Louisiana woman carrying skull-less fetus forced to travel to New York for abortion
Global News
Nancy Davis was told by doctors that they wouldn't perform a medically recommended abortion on her for fear they would be prosecuted under Louisiana's ambiguous laws.
A Louisiana woman who was carrying a fetus with a lethal congenital disorder was forced to travel over 2,200 kilometres to New York to get an abortion after doctors at her local hospital denied performing the procedure for fear they would be prosecuted under their state’s ambiguously worded laws.
Nancy Davis, 36, found out about 10 weeks into her pregnancy in late July that her unborn child had a rare condition called acrania, which prevents a fetus’ skull from forming in the womb. According to the Fetal Medicine Foundation, an acrania diagnosis is considered lethal for the baby and usually results in death within a week of birth. Sometimes death can occur in minutes.
Davis’ doctors recommended that she get an abortion to avoid “the physical and emotional trauma” of bringing her unborn baby to term since the chances of its survival were practically nil.
But when she tried to get an abortion in her home state of Louisiana, she was met with nothing but closed doors.
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade precedent, which had previously guaranteed a federal right to abortion access, trigger laws in Louisiana immediately made abortion illegal in the state.
People can still get an abortion in Louisiana if their fetus cannot survive outside of the womb, but the state’s abortion ban does not list acrania as one of the conditions that qualifies mothers for an exception.
According to The Guardian, state senator and author of Louisiana’s abortion ban, Katrina Jackson, insisted that Davis would have been able to legally get an abortion in her home state, but the medical providers Davis spoke to were not so certain.
After an ultrasound showed that Davis’ fetus had not developed a skull, she asked doctors at her hospital to provide an abortion. They refused, fearing that they would face jail time, fines, and the removal of their medical licences if they performed the procedure.
