Houston, Texas (KTRK) – Joey soon turns to heartbreak for a League City woman and her family.
The woman’s sister explained, “She doesn’t just deal with the fact that she can’t grieve or mourn, that that’s what happens to her child, she also has to deal with the physical[side].”
We agreed not to reveal the family’s identity given the personal nature of the situation and the family’s fear of backlash.
On a recent ultrasound, a 25-year-old woman, excited to be pregnant with her first child at 15 weeks, found devastating news. Her family says doctors have told them there is a 90% chance that the baby will not survive the pregnancy because she has fetal hydration, an abnormal build-up of fluid, as well as Turner syndrome, and other genetic abnormalities.
“They were told that, normally, anyone who gets that kind of news would immediately go for an abortion,” the woman’s mother explained.
The family says they are also concerned about the mother’s health, as doctors believe she may develop what they call Mirror syndrome, a rare and potentially life-threatening condition.
“It was really painful,” the woman’s sister said. “It’s a nightmare for us as a family.”
In addition, it also handles severe swelling, high blood pressure, and liver enzymes more than double what they should be.
However, under the Texas Heartbeat law, abortions are illegal for the past six weeks unless the mother’s life is in danger.
When asked, ‘What would be enough, to make her sick enough, to justify an action?’ “We were told basically liver failure,” the woman’s mother said. Basically, a stroke. Basically, a 911 call.”
Cases like this are what Houston-area family physician Bar-Eli, who is not this patient’s doctor, tells me she feared when that law went into effect.
“The horrible thing about this is that it’s not the standard of care. Boston gynecologists would have given it an induction, and we can’t live in a country where Boston gynecologists are giving an introduction to someone and the Texas obstetricians and gynecologists are sitting asking lawyers and ethics committees, “At what point is she so ill that her life is in danger? Can I now provide a definition?” Bar-Eli explained.
Texas Senate Bill 8 is a law that she says is vague and unclear. This family says they are in a state of sadness and anxiety.
“I worry that time is of the essence. Every door we try to open here in Texas, in our hometown, every door we try to hope will help us close our doors. It’s one of those instances where it’s really bypassed, when they put this law in place,” said the woman’s mother. They think of the gray areas of someone in this particular situation.
ABC13 reached out to the Houston Methodist to learn more about the process when patients and doctors are in this type of situation.
“We cannot go into specifics about the care of any patient, but we can confirm that Houston Methodist follows all state laws, including abortion standards as required by SB 8. We also provide a multidisciplinary committee on medical ethics that reviews these cases to help our physicians and Patients make these complex decisions,” Houston Methodist responded in a statement.
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