Opinion: ‘She was unlikely to survive the pregnancy.’ A mother’s shock.

Nashville resident Kathryn Archer was 20 weeks pregnant with her second child when she was informed by her doctor of multiple critical fetal conditions, including irregular brain development and improperly developed organs. It was unlikely that the fetus would survive to birth, let alone after. 
Unable to get abortion health care in her state of Tennessee, she was forced to travel out of state. After getting abortion care in Washington, D.C., Kathryn was able to get pregnant again and now has a healthy baby boy and young daughter.
In August of 2022, Tennessee began enforcing its trigger ban, which prohibits abortion with limited medical emergency exceptions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
This year, the state enacted a law criminalizing assistance to a minor who leaves the state to access abortion care. But in September, a federal judge blocked that part of the state’s abortion law that makes it a felony to recruit or transport a minor for an illegal abortion without parental consent, on the grounds of First Amendment-protected speech issues.
With 10 states voting on abortion-related constitutional amendments and two presidential candidates with widely varying stances on the issue, abortion is top of mind for many Americans.
Kathryn joined the Center for Reproductive Rights’ lawsuit Blackmon v. State of Tennessee, challenging its abortion ban on pregnant patients with emergent medical conditions. This is Kathryn’s abortion story, as told to USA TODAY Opinion.
Note: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
I have a 5-year-old daughter now. In the summer of 2022, my husband and I started talking about having a second child. Roe v. Wade had just been overturned. I was feeling pretty nervous about that. I have a lot of people around me who had miscarriages and needed D&C (dilation and curettage). At that point, everything was pretty standard, no issues, with my pregnancy. I went on a family vacation, got back and had my 20-week appointment.
At the anatomy scan the physician said that she had several conditions, some fatal fetal anomalies. So, we went to a specialist the next day. And, basically given her set of conditions, she was unlikely to survive the pregnancy.
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So, we decided to get an abortion and terminate the pregnancy. But, of course, at that point, I was 21 weeks pregnant. I couldn’t get the care I needed in Tennessee. Our doctors told us, “We can’t help you unless you’re going to continue through with the pregnancy.”
There was such a long wait because of the abortion bans in the Southeast. Thankfully, we were able to find a clinic in D.C. and had resources to travel there, stay there and get the procedure. This place was much more expensive because, at that point, this was a later-term abortion.
I remember being completely shocked. There weren’t any indications that anything was going to threaten the pregnancy. So, my first response was disbelief. And then, you know, the sadness came after getting the second opinion: Realizing just how dire the situation was. She was not going to survive.
And then, I felt extremely helpless and alone. Because the people who, up to that point, had been providing me with care − they had a lot of compassion − but they couldn’t do anything.
The words my physician used were: “Our hands are tied.”
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We had to do a lot of the research ourselves. I felt overwhelmed.
It was a three-day process of making calls, finances and figuring out who was going to take care of our 5-year-old daughter. I was also thinking about what is the best thing I can do for my 5-year-old, for myself and for my family. So, I was weighing all of those factors.
They didn’t mention anything specifically about the bans other than that they have seen a lot more people in my position having to travel to their clinic. I do remember really distinctly their compassion, their kindness, their care. It was the first time throughout the entire process that I felt fully seen and cared for.
When we got there (to D.C.) we did a couple more ultrasounds to see how she was doing and she had stopped growing. Her bladder was outside of her body. She had brain damage; she had a huge spina bifida. There wasn’t just one thing.
When my physician came in, she said, “This baby has abnormalities head to toe.”
I have always believed that women and people who are pregnant should have the freedom and ability to make choices about what is happening in and around their bodies. However, this experience made that really visceral for me. I did not understand just how nuanced and complicated each case can be.
I do not think it is possible to legislate this issue in a way that gives people dignity and freedom and appropriate access to health care, which is also an issue related to life.
I would have voted consistently with pro-choice policies certainly in the past. But there is a different level of urgency and emotion that’s involved.
My hope would be that we can learn to trust people to make the decisions that are best for their families, best for their bodies, best for the baby, at any point in the pregnancy. I joined the case because I wanted people to understand that what happened to me happens to so many people.
Before Roe was overturned, it wouldn’t have been nearly as complicated. I hope that when people share my story and hear about the case, they leave with a little more compassion about why this is necessary health care.
Carli Pierson is the Voices editor for USA TODAY Opinion.