Some states have no regard for the trauma associated with loss. In addition to having horrific anti-abortion laws, some states are allegedly forcing pregnant individuals to carry nonviable pregnancies. A Louisiana mother said she was denied an abortion after her fetus was diagnosed with a rare condition that it won't survive, local news outlet WAFB reported Tuesday.
Identified as Nancy Davis, the woman pregnant with her second child, told the WAFB that she had her first ultrasound at the 10-week mark of her pregnancy at the Women's Hospital in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, when the medical staff noticed something unusual.
"It was an abnormal ultrasound, and they noticed the top of the baby's head was missing and the skull was missing, the top of the skull was missing," Davis told WAFB on Monday.
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As a result, Davis' fetus was diagnosed with acrania. According to the Fetal Medicine Foundation, acrasia is a rare and fatal congenital disorder in which the skull partially or completely fails to form; the disease has a high documented rate of mortality.
"It's a baby that's not going to be compatible with life," Davis said. "These babies either die stillborn or they die a couple minutes later.”
Lousiana’s “trigger law,” which was upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court last Friday, puts abortion providers at risk of felony charges—with up to a decade in prison and a $100,000 maximum fine. The law has no exceptions for rape or incest.
After last week’s court decision, the state’s last three remaining abortion clinics will relocate, leaving the state without accessible providers for the first time since 1974.
While Louisiana’s abortion ban has exceptions for when a pregnant person’s life is endangered or when the fetus has specific fatal conditions, acrania is not on the list of diseases that qualify for an exemption under the state’s health department list of “congenital disorders and chromosomal abnormalities.” The list includes 24 conditions; why acrania is not among them is unclear.
"It's hard knowing that ... you know, I'm carrying it to bury it," Davis told WAFB.
Davis, now 13 weeks into her pregnancy, told WAFB that she faces the difficult decision of either carrying the fetus to term only to see it live for a few minutes, or crossing state lines to get an abortion.
"Florida is the closest … so ideally, Florida. But then the next-closest place would be North Carolina or something," Davis said.
At this time, Florida permits abortions up until the 15th week of pregnancy.
Davis said that she would be willing to testify before the Louisiana state legislature to advocate for acrania’s inclusion on the list of abortion exemptions.
"I just want them to consider special circumstances as it relates to abortion," Davis told WAFB. "Medical problems—like this is one—that needs to be in it."
