A Georgia mother nearly lost her life and is dealing with lasting health problems after state laws delayed her from getting an abortion.
Avery Davis Bell was overjoyed in July when she found out she was pregnant with her second baby. She and her husband are already parents to a 3-year-old boy. However, this pregnancy came with a number of complications, USA Today reports.
The 34-year-old from Atlanta learned at seven weeks gestation that she had a subchorionic hematoma. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it is a condition in which "blood forms between a baby's amniotic sac and the uterine wall."
Bell was put on bed rest as she dealt with a lot of bleeding and underwent testing every two weeks to ensure she remained stable. However, on October 17, Bell was hospitalized as the hemorrhaging worsened and she developed anemia. Doctors also told her that her water broke prematurely and she was at a very high risk for infection.
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Bell was now suffering a second-trimester miscarriage and her doctors determined that she needed a D&E, or dilation and evacuation, which is an in-clinic abortion. During a D&E, the cervix is dilated and surgical instruments are used to suction or scrape the uterine lining, removing the baby from inside the uterus.
Bell’s doctors told her that this was the best course of action "because they could control the bleeding and keep me alive."
"At this point, we were not going to get to meet my baby," she told the outlet, holding back tears.
However, Bell said her baby still had “cardiac activity” despite being in the process of a miscarriage. She called it a "slow end to the pregnancy" that had "definitely ended."
Because of Georgia’s abortion ban, medical staff was unable to perform the procedure because Bell’s heavy bleeding was not considered emergent enough to forgo Georgia’s mandated 24-hour waiting period.
Georgia enacted a ban on abortion after six weeks gestation following the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade. According to law, “no abortion shall be performe -
d if the unborn child has a detectable human heartbeat except (a) in the event of a medical emergency or medically futile pregnancy.”
In the state, “medical emergency” is defined as “a condition in which an abortion is necessary in order to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or the substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.”
Additionally, in order to receive an abortion, patients are subjected to a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and must receive a consultation at least 24 hours before the procedure.
"They were trying to get that paperwork signed so they could start the clock," Bell recalled. "If my life is definitely at risk, they could do it. But where that line is is a little hard and my doctors, rightly, they don't really want to wait until you're definitely dying to save you. And this isn't a choice they should have to have."
“They should have said whatever is the safest thing, let's start it now. And they couldn't do that," she added.
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As they waited, Bell’s condition continued to decline and her hemoglobin levels dropped so low that she was nearing the point where a transfusion was necessary. With her life now in danger, she was able to get the abortion moved up.
During the procedure, Bell's health was so bad that she still required a blood transfusion. She has also had two iron infusions since. The mom said that doctors told her it may take six months for her body to recover and get back to baseline.
Although she’s happy medical staff were ultimately able to save her life, Bell admitted that she’s "furious that it was harder than it needed to be for me."
"Your baby is dead or dying inside you, you're just waiting to crash," Bell told the outlet. "And I wanted to live, of course, for myself and for my existing child, and the baby wasn't going to live no matter what."
“Women in America are dying, their children are losing their mothers because of some non-scientific, non-rights based legal rhetoric,” she said.
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