I was 33 years old. I had a husband and two beautiful daughters aged 2-1/2 years and 1 year old. I was happily 18 weeks into my third pregnancy when it was discovered at a prenatal checkup that I was dangerously pre-eclamptic. Additionally, there was an inadequate amount of amniotic fluid, and although the fetus was genetically normal, it was measuring weeks smaller than the gestational age, calling into question its viability.
My doctor said the only way to prevent the disease from progressing, which would have eventually led to seizures, stroke and death, was to terminate the pregnancy. The longer I waited, the greater the risks to my long-term health. If I waited until the fetus might be viable, even in the unlikely event that made it to that point under its current condition, that would only put my family at risk of losing me or being left with a permanently disabled mother and wife.
I was devastated, but there was no question about what was the right and only choice to make. Rather than having the care and support of my own doctor, at the hospital where my children were born and which I knew and was comfortable in, because it was a Catholic hospital, I was refused treatment there and made to feel like I was doing something that I should be ashamed of. It truly felt cruel to me.
At almost 20 weeks, I was admitted the university hospital in my town for the procedure to be done by physicians I had never met. After the procedure, because the disease was already so advanced, I had a near death episode and was in intensive care for the next couple of days. The entire experience was truly terrifying and emotionally devastating. But I fully recovered and had no long-term health problems. I felt so fortunate to be alive, and able to be the mother, wife and daughter I had always been, and more than anything, grateful I was able to go on to have two more beautiful healthy daughters who would never have existed if it were not for the availability of the lifesaving healthcare I was able to receive for that tragic pregnancy.
The self-described “pro-life” people and selfish power hungry politicians believe women should be denied autonomy over their own lives, denied safe and accessible healthcare and the right to make those choices guided by their chosen healthcare professionals, and believe all that matters is that a pregnancy produces a child no matter the circumstances. They have no consideration or care for the quality of the rest of those children’s lives once they are born, or their families, and least of all for the impacts on the women who give birth to them. They are hypocrites. That is NOT prolife. That is cruel.
-Elizabeth Barick Fall