Ever since a reactionary Supreme Court majority yanked away the established constitutional right to terminate pregnancy, pregnant patients are increasingly finding themselves fulfilling the role of “test” cases for the sadistic, theocratic experiment in involuntary human social engineering now more popularly described as the “forced birth” movement. Republican-controlled states such as Florida have established themselves as ground zero for implementing these misogynistic laws, as demanded by their so-called Christian base in their continuing effort to control and punish women and any others who decline to submit to their edicts.
To justify these laws for those remaining voters who might not so eagerly endorse them—or perhaps to assuage their own guilty consciences—Republican lawmakers have intentionally crafted fig-leaf “exceptions” designed to make the laws seem less draconian than they are.
We are told that Republicans’ deeply held concerns for cases of “rape and incest” or “to protect the life of the mother” may fall within those narrow exceptions to what are otherwise profoundly intrusive and malevolent acts of attempted control. We are calmly assured that instances of routine pregnancy “miscarriages” cannot possibly fall within the bans’ intended purview. We are soothed by the implication that with such exceptions, only “bad” and probably ”sinful” pregnant individuals will be targeted by the bans. These tiny loopholes, inserted into laws otherwise fully intended to dominate and suppress half the population’s autonomy—and demonize that same group’s anatomy, which they obviously view with a sick revulsion—are held out by Republicans as evidence of their humanity and good will.
But no one is being fooled, least of all the physicians who are now threatened with criminal sanctions for terminating their patients’ pregnancies, no matter what the reason. And as a result, in states like Florida as these laws begin to take full effect, horror stories continue to mount.
RELATED STORY: Modern theocracies serve as a warning for the Supreme Court’s agenda
As reported by Frances Stead Sellers writing for The Washington Post, one pregnant couple recently came face to face with Florida’s newest abortion prohibition—its real purpose couched in benevolent-sounding terms of “Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality.” As Sellers reports, the real-world outcome of this anti-abortion legislation, passed by an unassailable, zealous Republican majority in Florida’s legislature and quickly signed into law by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has proved to be significantly different than expected for one family.
Nobody expected things to happen the way they did when halfway through their planned and seemingly healthy pregnancy, a routine ultrasound revealed the fetus had devastating abnormalities, pitching the dazed couple into the uncharted landscape of Florida’s new abortion law.
Deborah and Lee Dorbert say the most painful decision of their lives was not honored by the physicians they trust. Even though medical experts expect their baby to survive only 20 minutes to a couple of hours, the Dorberts say their doctors told them that because of the new legislation, they could not terminate the pregnancy.
The Dorberts’ own physicians—an obstetrician and a “maternal fetal medicine specialist”—were unanimous about one thing: the child being carried by Deborah Dorbert would not survive long outside of the womb. As Sellers reports, the fetus had a condition “long considered lethal,” that is, considered “lethal” by the entire medical community well before six medically illiterate fanatics on the United States Supreme Court gave implicit permission for like-minded Republicans to do their worst. The Florida law provides a narrow exception allowing the termination of pregnancy in cases where two doctors certify that the fetus has a ”fetal abnormality.” That such a condition existed in the fetus being carried by Deborah Dorbert was beyond any reasonable dispute.
Neither of the Dorberts’ doctors would respond to the Post’s requests for comment as to why they were unwilling to make such a certification, nor would the Lakeland Regional Health hospital system that employs them discuss the specifics of the Dorberts’ case. Their reasoning, if unstated, is obvious: Should they be found in violation of Florida’s new law, health care workers face penalties ranging from losing their license to practice medicine to being imprisoned for five years. Consequently, doctors faced with such a moral quandary typically err “on the side of questioning whether the conditions are fully met,” Autumn Katz, the interim director for the Center for Reproductive Rights, tells Sellers. After all, doctors—despite the aspirational Hippocratic oath they aspire to—are also normal, fearful human beings.
Not that it matters (because it doesn’t), the Dorberts really wanted their baby. Deborah Dorbert followed all the traditional rules: Eating properly, keeping her appointments, and getting all of the ultrasounds and blood tests that any family that has produced one or more children knows by heart.
But just like for too many expectant couples, it simply didn’t work out for the Dorberts. They were advised that the fetus Deborah was carrying had a serious problem. As Sellers notes, in medical speak, they were told at 23 weeks that the fetus’ “kidneys were not developing properly, failing to produce the liquid that protects the fetus and promotes the development of vital organs.” Other notable abnormalities included a lack of appropriate amniotic fluid. The doctors’ considered conclusion was that the Dorbert baby would not survive more than 20 minutes after being born; this sad prognosis was furthered when doctors discovered that the fetus had no kidneys whatsoever. As Sellers notes, three ultrasounds into the Dorberts’ pregnancy, “the specialist told them that the condition was incompatible with life.”
It’s called Potter’s syndrome, it’s rare, and it’s fatal. In fact, as Sellers reports, it’s “doubly lethal.” There are no treatment options.
At this point you might spare a moment to imagine what this couple is experiencing. People, friends, see her “baby bump” and express their cheery and heartfelt well wishes. Consider the sheer horror of having to acknowledge such sentiments with the truth. The Dorberts, quite sensibly, elected to terminate Deborah’s pregnancy. But they were told by their doctors that under the new laws, they would not help them do that, even though termination was a possible option.
As Sellers reports:
The doctor made his determination after having “legal/administration look at the new law and the way it’s written,” the coordinator reiterated to Deborah in a recent text message she shared with The Post. “It’s horribly written,” the text continued.
It was “horribly written” because the law was crafted by Republican legislators with no medical training whatsoever, with no knowledge and no thought given to the real-world consequences of what they were doing. Their only imperative was to insert a fig-leaf provision lending thin credence to their decision to collectively condemn the termination of all pregnancies based on what boils down, in essence, to their electoral prospects. And the Dorberts, like many pregnant couples facing Florida’s unique new laws, had no real economic means of leaving the state to secure the termination of this pregnancy—a decision that would have been in their, and the fetus’, best interests. According to Sellers’ report, the family was also concerned about the “potential legal repercussions” of seeking care outside of Florida.
RELATED STORY: Abortion rights groups aim to make Ohio next to enshrine reproductive rights in state constitution
As Sellers observes, one of the Florida law’s Republican sponsors, former state Sen. Kelli Stargell, helpfully notes that “the court system” could decide such an issue in cases like the Dorberts’. But like most people, the Dorberts have decided they can’t—and probably don’t have enough time—to take that route. They’re still resigned to delivering their child, who doctors have effectively told them they must carry to term. And Deborah Dorbert will have to live with the trauma of an edict imposed on her by people with not the slightest interest in her personal situation, or the fatal condition that affects the fetus she is carrying.
Put simply, thanks to the Republicans in the Florida legislature, she has to go through the next few months knowing that her child, when born, will soon die.