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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 2022)
U.S.A. Page 12 n THE ASIAN REPORTER U-PICK BLUEBERRIES Thank you to everyone who contacted us and picked berries from our vines! We hope to see you again next season! (503) 663-0885 nappefarms.com Nappe Blueberry Farm 10280 S.E. Orient Drive, Boring, OR 97009 SE 91st Ave & Foster Rd 9 AM - 2 PM Farm-Fresh Produce Local Food Fun Kids' Activities Double your SNAP dollars up to $20 each week. Farm Direct Checks accepted. portlandfarmersmarket.org October 3, 2022 They ended wanted pregnancies. Post-Roe, they face new pain. By Laura Ungar The Associated Press A shley Lefebvre hugs her unborn daughter’s urn each night. Sarah Halsey treasures the tiny hat worn by her baby who lived just 38 minutes. Abi Frazier moved away from her home with a furnished nursery. All ended wanted pregnancies because of grave fetal medical problems. It’s a side of abortion seldom discussed in national debates — the termination of pregnancies because of fetal anomalies or other often-fatal medical problems. These terminations often happen in the second trimester, when women have already picked out names, bought baby clothes, and felt kicking in their wombs. They’re far different from the most common abortions, performed earlier in pregnancies. Women say these terminations for medical reasons don’t feel like a choice — instead they are forced upon them by the condition of the fetus they carry. And the constant drumbeat of new abortion bans, rulings, and news since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade has reopened raw wounds. Such abortions were already shrouded in secrecy and guilt, the women say. They fear the path will be even tougher for those who follow. There are no recent statistics on the frequency of terminations for fetal anomalies — including genetic or chromosomal abnormalities — in the U.S., but experts say it’s a small percentage of total procedures. They typically occur later than the 93% of abortions performed at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy. In the wake of the high court’s decision, a growing number of women in this smaller group are coming together to support each other and share their voices. They say more people will face the same hurdles they did — travelling long distances, rushing agonizing decisions, navigating a maze of changing abortion restrictions — with an even narrower window for care. The vast majority of states ban abortion at some point in pregnancy, and roughly a dozen have exceptions for fetal anomalies, most just for fatal medical problems. Even in states with exceptions, providers may be reluctant to perform terminations for medical reasons, and cases can fall into gray areas. Gray seeps across the spectrum of abortion, say the women who’ve experienced these procedures. Here are some of their stories. Cadi’s room When Abi Frazier was pregnant last year, she and her husband created a nursery — Cadi’s room, with a hand-me-down crib, toys, and clothes. But Cadi never came home. At Frazier’s first ultrasound appointment, nothing seemed amiss. She saw movement and heard a heartbeat. So the couple shared their pregnancy news with family. “Surprise! We’re having a baby!” they told them, taking off sweaters to reveal shirts that said “mama to be” and “rad dad.” A screening test for chromosomal abnormalities came back normal and indicated they’d have a girl. But then, at just over 19 weeks, a doctor told them about a severe problem involving the neural tube from which the brain and spinal cord form. Frazier will never forget his words: “I’m so sorry. She has a fatal defect.” Her options were to terminate the pregnancy, or carry the baby and expect a stillbirth. “I was weighing the choice, which really didn’t feel like a TFMR MAMAS. Abi Frazier holds a box containing an urn with the ashes of her daughter, Cadi Hope, in Mustang, Oklahoma. Frazier discov- ered at her 20-week anatomy scan that the fetus she was carrying had a neural tube defect and other problems her doctors said were “incompati- ble with life.” So she made the most difficult decision of her life last year: to terminate a much-wanted pregnancy. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) choice, because what I wanted was my baby,” said Frazier, now 34. The decision to terminate meant contending with time limits and regulations. The doctor at a nearby Oklahoma clinic would not provide the procedure past 17 weeks. Frazier travelled three hours to a Kansas clinic with a cutoff of 22 weeks. Under state law, the couple had to wait 24 hours for the procedure after their first clinic visit. They got a hotel, and Frazier cried nonstop. At the clinic, staff were compassionate, she said. The people gathered outside were not. Her husband couldn’t come inside, so he had to listen to protesters on a bullhorn. They parked a van with graphic images in front of the exit. The next year, when the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling came down, the couple had moved to a new home. There, rainbows — symbolizing babies born after loss — cover a crib sheet, lamp, picture frames, and walls in a new nursery. Their daughter, Ava, was born in March. In the couple’s bedroom is a tiny urn filled with Cadi’s ashes, next to an ultrasound picture. “She’s always gonna be part of our family,” Frazier said. She said abortion opponents don’t understand the medical nuances behind decisions like hers. “The choice that I made was out of compassion for my daughter,” she said. Oklahoma now prohibits abortion completely, with no exception for fetal anomalies. Lynne Just before Christmas, Faye seemed to be on the cusp of a new phase of life. The day before she and her husband moved into their first house, she discovered she was pregnant with their first child. They learned it was a girl and named her Lynne. But at 20 weeks, an ultrasound found that the fetus had spina bifida, a condition in which an area of the spinal column doesn’t form properly, and a complex congenital malformation of the brain. The Richmond, Virginia, woman considered having surgery on her fetus at a North Carolina hospital. It wasn’t a cure, though it might have eliminated the need for a shunt to help drain fluid from the baby’s brain. But Faye — who spoke with AP on condition of using only her middle name, out of concerns over online backlash — said it “started to feel selfish to bring her into the world.” Lynne might have lived, Faye said, but she likely would have faced a lifetime of pain. Experts say when a fetal diagnosis isn’t uniformly fatal, the decision to abort can be especially thorny and more ethically gray. The two-part termination took place at 23 weeks of pregnancy — and it began the day after she learned that the Supreme Court’s draft opinion was leaked. Shortly after the official ruling, Faye, now 30, suffered nightmares and memory loss and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Today, Faye’s sorrow is mixed with hope. She is pregnant again. Willow Rebecca Sarah Halsey’s fifth baby lived for only 38 minutes, dying in her hands. She ended her pregnancy last year after scans showed the fetus had a brain abnormality and other signs of the genetic disorder trisomy 13. She asked the doctor if, in her baby’s case, it was “compatible with life.” He paused, then replied: “I’m so sorry.” Halsey chose an induction abortion, which uses medications to start labor in the second or third trimesters. The intent is to end the pregnancy, and it is Continued on page 16
