– I get so angry that I was treated like that, because of laws that were passed by men who have never been pregnant and never will be, says Marlena Stell to CNN while tears roll down her cheek.
She is visibly upset.
Marlena Stell and her husband dreamed of giving their daughter Adelina a little brother or sister. After trying for several months, she became pregnant last summer.
– We were very happy, because we did not think I could get pregnant.
The doctor refused
An ultrasound seven and a half weeks into the pregnancy, showed no problems. Two weeks later she received a completely different message.
– She said that there is no heartbeat. It is no longer a viable fetus here, says the makeup entrepreneur.
Not only did she lose the baby – according to Stell, she had to carry the dead fetus for two weeks, knowing that she risked maternal sepsis, which can be life-threatening.
“It can lead to organ failure and death,” doctor Lillian Schapiro confirmed to CNN.
Stell tells CNN that the doctor refused to remove the fetus, because this is done with the same procedure as when performing an abortion.
“The doctor said that because of the new law that has been passed, you have to take a new ultrasound before I can do anything for you,” says Stell.
After the Supreme Court of the United States recently overthrew Roe v. Wade, it is in practice not possible to have an abortion in Texas.
I wanted my baby. My husband and I have tried for years. I got pregnant in august 2021 and then miscarried. My body doesn’t naturally expel so I needed a D&C. I was denied one because my doctor was worried about the laws here in Texas. I waited for 2 WEEKS carrying my loss while
— Marlena Stell (@MarlenaStell) June 30, 2022
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According to Texas Tribune The state will not punish people who have abortions, but doctors who perform abortions can be sentenced to life in prison or fined up to 100,000 dollars, or one million Norwegian kroner.
In addition, Texas pays $ 10,000 in rewards to residents who report abortions.
The doctor refused again
It was outrageous to take a new and unnecessary ultrasound, says Stell.
– It is heartbreaking, because you already know what they will see, she says.
However, the doctor did not dare to remove the fetus, even after Stell was able to refer to another ultrasound examination which showed that she had lost the child.
She had to undergo an ultrasound for the third time – and for the third time be informed that she had lost the child.
In a post on Twitter, she writes that “Instead of letting me grieve over the loss, I had to fight for two weeks to get the treatment I finally received at an abortion clinic and not at a hospital. The clinic gave me the treatment I was refused by doctors ».
Stell says that she was incited by abortion opponents on her way to the abortion clinic.
“I was called after and called a ‘baby killer’ by strangers who did not even know why I was there or what I was going through.”
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