This Wisconsin mom had to go to another state for an abortion, and now for IVF

Wisconsin is one of the many states that banned abortion in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Abortion services did resume in Wisconsin last year, but further attempts to restrict it continue—leaving many families mistrustful of reproductive rights moving forward.

“When I was little I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up,” Heather Martell said. “I wasn’t a kid who said, ‘I want to be a ballerina or I want to be president.’”

But Heather, 37, did know one thing about her future.

“I knew I wanted to be a mom.”

Today the Chippewa Falls resident is a legal assistant—a career path that, she says, has turned out to be a “great fit.” 

“When it comes to case law, I geek out,” she said. “I’ll read the findings and the dissents—it’s light reading to me.”

But it’s the mom part of her life that has been a rough road. “During every one of my pregnancies I nearly died from complications,” she said.

“My first pregnancy in 2006 resulted in an incomplete miscarriage with hemorrhaging. My ‘pro-life’ doctor refused to see me, treat me, or even refer me to a doctor that would treat me. I almost died.”

With Heather’s second pregnancy, in 2008, she had an against-the-odds birth with a healthy son, Jack—but she developed a septic infection within hours of delivery.

“Then of course, there’s Oliver,” Heather looked down as she started to explain. “The doctors told us Oliver was ‘incompatible with life.’ We were devastated.”

Oliver

Oliver’s baby announcement in 2021. Photo courtesy Heather Martell

It was 2021 when Heather was pregnant with the baby that she and Jason, her husband, named Oliver. Heading into her 19-week appointment, Heather was excited to see the scans of what would have been her second child.

Even though she’d had healthy-looking ultrasounds up until that point, she still felt uneasy. “I just had a gut feeling,” Heather said. “My instincts were telling me something was drastically wrong with Oliver.”

That gut feeling was right. The 19-week ultrasound revealed crushing news: there were abnormalities in the fetus, with the head, spine, and heart. Another scan at 20 weeks confirmed everything. The baby was likely paralyzed from the chest down, did not have a right kidney, and his left kidney was severely deformed. Heather was told Oliver wouldn’t survive long after birth—and would suffer in the process.

“I had a feeling something was wrong my entire pregnancy, but I was still expecting a live baby at the end, just with some special needs,” Heather said.

Abortion care

Oliver’s ultrasound uncovered paralysis, a hole in his heart, and a missing kidney, among other things. Photo courtesy Heather Martell

The couple spent countless nights “fretting, crying, and praying to God,” but they also knew they had to stop any potential suffering for Oliver.

“It was an absolute nightmare having to organize an abortion for a wanted child,” said Heather. Making matters worse, she and her husband had to travel outside their home state to get care, since abortion is only legal in Wisconsin until the 20th week of pregnancy. 

“In Wisconsin, most OBs don’t do the anatomy ultrasound until weeks 20 or later—which means if they find something wrong with the fetus, it’s already too late in Wisconsin to have an abortion,” Heather said.

Earlier this year, Republicans in control of the Wisconsin State Assembly approved a bill that would have banned abortion even earlier, at 14 weeks into pregnancy. The bill’s backers said it would save more fetuses from death. The state Senate didn’t take up the bill before the session ended—but Gov. Tony Evers promised a veto.

“That’s the political atmosphere we’re in—we don’t allow science and medical doctors and patients to determine what’s best—we leave it to the courts and politicians,” said Heather.

It didn’t get much better when she and her husband got to the clinic in Minnesota. Heather shook her head and readily recalled they were met with protesters at Planned Parenthood who were yelling that there was “help” down the street, “at the anti-choice clinic.”

“It made me angry and it hurt my pro-life husband like you couldn’t believe,” Heather said. “I think that, in itself, made him rethink his position.”

“He had to experience how wrong the laws are. Until you go through it—until you are dehumanized, you don’t understand, because really, that’s what these laws are there for—dehumanizing women—for taking away our right to bodily autonomy; to make us ask for permission to seek medical treatment.”

And now, IVF

Heather and Jason Martell are now traveling to Colorado for IVF treatments. Photo courtesy Heather Martell

Heather and Jason still have the desire to grow their family, despite the heartbreaking history of her pregnancies. But medical concerns are pointing the pair toward having a child through in vitro fertilization.

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe. v. Wade in 2022, states with bans or limits to abortion care have lost maternity care providers, and have seen increased rates of maternal mortality and infant death. With this in mind, the Martell family has once again decided to travel outside state lines for care.

“Wisconsin isn’t the state I want to be in to seek my reproductive health care needs, just because of the uncertainty of everything now, so we are seeking treatment in Colorado, which is going to be interesting and difficult, and a logistical nightmare,” Heather said. “Hopefully it will be worth it.”

Abortion is legal in Colorado at all stages of pregnancy. Gov. Jared Polis issued a declaration in 2002 that said, “No one who is lawfully providing, assisting, seeking, or obtaining reproductive health care in Colorado should be subject to legal liability or professional sanctions.”

“The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs—which is one of the worst Supreme Court decisions in history—left us in a situation where, state by state, abortion can be criminalized,” Heather said. “So for us, with the knowledge that we already had a biological child that had severe conditions—missing vital organs—things that would make it so he could not survive outside my womb, it puts a lot of stress on us.”

“What if Wisconsin takes a bounty approach like Texas did and starts putting bounties on any woman, being civilly sued up to $10,000 for seeking reproductive health care? If that becomes the law here and we have another situation like Oliver, me and my husband could be civilly sued for $20,000.”

So after Heather’s doctor in western Wisconsin performs tests and determines it’s time for the procedure, it’ll be a quick frenzy. 

“When he says it’s time to go, we get on a plane, and go,” Heather said. “Then we have to show up the day before ovulation and do an injection, then egg retrieval, and transfer.”

While she admits it’s a lot to go through, she’s hopeful 15-year-old Jack will have a brother or sister some day. 

“Abortion care and lack of choice in reproductive medical care has been a continuous story arc in my life,” she said.

“Our politicians will never actually realize how wrong these laws are.”

RELATED: Public Harassment Amid Personal Heartbreak: A Wisconsin Woman’s ‘Late-Term’ Abortion Story