Around 10 weeks into her pregnancy, Nancy Davis, a Black woman with a partner and three children, said doctors told her that her baby would be born with acrania, a rare abnormality that occurs when a fetus lacks a skull.
Davis said her condition meant that the fetus would likely be stillborn or die within the first week of life. Medical professionals recommended an abortion but said they couldn’t provide one because of the state’s abortion ban.
"Basically, they said I had to carry my baby to bury my baby," Davis said as she stood with her family.
According to the Louisiana Department of Health, the ban
has exemptions for "medically futile" pregnancies, which include a number of fetal abnormalities.
"They seemed confused about the law and afraid of what would happen to them if they performed a criminal abortion," Davis said. "Now I am preparing to go out of state for this procedure next week. I want you to imagine what it's been like to continue this pregnancy for another six weeks after this diagnosis."
"Because the medical team feared repercussions if they provided Mrs. Davis with an abortion, she had to look out of the state for safe, trustworthy care," Crump said.
He added that doctors feared they could face fines of upwards of $200,000 as well as lose their medical licenses and even face jail or prison time.
I liked this comment in the comments section:
So, the State wants her to carry a dead baby, until 9 months when the doctors are going to have to cut it out of her. And, then it's going to die without a frickin skull. So, they want that baby to suffer as much as possible, rather than humanely remove it now - when it doesn't know what the hell is going on because it's not sentient yet.
