F those asshole Republicans.

alabamareflector.com

Fatal anomaly exception didn’t spare Alabama mom who needed an abortion

A heart defect and large fetal tumor weren’t enough for doctors to feel comfortable granting abortion care.

Kelly Shannon was grieving a pregnancy she would need to terminate because of multiple fetal anomalies when she got the call that Alabama doctors wouldn’t approve an abortion procedure despite exceptions in the law. That meant she would have to leave the state.

Shannon, 36, was about 16 weeks along in January 2023 when genetic testing - and confirmation from an amniocentesis - showed her fetus likely had Trisomy 21, better known as Down syndrome. It didn’t take long for the doctor to determine the fetus likely wouldn’t survive to term. There was fluid buildup in the head and body, evidence of a heart defect, and a tumor on the abdomen that was roughly one-third the size of its entire body.

“There was so much decision-making and processing, and you’re still feeling the baby kick the whole time,” Shannon said. “And every time she would kick, I was just sitting there like, ‘I’m so sorry. I wish I got to be your mom, but I don’t get to be your mom.’”

Shannon filled out paperwork and made a termination appointment pending approval from the other maternal-fetal medicine specialists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her doctor felt confident that given the severity of the anomalies, the abortion would be allowed.

A few days later, in the car on her way to meet her husband and toddler at a local dog park, the doctor called back.

“I knew why she was calling me. I knew that was the day the (second) committee was supposed to meet and she’d be calling me with their decision,” Shannon said.

The termination had easily been approved by the first committee, and it seemed like the higher-level committee would sign off too. But in a halting manner, the doctor explained the committee had decided since each condition by itself was survivable, it didn’t meet the criteria for termination. She told Shannon it was the hardest phone call she’d made in her professional career.

A scheduling error meant Shannon had to wait two more weeks before she could get an appointment at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia — an 11-hour drive. Rather than bring her husband and toddler along for the ordeal, Shannon’s parents accompanied her. It was the first night she’d ever spent away from her toddler.

The logistics of what to do with the remains became more complicated since she was now more than 700 miles away from home and wouldn’t be able to visit a burial site in Virginia the way she could have in Alabama. She opted to have her daughter buried with other babies that had died because of miscarriage, termination or other premature causes.

Those fucking Republicans scarred this woman for life.