{"id":294539,"date":"2023-07-11T14:37:30","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T19:37:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=294539"},"modified":"2023-07-10T19:37:46","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T00:37:46","slug":"abortion-wanted-got-blame-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/abortion-wanted-got-blame-state\/","title":{"rendered":"The abortion procedure they wanted wasn’t what they got… and they blame their state"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A couple in Kentucky received<\/a> heartbreaking news during their pregnancy. Their daughter, Willow Rose, was diagnosed with anencephaly, a life-threatening condition in which the skull doesn’t properly form, leaving the child’s brain exposed.<\/p>\n

Heather and Nick Maberry learned Willow had anencephaly at five months. Doctors offered no chance<\/a> that Willow would survive.\u00a0The option available to the couple in the state of Kentucky was to carry Willow to term<\/a>. At birth, they could hold her and say goodbye, and spend time with her before she died if she was born alive.<\/p>\n

Instead, the couple wanted an abortion (a procedure done with the purpose of directly and intentionally killing Willow before birth), which the state would not allow<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The ‘choices’<\/b><\/p>\n

Research has\u00a0revealed<\/a>\u00a0that women who have an abortion following a traumatic prenatal diagnosis have a\u00a0higher risk<\/a> of post-traumatic stress disorder and emotional anguish than women who carry their baby to term after such a diagnosis. Yet women aren’t typically made aware of this, while doctors often pressure<\/a> them to abort their babies.<\/p>\n

Heather said that carrying Willow to term was not something she was willing to do for two reasons, both related to her health. She suffered from hyperemesis (extreme morning sickness) and there were concerns that her already high blood pressure would go dangerously high during pregnancy.<\/p>\n

It was a risk she admits she had been willing to take and a sickness she was willing to endure for a healthy<\/em> baby \u2014 but not<\/em> for Willow. \u201cI don\u2019t feel like carrying her was an option. Period,\u201d Heather said.<\/p>\n

The second option \u2014 an induced abortion<\/a> for the purpose of directly killing Willow \u2014 was not available to the couple in Kentucky, but is what the couple wanted. Kentucky protects preborn children from abortion except if the mother’s health or life is at risk. Since Heather’s health was not in immediate danger, if the couple were to have an abortion, they would have to travel to an abortion-friendly state \u2014 which is what they opted to do.<\/p>\n