One Western Wisconsin woman feels compelled to tell her scary and sad story of pregnancy and loss. Why? If it weren’t for health care that included abortion care, she wouldn’t be here to tell it.
Ten years ago, Megan and her then-husband were trying to have children. She became pregnant in July 2015, but in August, she started having severe abdominal pains on her left side. She had to make several appointments to find out if there was cause for alarm and remembers the overwhelming feeling of dismissal.
“I kind of felt like I was being treated like ‘the overreactive pregnant woman,’” she recalled. “I’d continue to go there and be like, ‘There’s something very serious going on.’”
Megan had a heterotopic pregnancy, a rare condition where both an intrauterine pregnancy (in the uterus—IU) and an ectopic pregnancy (outside the uterus—EU, usually in the fallopian tube) occur at the same time.
According to the National Institute of Health, heterotopic pregnancy is a rare clinical and potentially dangerous condition that can be life-threatening and can be easily missed.
EU pregnancies are non-viable and can be fatal to the mother if left untreated. Keeping the IU pregnancy is sometimes possible following the removal of the EU, but in Megan’s case, doctors had to remove both pregnancies.
“I was super, super grateful to be alive,” Megan said. “The reason why I think my story is really important to tell is that I shouldn’t have been that lucky.”
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Wisconsin Republicans invoked an 1849 criminal abortion ban, which does not include exceptions for rape, incest, or health of the mother, to restrict reproductive freedom in Wisconsin.
That law remains on the books, but its enforceability has been under active dispute and review by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. A decision is expected by July.
Read Salina Heller’s full story here.
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