I am in an clinic escort group.  This was shared with us so we could share this person’s story.  TW: Birth Defects
“I want to share a personal tragedy that has morphed into a nightmare from hell. I'm 23 wks pregnant and we wanted a baby. At my 20 wk appointment they found "concerns" resulting in a referral to the maternal fetal specialist, which resulted in an amniocentesis, the experience was fairly traumatic but a drop in the bucket compared to what followed. I got call Wednesday afternoon that my fetus is positive for trisomy 13, a fatal condition. The specialist asked if I had considered whether I wanted to continue the pregnancy then noted that I had no options in Alabama, as I was at 22 wks 6 days. The best she could do was give me phone number for a clinic in GA that she knew nothing about. My partner and I cried for the next 16 hours then began looking at options. My insurance will only cover the "procedure I am looking for" if I can find an in-network hospital to do it. After about 6 hours on the phone to hospitals all over the southeast, my insurance customer service, my ob/gyn, the fetal specialist, on call nurses, one of whom suggested I may have to "wait for nature to take it's course" meaning continue until I eventually miscarry, give birth to a stillborn, or have a baby that will live a few days, upping my own health risks as well, I finally found the National Abortion Federation. They got me in at a clinic 2 states and 12 hours away. We drove thru the night Thursday to get there Friday morning in order to meet legal criteria of the 24 week gestational cut off. I had to call the specialist multiple times to send my test results and medical records. The ultrasound indicated the fetus head was too large, growing like some kind of mutant cancer, it pushed my legal gestation stage to 26 weeks (which I don't understand). They couldn't legally terminate. So we turned around and droveback 12 hours. Got back last night. The clinic for women, my ob/gyn, won't even call in a Rx for a nerve pill to help me sleep. The nurse on call suggested benadryl. The NAF has provided me with a case manager to help me thru this and got me into a clinic in Colorado that specializes in fetal anomalies that will do the 4 day procedure this week. Family and friends are helping with cost of air travel and hotel. The procedure will be $10-12k, not covered by insurance. NAF is donating $6k. The clinic that tied to help me yesterday but couldn't did all the medical legwork to get me in. I fly out tmrw. I feel abandoned by my doctors and specialists and insurance and the entire mainstream medical community. The baby killing abortion nazis (sarcasm) have been the support that has kept me from throwing myself down a flight of stairs, which would surely result in a charge of infanticide. I want every prolife asshole to know that their efforts have put my family thru the 7th circle of hell. I keep telling myself that it could be worse, I could have no support. My husbands afraid he won't have a job when we get back. We are grieving the loss of a wanted pregnancy and baby.
This is the reality of abortion legislation. This is my life right now.The abortion doctor that couldn't do the procedure is the only medical person in this situation who embraced me while I cried and told me that she cares about me and that I would get thru this.
Between family and friends, we will have the roughly $4-5 k we need for the procedure plus travel funds. I can't accept anyone else's money without thinking of all the other women going thru this too. Anyone who wants to help, please donate to national abortion federation so they can help other women like me.  The tiller foundation, freedom fund, and last resort are other organizations that help with funding in these situations. And center for reproductive rights fights bullshit legislation. I just want for no one else to go thru this or drink bleach or go to a butcher to try to manage this situation. This is just devastating.”
Update:  “Thank you for the support, everyone. Tmrw will be hard, they will first euthanize the little guy. But I just keep thinking about how hard it would be to keep carrying him, 4, 8, 12, 16 weeks, waiting for him to die and hoping he doesn't kill me in the process. Having everyone and their brother asking me with excitement about The Baby. Thinking about what might have been. Wondering if we can put ourselves thru this to try again one day. Worrying about our parents worrying about us. Everytime I feel him move I want to throat punch a republican. This should already be over in a local hospital with my family at my side. The final stage of delivery is Thursday and they offer cremation. Everyone that says, what can i do to help? I say, tell everyone you fucking know exactly what bullshit the "prolife" agenda is putting me and *****, my spouse, and our families through. This is not theoretical. This is our actual life right now.”
