Idaho women tearfully recount nonviable pregnancy diagnoses under total abortion ban
Several women took the stand in an Idaho courtroom on Tuesday to testify about their nonviable pregnancies as part of a lawsuit filed by women who were unable to receive abortions due to the state's total ban.
Rebecca Vincen-Brown tearfully described delivering her pregnancy in the bathroom of a hotel room after she drove seven hours to receive abortion care in Portland, Oregon. She passed her pregnancy after the first day of her two-day abortion procedure, with her other child in the next room, she testified on the stand.
Vincen-Brown, who was pregnant with her second child, discovered at a 16-week anatomy scan that her fetus had several fatal fetal conditions and was unlikely to survive. Doctors also told her that there were risks to her life and health -- including preeclampsia, hemorrhaging, high risk of miscarrying and risks to her fertility -- if she continued carrying the pregnancy.
Vincen-Brown began experiencing labor contractions in her hotel room and hours later delivered her pregnancy, but didn't go to an emergency room, she testified.
"We didn't have insurance to cover it, because we were out of state. We didn't have a car because our car was locked down the street in valet with a hotel, and so it wasn't necessarily an option for us," Vincen-Brown said, testifying on why she did not go to an emergency room.
"In the morning, a couple people from the clinic came to our hotel room, they collected the baby from the bathroom, and then I, they helped clean me up, and then walked over to the clinic and finished the procedure," Vincen-Brown testified.
Earlier on in trial, attorneys for the state made the argument that Idaho case law does not have protections for a right to fertility.
Getting an abortion alone
Jillaine St.Michel, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit, described making calls to over 20 clinics out of state to get abortion care after she received a fatal fetal diagnosis.
"It was the worst four days of my life. I can't describe it any other way. Knowing that I was carrying a pregnancy that was doomed, it had no chance of survival. Each day was worse than the last. And I would say, during those four days, my mental health got progressively worse and worse," St.Michel said.
At her 20-week ultrasound, St.Michel was told her fetus had several severe developmental and chromosomal conditions affecting multiple organ systems, and was unlikely to survive. She traveled to Seattle, where she received a two-day abortion procedure.
"Because we had to travel with my toddler, my husband had to stay back with her at the hotel and take care of her, so I had to attend both Friday's and Saturday's appointment by myself," St.Michel said.
St.Michel, a 38-year-old chiropractor, and her family have since moved to Blaine, Minnesota. At the time the suit was filed the family was living in Meridian, Idaho.
"Knowing what I went through, knowing what the state's representatives have decided is acceptable reproductive care for women. I can't imagine my daughter and son receiving that kind of messaging," St.Michel said.
"I want them to have a belief that women can make decisions about their health care. I want my daughter to feel safe becoming pregnant someday, if she chooses to do so and I just don't feel like that would be the case if we were raising our kids here," St.Michel said.
Leaving the state
At a routine ultrasound appointment around 19 weeks of pregnancy, Kayla Smith discovered her fetus had several anomalies, including several heart defects. Specialists informed Smith and her husband that their son, at best, would need a heart transplant before the age of 4 or 5, but that would only be a temporary solution for around 10 years.
Due to some of the heart defects, his pulmonary veins were not flowing properly and that could directly impact his lungs, Smith testified.
"If I were to continue the pregnancy, not only would I be risking my life of developing preeclampsia, but I was not willing to watch him suffer and essentially gasp for air," Smith said.
Smith and her husband drove over eight hours to the University of Washington Hospital to get an induction. They were given an estimate of $16,000 to $20,000 for the cost of the procedure.
They took out a personal loan to cover the cost of the procedure, Smith testified.
Smith, her husband and two children moved their family to Washington. They plan to stay there if the abortion bans in Idaho remain in effect.
Multiple fatal fetal conditions
St.Michel took the stand after Jennifer Adkins, another Idaho woman who had to travel out of state to terminate a pregnancy that was unlikely to survive after it was diagnosed with multiple conditions.
Adkins was one of 18 women interviewed by ABC News about the impact of abortion bans.
At a 12-week ultrasound, Adkins' doctors told her the scan revealed the fetus had excess fluid and skin edema -- signs of cystic hygroma -- and that her fetus likely had Turner syndrome -- a rare condition that results from one of the X chromosomes missing.
Adkins was told her fetus would likely not survive and there was a high likelihood that she would develop Mirror syndrome, a condition where the pregnant person develops fluid buildup and can develop preeclampsia, which can result in stroke or death.
Four women and doctors filing a lawsuit against the state are testifying in court on Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the ongoing lawsuit. The lawsuit is seeking to "clarify and expand the medical exceptions to Idaho's two abortion bans to ensure physicians can provide abortion care to preserve a pregnant person's health and safety, including in cases of fatal fetal diagnoses," according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs.
The lawsuit was filed on Sept. 11, 2023, challenging Idaho's total abortion ban and its six-week ban. Idaho's total abortion ban only allows the procedure to prevent death.
Idaho is one of 13 states that has ceased nearly all abortion services since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
