LIBERADIO(!)

Here’s an open to letter to Rep. Debra Maggart (R-45) for you to read while waiting for Wednesday’s House Health and Human Resources Committee public hearing to convene. The hearing is being called to discuss the many resolutions and bills introduced this session that focus on the reproductive health care of only half the population of Tennessee.

This past summer, our second daughter, Jenna, was diagnosed in utero with Trisomy 18, a chromosomal disorder doctors deem as incompatible with life. An ultrasound showed she also had a cystic hygroma (a fluid filled pocket on the back of her neck), a clubbed foot, very little brain matter, kidney malformations and other problems. My husband and I decided after a lot of soul searching to end the pregnancy. This was the hardest decision we had ever made. Jenna was very much wanted and very much loved. My strongest desire was to keep her from pain.

While we were waiting for our amniocentesis results, I did a lot of research on Trisomy 18 and the options available to us if she did have it. We wanted to end the pregnancy through a labor and delivery abortion at our hospital with our doctor. I wanted to be able to hold her and take pictures of her and make memories that would have to last us a lifetime. I thought I would be able to do this since abortion is legal in this country. Imagine my surprise when my doctor informed me that because I was almost 20 weeks pregnant, we would have to travel out of state to an abortion clinic to do so.

As I am sure you know, all second trimester abortions have to be performed in a hospital, and all doctors and hospitals have the right of refusal, meaning they can refuse to perform certain procedures if it goes against their moral beliefs. There are no exceptions for life of the mother, poor prenatal diagnosis or rape or incest. Because of these laws and the political climate in this state, many hospitals will no longer perform the procedure. Read the rest…

(Hat tip: Dru Fuller)