On March 3, 2023, Deborah Dorbert gave birth to a 4 lb, 12 oz baby boy. Deborah and her husband had known for 4 months that Baby Milo had Potter Syndrome — he would be born with no kidneys and underdeveloped lungs. But because they had learned about Milo’s condition too late to allow a legal abortion in Florida, and because Milo’s heart continued to beat, they were forced to wait until the baby was born and then watch him die.
He never cried or tried to nurse or even opened his eyes, investing every ounce of energy in intermittent gasps for air.
Deborah’s doctors had told her that Milo would only live between 20 minutes and 2 hrs. He lived for 99 minutes while his parents and grandparents watched helplessly.
Now, he was haunted by the sound of Milo gasping for air and the sight of his body struggling to ward off a death that had been inevitable for three long months.
“To me it’s just pure torture,” Rogell said. “The law has created torture.”
When politicians write laws that overrule best medical practices, stories like Baby Milo’s become commonplace. Some red state anti-abortion laws try to cover situations involving fetal defects or mother’s health. But the laws are vague and the penalties are grotesque, so doctors are reluctant to take risks. And of course, the laws can’t cover all situations. Most don’t even try.
Just months earlier, Anya Cook, another pregnant Florida woman, nearly died after losing half the blood in her body during a pre-viability preterm prelabor rupture of the membranes (PPROM) event. She had been sent home the night before without being offered an abortion alternative. PPROM events — essentially the water breaks and amniotic fluid is lost before the fetus is viable — represent a significant challenge for doctors in states with anti-abortion laws because the fetus remains healthy, but rarely survives.
Stories like Deborah’s and Anya’s are inevitable and are becoming increasingly common in red states since Dobbs.
If cruelty to women is the intent of anti-abortion laws, they appear to be working spectacularly well.
