She Traveled 1.4K Miles With an Unviable Fetus for an Abortion

After learning in late July that her 10-week-old fetus was without the top of its skull and would die shortly after birth, Nancy Davis faced another difficulty. The 36-year-old Louisiana woman says Woman's Hospital in her home city of Baton Rouge refused to terminate the pregnancy for fear that it would violate state law. Davis, who otherwise would've been forced to carry the pregnancy to term only to see her baby die within minutes or hours of birth—or "carry my baby to bury my baby," as she put it—instead traveled 1,400 miles to a New York City clinic, with funds from a GoFundMe campaign, the Guardian reports. There, the pregnancy was terminated on Sept. 1.

In early August, the Louisiana Department of Health stated abortion is permitted in cases where the pregnant person's life is threatened or a baby will not survive after birth. But acrania—referring to the lack of a fetal skull, leaving exposed brain tissue—wasn't listed under two dozen qualifying conditions for an abortion exception. There is an exception for a "profound and irremediable congenital or chromosomal anomaly existing in the unborn child that is incompatible with sustaining life after birth," per WWNO, but two doctors must agree that a condition meets that standard and many fear misinterpreting the law—a violation of which could mean 15 years in prison, hefty fines, and the stripping of medical licenses.

A rep for Woman's Hospital said it couldn't be sure that a doctor who terminated a pregnancy because of acrania wouldn't be prosecuted, per the New York Times. A health department rep told People in August that acrania will be included as a qualifying condition, but "we are still in the Notice of Intent and public comment phase." In other words, Davis couldn't be helped in her home state. As a result, she suffered "unspeakable pain, emotional damage and physical risk," on top of the devastation of losing the fetus, her lawyer, Ben Crump, said late last month, per the Guardian. "This [was] not fair to me," added Davis, who is raising a daughter and two stepchildren. "And it should not happen to any other woman." (More abortion stories.)