Just over a month after Missouri enacted its near-total abortion ban, a pregnant woman named Mylissa Farmer needed an abortion. The farmer is 41 years old. According to the Springfield News-Leader, doctors recommended an abortion for her, but she couldn't have it under state law.
Farmer and her partner consulted with doctors and experts in several states. It was not possible for them to have a viable baby since Farmer's cervix was open. She and the fetus would suffer greatly if she waited. A doctor told Farmer that there were things worse than death.
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She called her state senator's office to seek help after she found herself seeking abortion care. She couldn't locate it.
Bill White told her that the state ban was designed to protect the woman's life. Farmer told White that there was no chance for a baby to survive. My life is in danger. She said that she can't recover from it quickly. There are many things that could happen to me. We just want to move on. White promised to connect Farmer with an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center in the state. The farmer didn't hear from him again.
I am struck by the callousness and stupidity of trying to direct her to a crisis pregnancy center, because these Christian-run "clinics" exist solely to discourage people from having abortions by pushing lies, and the most. These "clinics" often don't even staff actual health care workers, and as such, they've become sites of surveillance for pregnant people, because their notably non- medical staff aren't subject to the privacy standards set by HIPAA
White couldn't think of a way to help Farmer beyond sending her to a crisis pregnancy center, even as she was already losing her unborn child. They do not want to reverse these laws.
Farmer tried to find an abortion clinic in a state where abortion is legal, but couldn't because she couldn't find one that was over booked. She was connected to a clinic in Illinois with help from an abortion fund, but because of all the delays, she was already in labor.
Farmer received life-saving abortion care more than a week after she found out her unborn child wasn't viable. It wasn't easy but it was a relief. She told the newspaper that the anti-abortion protesters echoed the feelings her friends had expressed to her, that they were killing the baby and that she was evil.
It was terrible. Farmer said that they were just going through a lot. We had no choice but to accept this.
Farmer and her partner had been ignored and dismissed by her state senator, ostracized by her support system, and still had substantial bills to pay to get back to work. Farmer's partner told the newspaper that if this had been a year ago, he would have been able to hold her and say farewell.
A Tennessee woman was forced to take a costly medication after she was denied life-saving drugs because she was too young to be pregnant. The doctors who try to help pregnant women and rape victims cross state lines are being threatened with prison time. Some reproductive health care providers recently came forward to say that they were prevented from speaking out publicly because of the laws.
It is medically necessary for all wanted abortions to be done. The laws that ban care are cruel.
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