34severely compromised pregnancy, in my case, and likely watch your child suffer and die. And we're

05:39seeing that happen across the country. The phrase late-term abortion and post-birth abortion are

05:45incredibly misleading and damaging, and I would call them outright lies. First of all, a late-term

05:51abortion, that's so subjective. What does late mean? In Texas, late is anything past six weeks.

05:58And so I think it's really important when we talk about abortion care to use medically

06:03accurate language. So I talk about my abortion in terms of the gestational age I was at. I was at 26

06:10weeks. I also talk about second trimester and third trimester abortion care, which is what

06:17people conceptualize as late-term abortions. But again, late is subjective. And so I think we need

06:23to be very intentional about the language we choose. Similarly, post-birth abortion,

06:30I have a special ire for that language because that language is targeting families who gave birth

06:36to an infant that will die, that is dying. And they are talking about parents who opted for

06:42comfort care instead of prolonging the inevitable and prolonging that infant's suffering.

06:48I get very emotional about that because I know that would have been my family

06:52if I hadn't gotten my abortion. There are a lot of myths about later abortion. There's the myth

06:58of partial birth abortion and afterbirth abortion, right? There's the myth of the monster flippantly,

07:07casually pursuing a third trimester abortion. There is the myth that patients in blue states

07:13have unfettered access to abortion care throughout pregnancy. And then I think there is the most

07:19vexing myth of them all is that Roe is enough. And that I think is the most vexing myth that

07:24we're grappling with right now within the pro-choice movement. And seeing states codify

07:32access to abortion is exciting. And we have momentum and it shows that abortion still wins

07:42on the ballot. And as a later abortion patient, when I look at the actual language and see the

07:49limitations, it is heartbreaking because I know that patients like me are continuing to get left

07:55behind. Ballot initiatives that have passed in other states, I see them as a really good

08:00foundation. But the problem is that they have viability language in there. And viability

08:05language, that's legalese. That's not a medical term. Because what does viability mean? Does it

08:11mean an infant's born and survives for an hour, survives for a day, survives for a year, survives

08:17indefinitely on extreme medical intervention? What does it mean to be viable? At what point?

08:23It's just far too complicated and nuanced to legislate. And these legislators, I envy them

08:30a lot because they live in this fantasy world where it's very black and white. But that's not

08:36the clinical reality of pregnancy. Pregnancy is complicated. It's nuanced. And every pregnancy

08:42is different. I wish that people understood that third trimester abortion seekers are not monsters.

08:49Many of us are mothers trying to make the best decision we can for our child, for our baby, for

08:56our family, for our future fertility, for our own well-being. And these circumstances are incredibly

09:05complicated, medically complex. And the decisions about pursuing an abortion later in pregnancy

09:12cannot be left up to public opinion. And they can't be left up to politicians or the government.

09:18These choices need to be made between the patient and their health care providers.

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