(AP) – Abortions later in pregnancy are relatively rare, even more so now with the availability of medications to terminate early pregnancies. Yet a small percentage of women seek abortions past the first trimester each year. With each week of pregnancy, abortions become more difficult to obtain, both logistically and financially.
The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide by June whether to overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Some states will ban abortions, which means women may have to travel. That could push more people to have the procedure later.
Christina Taylor was 20 weeks pregnant with her third child when she got devastating news.
“It’s not as big as I was for my other pregnancies. I didn’t know why until I got my diagnosis. They couldn’t find kidneys. And so it was as straightforward a diagnosis as it gets.”
She says both of her previous pregnancies were healthy and they didn’t know anything was wrong. Taylor became part of the small share of people who have abortions later in pregnancy. She chose the procedure that induces labor.
“But we got to hold him and see him. And he was beautiful. Just. He had my husband’s nose. Yeah. It was kind of remarkable.”
Taylor was able to have the abortion because she lives in Colorado, which allows termination at all stages of pregnancy. She keeps a memento box that holds the blanket they wrapped him in, pictures, and casts of his hands and feet made by hospital staff.
If the U.S. Supreme Court ends Roe vs. Wade and more states ban access, a consequence could be more abortions later in pregnancy.
OBGYN Dr. Diane Horvath says “So we know from, from research on places that have enacted restrictions that it does indeed push people out of state or sometimes two or more states away. And it also makes it more likely people will present for abortion later in pregnancy. And a lot of that has to do with having to overcome hurdles and find funding.”
Jenn Chalifoux is now in law school. When she was 18 and on birth control, she became pregnant while treating an eating disorder. A symptom of an eating disorder is no periods. Her doctors thought that was the explanation. She was actually weeks into her second trimester.
“There’s a strong case to be made for the idea that I might not be alive if I didn’t get to have my abortion. And like I said, while pregnant, thinking about not getting the abortion, I felt suicidal. And I was certainly mentally ill at that time. So it’s always hard for me to imagine what my life would look like if I hadn’t had the abortion because I don’t know if I would have a life at all,” Chalifoux said.
When she saw the leaked opinion that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v Wade she says she expected it would happen, but didn’t want to believe it. “I felt shock. And then the shock subsided pretty quickly. And I. It was replaced with so much anger and despair.”
Dr. Horvath says the reasons people seek later abortions are widely varied by their circumstances.
Taylor, who had two more children after the abortion, says she feels like she can’t grieve as much as she should because she is more fortunate than people who will find themselves in similar situations and have no choices.
