A 22-year-old mother has documented the heartbreaking hours she spent with her newborn daughter after she was forced to carry an inoperable pregnancy to term following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Chloe, from Arizona, was 23 weeks pregnant with her second child when she was told the baby had a condition known as alobar holoprosencephaly – a condition that prevents the brain from dividing into two halves.
After the Supreme Court decision that ended the constitutional right to an abortion, her doctor refused to induce her to give birth early.
Chloe was forced to carry her pregnancy to term and spent less than two days with the newborn, who had facial deformities, before the youngster died.
Chloe, from Arizona, was 23 weeks pregnant with her second child when she was told the baby had a condition known as holoprosencephaly — a condition that prevents the brain from dividing into two halves
Chloe was forced to carry her pregnancy to term and spent less than two days with the newborn, who had facial deformities, before the youngster died
Chloe, who did not want to reveal her last name, already had a six-month-old daughter when she discovered she was pregnant in January 2022.
The young mother was thrilled to find out she was having another girl, but was stopped after a routine ultrasound at 21 weeks.
Doctors identified some ‘red flags’ and she was transferred to a specialist who diagnosed her unborn baby with the most severe form of holoprosencephaly at 23 weeks and four days.
She was told that as a result, the pregnancy would likely be stillbirth, or her child would not survive long after due to difficulty breathing and feeding on her own.
The devastating revelation hit Chloe hard and she was presented with three options.
These were either continuing with the pregnancy, having an abortion in Arizona within 24 weeks (which was allowed at the time), or traveling out of state for abortion care.
But it was at that time that the Roe v. Wade verdict was overturned by the US Supreme Court in Washington, meaning that individual states would be allowed to dictate access to abortion.
Arizona imposed a 15-week abortion ban with exceptions only for pregnancies that “would pose a serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of important bodily function” to a mother.
After the Supreme Court decision that ended the constitutional right to an abortion, her doctor refused to induce her so she could go into early labor
Chloe gave birth to her daughter, whom she named Laila, after several days of ‘active labor’ and a 24-hour induction
Chloe said doctors refused to induce her early after the ruling, despite previous talks that had already taken place.
She said Good morning America: ‘When [my doctor] told me, I couldn’t even utter words… I just felt so stuck.”
The young mother then planned to travel out of state to get abortion care elsewhere, but said her appointment was canceled after threats to the clinic by protesters at the time.
Chloe was left with no choice and was forced to go through with the pregnancy.
She struggled with the emotional toll and was treated for anxiety and major depressive disorder.
Chloe gave birth to her daughter, whom she named Laila, after several days of “active labor” and a 24-hour induction.
The newborn, who had facial deformities including a cleft lip, “came out crying,” but Chloe said: “We could tell she wasn’t breathing, it just wasn’t normal.”
Left with no choice, Chloe was forced to go through with the pregnancy – she struggled with the emotional toll and was treated for anxiety and major depressive disorder
Heartbreakingly, Chloe was told not to feed her baby – as there was a risk of suffocation – and Laila’s condition quickly deteriorated
Heartbreakingly, Chloe was told not to feed her baby – as there was a risk of suffocation – and Laila’s condition rapidly deteriorated.
“She lived for about 44 hours… it was definitely hard to see how she was in pain all the time,” Chloe told the publication, before adding, “When I think about it, I think about how I could tell that she was having a hard time.
“I think of how she would scream as loud as she could because she couldn’t eat.”
“It’s definitely hard to think about just because I wanted to do so much for her, but I couldn’t,” she continued.
“I knew that if I had done these things it would have prolonged her life and her suffering at the same time.”
Chloe, who was diagnosed with postpartum depression after Laila’s birth, candidly said that if she found herself in the same situation again, her first choice would still be to terminate the pregnancy.
She concluded, “Seeing what I’ve seen, it’s not fair, and it wasn’t fair from the start, either to her or to me.”