A 42-year-old woman has revealed how she was forced to carry her dead fetus for two weeks after she was told by doctors in Texas that she needed ‘additional evidence’ to prove that it no longer have a heartbeat.
Marlena Stell from Houston has shared how excited she and her husband were when they found out that they were expecting their second child last year.
But their joy turned to heartbreak when she was told that she had lost the baby around nine weeks into pregnancy.
Stell said she was told that the fetus had no heartbeat and she wanted to receive dilation and curettage (D&C), a procedure to remove a fetus from the uterus after a miscarriage.
She was told by doctors that because of Texas’ law regarding abortion – which went into effect on September 1, 2021 – she had to schedule another ultrasound to “verify that the pregnancy is no longer valid” before “any sort of medical intervention” can be provided, which forced her to live with the deceased fetus inside of her for two weeks.
“The doctor said, ‘Because of the new law that’s passed here, you have to schedule another ultrasound to verify that this pregnancy is not valid before we can give you any sort of medical intervention,’” Stell said in her YouTube video.
President Joe Biden’s administration sued Texas at that time for passing the law, arguing that it “leaves women unable to exercise their constitutional rights.”
Speaking to the Washington Post, Stella said that she felt like a ‘walking coffin’ during those two weeks that she carried her deceased fetus.
“You’re just walking around knowing that you have something that you hoped was going to be a baby for you, and it’s gone,” she said in tears. “And you’re just walking around carrying it.”
Stell broke down in tears during her second ultrasound.
“When you know that you’re there because a politician told you you had to be, and you somehow needed to prove that your pregnancy wasn’t viable, it feels like an extra layer of violation,” she expressed.
“I get so angry that I was treated this way because of laws that were passed by men who have never been pregnant and never will be.”
Dr. Lillian Schapiro told CNN that carrying a dead fetus is dangerous for a mother and could result in infection – even death.
“She can develop an infection that can make her sterile and never able to have children again,” Dr. Schapiro explained.
“When the baby dies inside, the baby starts to release parts of its tissue that can get into the mother’s blood supply. It can cause organ failure. It can cause death.”
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