Texas Forced This Woman to Deliver a Stillborn Baby

[MattP]

Source: daily beast



Texas Forced This Woman to Deliver a Stillborn Baby
Twenty weeks into Taylor Mahaffey’s pregnancy, her baby started emerging from her womb, with doctors powerless to stop it—and because of Texas’s fetal-pain law, all the hospital could do was send her home.
Daniel and Taylor Mahaffey were 20 weeks pregnant and desperately wanted their child, but when doctors informed them a complication meant the fetus had no chance of survival, they just wanted their baby’s suffering to end. Yet because of their state’s “fetal pain” law, the married Texans say they were forced to endure a stillbirth and wait as their baby slowly died in utero.

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/31/texas-forced-this-woman-to-deliver-a-stillborn-baby.html

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we need to change this supreme court

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What that family endured is beyond horrible. n/t

[noamnety]

2. I can't believe this is an issue

that some democrats are willing to "compromise" on.

[Ilsa]

3. It makes no sense that these medical decisions

are being made by non-medical persons. The law needs to be written to consider real medical outcomes, not some legislators' or judges' fantasies. How can we make this happen? Why can't OBGYNs be a part of this, or can we sue lawmakers for practicing medicine?

[maindawg]

26. Non medical persons make all the decisions

Medical people are not included in the meetings. Accountants are included, lawyers, corporate officers, pharmaceutical reps, politicians, lobbyists, insurance company people get a seat.
But no doctors. In America, hospitals are businesses. They are run as such.

[Ilsa]

39. There was an OBGYN that testified to the Texas Lege

Over their latest bill that became law. He had already delivered three babies that day. He went point by point over why their bill was going to harm women and babies, but they blew him off, even after he told them that Best Practices should come before politics.

[EndElectoral]

4. So the State essentially physically and psychologically tortured this woman in the name of morality

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

27. In the name of fundamentalist Christianity.

It's not about morality so much as jamming their belief system down society's throats, no matter whom it affects, no matter the horror it inflicts on innocent people.

[Delphinus]

52. Amen.

There is NOTHING moral about this.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

61. ^

They love their god of hate and punishment.
Other people's suffering makes them feel Right.

[Dustlawyer]

5. I really despise our politicians who have politicized everything.

They don't care unless it happens to them. Medical marijuana has proven to greatly help with many chronic pain conditions with less severe side effects and no drug interactions, yet Texas will be the last state to legalize it. The Law Enfocement lobby is too strong!

[saturnsring]

6. keep this in mind you people who stomp your foot down and say im not voting for hillary

no matter what

[rurallib]

9. Excellent point

I am a Bernie supporter, but if Hillary is chosen by the Democratic Party as their standard bearer, I will be behind her 100%.
The consequences are simply too scary.

And I will work for our senate, Us house and state legislative candidates. Much of the damage done in the past couple decades has been done at the state level.

[saturnsring]

11. yea i get so frustrated with people who say there's no difference between hillary and the gop

[Major Nikon]

13. Whether people here say it or not, many won't

Which is a much bigger problem than any beef you might have with a statistically insignificant portion of the electorate that resides on DU. The Democrats have always had bigger numbers than Republicans who win when Democrats stay home. So that's also a good thing for some to keep in mind.

[saturnsring]

29. also a good thing to keep in mind is that there is usually 9-11% of people on either side refusing

to vote for their parties candidate. so this is really nothing new

[Major Nikon]

41. Success has a strong correlation to approval ratings

With very few exceptions, negative approval ratings typically translate to lost presidential elections.

[SkyIsGrey]

14. If it was not for...

the pandering to the right DLC/DNC combo platter, we would not be having this conversation.

"We can't do anything because the republicans will be mean to us; plus we like all the corporate money that is thrown at us"

Fuck that shit!

[trc]

19. I do not know of any dems who say they worry about repubs being mean to them

I do know many repubs who have simply refused to work with Obama and the dems and control both houses of congress. This is the thing, the only way Bernie or Hillary can get the things done in this country they talk about and we desire is to retake control of the congress. Vote Vote Vote. If you sit this election out because your candidate did not win the primary or you choose to vote a third party, you doom all of us to more of this crap enforced through a crazier SCOTUS and teapartier congress

[passiveporcupine]

20. Hillary has admitted she is OK with a ban on late-term abortions

As long as life of the mother is considered.

She is not a true progressive who believes this decision should be between a woman and her doctor.

She would probably negotiate this "little detail" away.

I'm not saying that voting for Hillary is as bad as voting for a Republican, but she's no woman's advocate in this department.

[Ilsa]

44. I know. She's scary on some progressive principles.

I guess if Chelsea was faced with something terrifying like this, she would find a way to cover up the medical record or buyoff people who would prosecute Chelsea for daring to control her own pregnancy. Sec. Clinton needs to hear some horror stories and back off of her late term ban. She's smart, but she's not a doctor.

[joshcryer]

53. Do you think the life of the woman was considered here?

Really?

[passiveporcupine]

65. Apparently the doctors thought she was OK

they didn't even keep her in the hospital. Sent her home to deal on her own.

she may have been "safe" physically? I don't know about that, but it sounds iffy. But she was not safe emotionally. I just went through a very traumatic loss of a cat (had her put down two days ago) who had cancer of her nasal bone. I was an emotional wreck for the last two months of her life, trying to play GOD and decide when it was time to put her down, and all the time having to look at her every day and watch her turn into a monster. I cried daily for two months. I'm still crying because I can't let it go, even now that she's gone.

That was a cat, and I'll have PTSD for a long time over this. How would I have felt if I knew I was losing my baby and nobody would help me, so I had to live with it every day until it died inside me, or was born early and then died?

I think a woman's emotional health is as much a part of her "health" as anything is, and this was playing GOD by some damned uncaring people.

[joshcryer]

68. The law doesn't say protect the life of the woman.

The doctors were more afraid of breaking the law and risking the woman's life than they were protecting her.

So to answer the question, no, the doctors did not consider the health of the woman, and if that was enshrined in the law she'd have a lawsuit, and the tables would be turned. In no state where life of mother is protected would this happen. Period.

[passiveporcupine]

69. Not sure what you are saying there.

In Texas, current law already prohibits abortions during the third trimester unless the health or life of the mother is at stake or there are fetal abnormalities.

The fetal pain bill also contains an exception to allow an abortion if the mother’s life is in danger or if a physician believes the pregnancy poses “serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function, other than a psychological condition.”

Apparently these doctors did not think the mother's life was threatened by allowing her to proceed with this natural miscarriage.

And they apparently did not think this miscarriage would hurt the baby in the process, even if the baby could not live after delivery.

But it sounds to me like you are OK with a constitutional ban on abortions as long as the mother's life is protected? that's a no go for me. It might not be important to you, but the mother's psychological health is just as important to me as her physical health.

I bet you are a guy.

[joshcryer]

71. You're right, lawsuit there.

Those doctors should lose their licenses as well.

Unless you side with the doctors that life and health (including mental health), were of no concern.

These laws have to be tested against shitty doctors, they must lose it all before others fall in line.

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. "you people"

[saturnsring]

31. yea you people as in those of you who refuse to vote for the winner of the primary

[Beaverhausen]

30. Exactly! This is what is maddening about BS purists

There is so much at stake in this election.

[Ilsa]

43. I agree, and I've voted for SBS in my Primary.

She's not my favorite candidate, but the other possibilities are too gruesome to consider. There is much at stake.

[Hydra]

48. Hillary is already setting up the option to make this the new normal

So I'm not sure how supporting her fixes this problem.

[Avalon Sparks]

54. We had a Dem in office when this law was created...

Why wasn't he able to prevent it?

Now let’s count how many times Obama battled the anti-abortion special interest groups and caucuses working to deny access to abortions. By my count, there have been no recorded events where an executive order or veto was issued by Obama to safeguard abortion. There has been one executive order, but it was only to reaffirm that federal dollars would not subsidize abortion services” — something that the pro-life crowd should presumably applaud.

There has been rhetoric in response to Republican-sponsored legislation (that has never really intended to make it to his desk) and the recent confrontation over Planned Parenthood – all hypothetical skirmishes that were mere political stunts.

Abortion is a wedge issue. Wedge issues create false dichotomies.

The fact that it would take constitutional amendments to reverse judicial decisions regarding abortion – which present a daunting political challenge no politician would willingly initiate given the current trajectory of public opinion – doesn’t matter.

Election coverage favors wedge issues. Consider how much air time has been dedicated to proposals of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border versus the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership – a trillion dollar, privately-negotiated international trade agreement that will impact you and your household ten times faster than any fortified invisible line.

[blackspade]

7. Sickening.

[yuiyoshida]

8. grrrr!!!!!!!!!

[Vinca]

10. Politicians have to stop practicing medicine without a license.

You can't have blanket laws - every case is different - as this poor couple found out.

[moonbabygo]

12. they made my cousin

Julie go through this twice and we are from MA., this was back in the 80s. Her placenta would stop growing in the 7/8 month and her baby would die. I say baby because she buried both of them and it was terrible. I thought at that time she was going to have a nervous break down. The worse part of it was she didn't want to get pregnant again, but her husband at the time wanted 5 children and insisted she keep getting pregnant.

In the end she had 3 beautiful daughters, but we cried a lot

[SC Tarheel]

15. Ironically, My Daughter

who is 3 weeks shy of her 32nd birthday, just went through essentially the same thing in Missouri. She was 22 weeks pregnant when she started early labor on Monday morning. She went to see her OB-Gyn doctor Monday morning when she started feeling pains that weren't normal. She was told that she had started early labor and was 2 cm dilated. Her doctor sent her to the hospital with the intent on having her cervix "stitched up" to slow down and reverse the labor. By the time she reached the hospital, she was 6 cm dilated and was told that she had lost the fetus. They would not "take it", she would have to remain in the hospital until she delivered it naturally. (2 day to 2 weeks). Her fetus was delivered Wednesday morning at 6:30 AM. She is devastated and furious at the same time. Here I am 36 hours later, reading about another woman having to endure that same unnecessary trauma and humiliation. I have been literally throwing up sick over this travesty. I thought all of the time that here in South Carolina, we had it bad because of the hateful and heartless GOP. But we have nothing on these bastards in Missouri and Texas. My daughter will be forced to live out this injustice for the rest of her life on top of the tragedy of losing her 1st potential child.

[Beaverhausen]

32. I'm so sorry for you and your family.

That has to be horrible. Why they make women go through this is mind-blowing.

[StevieM]

37. My heart goes out to your daughter and to your whole family. Welcome to DU. (eom)

[Ilsa]

40. I hate to say it, but these stories need to be taken to the press.

No one will demand revision, repeal, or change until there is a huge outcry. And I know that doing that is the last thing anyone wants to do after going through a miscarriage. But I think it needs to happen for change to occur. The stories and pain need to be open and personal.

[Marrah_G]

51. I am so sorry.

Your family has my condolences. This should never happen to anyone.

[Loki]

16. F**king Texas Conservative Republican Party.

They all suck. THIS is why state legislatures matter and the Supreme Court.

[SCVDem]

17. I demand an explanation

From every Texas legislator who voted for this.
I want them to experience this pain and suffering!
Assholes! !

[yurbud]

18. if someone has the education and means to move elsewhere, why would they live in that state?

I've been perplexed by that ever since I saw the first FRONTLINE episode on "The Case for Innocence" about the falsely convicted exonerated by DNA evidence. In the show they interviewed two Texas Supreme Court justices, and one had no reasoning ability beyond a lynch mob mentality and the other sounded like he ate too many lead paint chips as a kid.

It made me wonder if their bar exam was how many deep fried Snickers bars they could eat in five minutes or something.

[kentauros]

46. Because it's my Home.

I don't expect you to understand that, either.

[yurbud]

66. I do understand. Would there be any circumstance that made staying seem to risky?

[kentauros]

67. Well, a tsunami would.

Or earthquakes of the intensity as happens in California. But, I live in an area that doesn't get either. I suppose an asteroid impact in the middle of the Gulf would do it, though...

[Gothmog]

21. It is tough living in Texas at times

[Initech]

22. Changing SCOTUS will be a start.

Changes need to be made at every level.

[mrmpa]

23. 30 some years ago........

definitely post Roe v Wade, my cousin was pregnant with her 5th child. The fetal heartbeat ceased @ about 32 weeks. My cousin was at a Catholic hospital. The doctors would not perform a C section & she had to stay in the hospital until she endured a stillbirth.

It was insane then & it's still insane.

[phylny]

36. You'd think that having a dead fetus inside her body

would actually be detrimental to the health of the mother.

I wish there were a way to have lawmakers have to sit in the room or the house with people to actually SEE the result of their idiocy.

[AllyCat]

50. It IS.

It is detrimental. We are going through his now in Wisconsin where Walker and his ALEC-fueled minions in the statehouse have passed a similar bill. Docs have to sit and tell women they have to carry a baby that still has a heartbeat, but is not viable. We used to be able to end the suffering of both. Now, after 20 weeks, we have to prolong their misery and anguish because Republicans hate women and children.

Every doc I know at work is vehemently anti-Walker right now.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

64. That's a shame

That has NEVER been the position of the RCC.

If the fetus is dead, it's dead. Dead is dead.

[valerief]

24. Cuz Jesus. Fuckin' religion. nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

33. Yep!

[Tab]

25. Well, at least she's not going to be "punished"

so that part is okay (sarcasm).

[SammyWinstonJack]

34. Um...she absolutely was punished having to endure what she was forced to go through.

[Tab]

35. That was the sarcasm part

Thought I had left some clues for that.

[AllyCat]

49. Poster taking a swipe at tRump

[Dont call me Shirley]

38. Everyone who votes for this authoritarian crap needs to be voted out of office and shamed into

hiding.

[Judi Lynn]

42. Congratulations, women-hating, Dark Ages Republicans. n/t

[smirkymonkey]

45. This makes me absolutely sick.

This is why I will vote for Hillary if she is the nominee, even though I voted for Bernie in the primary. We don't stand a chance with a republican president.

[AwakeAtLast]

47. If she lived in Indiana she would have to pay for a funeral

That's the new law here.

[tavernier]

55. Same thing happened to my friend in Michigan

It was horrible.

[MountCleaners]

56. Anti-choicers are ignoring this story

I have anti-choice relatives, and while they continue to share lies about PP in Facebook, they are ignoring this story.

The anti-abortion movement is obsessively religious and most of the media they consume is from approved anti-choice "sources". Even mainstream news outlets, according to them, are corrupted by their neutral stance in abortion.

To them, stories like this are planted by baby killers in the "liberal" mainstream media

[Lucky Luciano]

57. Texan GOP politicians suck. Nt

[bullwinkle428]

58. Proving what absolute horseshit RWers are filled with when they make

the claim that "ohhhhhh...we really don't want to see any women punished in any way regarding abortion"!

[noiretextatique]

59. This is just insane

And proves anti-choice assholes are just misogynists.

[RobinA]

60. I Know Someone

who went through this as well. Water broke too early. Laid in the hospital waiting for either the baby to die or her life to be in danger from infection before they would induce. Horrible. And dangerous.

[PatrynXX]

62. yeah I'm not posting it but that needs to get out in the news more

Called the , well shit how the fuck can you call it the Fetal pain law if they insist it's really a baby. but anyway. the Fetal Torture law is what it should be called. Some of the horror stories I've heard and read are 100 Times worse than what I've always been told happens during an abortion. (ie they crush the skull do an Egyptian suck out the brains and out it comes trick. ) well maybe at actual Abortion Clinics. But not Planned Parenthood. It wouldn't be alive when this happens .... but usually it's quick. compared to a slow death Star Wars style

[MrScorpio]

63. This is the bullshit that happens when people vote for Republicans nt

[Blue_Tires]

70. These people are fuckin' sick