We are four years into Oklahoma’s total abortion ban, and two women were forced to leave the state to terminate pregnancies with fatal fetal diagnoses. Now they’re suing to force Oklahoma to allow abortions in these heartbreaking cases.
The news is completely unsurprising and exactly the thing pro-choice folks have been warning would happen. Will the lived experiences of actual humans and medical facts help anti-choice folks understand how cruel these laws are?
Don’t hold your breath, gang.
According to Jezebel:
Magon Hoffman first learned she was pregnant in September 2022—about four months after Oklahoma’s total abortion ban went into effect earlier in May. She and her husband were “thrilled”: They had a daughter, and they wanted another child.
At about 14 weeks, however, Hoffman woke up heavily bleeding, called her doctor, and was taken in for an appointment the next day. She was sent home still bleeding—and proceeded to keep bleeding for weeks afterward. During her 17-week check-up, she thought something seemed off, but was reassured by the doctor. During her 19-week check-up, however, she was told her baby would have anencephaly—a neural tube defect where a baby is born without a skull, brain, or scalp...
“Oklahoma turned the hardest day of my life into weeks of needless suffering on top of our grief,” Hoffman said in a statement that was shared with Jezebel. “I had to travel eight hours out of state to get care, far from my home, my family, and my support system when I needed them most.”
Imagine knowing the baby you carried wouldn’t be able to survive, but still being forced to carry that pregnancy. Every well-meaning stranger you ran into would likely say something. Cashiers would ask when the baby is due. People in line with you at the pharmacy would ask if you were having a boy or girl. Coworkers would make idle conversation in the breakroom, wondering how the nursery is coming along.