A Tennessee woman has been left infertile after being forced to undergo an emergency hysterectomy when doctors refused her an abortion.
Mayron Hollis, 32, learned she was pregnant soon after giving birth to her first daughter Zoe in February last year.
But her excitement at becoming a mother again soon turned into a battle for survival when she said she was denied a medically necessary abortion by doctors in the state after Roe vs Wade was overturned.
According to ProPublica, obsetricians at Vanderbilt University Medical Center grew concerned last August when she was eleven weeks pregnant after the embryo became implanted in scar tissue from the birth of her first child by caesarean section.
They feared that the ectopic pregnancy could rupture her uterus at any moment, which could lead to excessive bleeding and even death, according to the National Institues of Health.
But on the day of her treatment, 24 August last year, Tennessee was hours away from enacting one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, which would see any doctor who terminated a pregnancy imprisoned for up to 15 years.
The trigger ban automatically went into effect after women’s federally protected abortion rights were overturned by the Supreme Court last June.
Ms Hollis told ABC News that doctors did not explain to her prior to 24 August that she only had a narrow window to receive the life-saving abortion.
A lack of clarity from the state lawmakers who passed the bill meant that doctors, institutions and even criminal attorneys were unsure if the abortion might end up in a prosecution, ProPublica reported.
Ms Hollis told the news site that she and her husband desperately wanted to have the baby, but when it became clear that her life was at risk they decided to terminate the pregnancy.
When she contacted her OB-GYN to request the abortion, they reportedly explained it was too late as Tennessee’s trigger ban was about to come into effect.
A Vanderbilt spokesperson told The Independent they were unable to comment.
Ms Hollis told ABC News doctors recommended she have the abortion at a facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but she was unable to afford the travel and time off work.
Just before Christmas she was hospitalised due to excessive bleeding, and lost two liters of blood.
Doctors at Vanderbilt decided to perform an emergency C-section and hysterectomy in the same procedure, and her second daughter Alayna was born at 26 weeks weighing just 1’12” (80 grams).
Alayna was only allowed to leave hospital for the first time in February, and has returned five times due to complications, Ms Hollis told ABC News.
Once, an off-duty police officer who responded to a 911 call performed CPR on her newborn on the hood of her car, saving her life, she said.
Ms Hollis set up a GoFundme page to help her and her family get back on their feet and pay for medical bills.
In an update posted to the page this week, she said that Alayna was stable and off oxygen, but was still unable to be around other people or go out due to her fragile health.
