I've seen the horrors women endure when denied health care. Iowa's abortion law scares me.
I grew up in a faith-healing church in Indiana and saw first-hand what happened when pregnant women didn't get the medical care they needed. Now that I live in Iowa, that has made me terrified about abortion access here.
I was raised in a culture of women and babies dying. My parents’ church taught that God would heal us, and people routinely refused life-saving medical care. As a result, pregnant women around me often lost a child or died in childbirth. Grieving little girls my own age were suddenly expected to raise their younger siblings. Maternal and infant death were a normal part of my life.
I am now 42 and the mother of two young children. I am witnessing politicians restricting more and more types of pregnancy care, including the option of abortion, even when the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother.
After Supreme Court ruling, the Republican abortion message out of Texas is clear: Judges, not doctors, know best
These are no abstract concerns. I only narrowly survived my first pregnancy.
My doctor told me 'you're having this kid'
At the time, I lived in Missouri, which then banned abortion at 20 weeks. (Now the legal landscape in Missouri is even worse. All abortions are banned except in certain cases of medical emergency.)
We had tried a long time to get pregnant and were overjoyed about having a baby. But at my 19-week ultrasound, the nurse and a maternal-fetal medicine specialist grilled me about the conception date. I learned that the fetus had a serious growth restriction and that if I miscarried in the next few weeks, it would likely have severe developmental delays or die. Meanwhile, I was at high risk for life-threatening preeclampsia.
But the specialist who confirmed the diagnosis wouldn't answer our repeat questions about our prognosis. Since I was close to 20 weeks, she only responded with, "I don't know what you want me to say. At this point, you're having this kid."
All the old terrors came back. I had fled faith-healing theologians. Now my doctors were scared to provide me with informed consent, politicians were revoking my right to evidence-based care, and my husband and I were trying to navigate a life-threatening pregnancy.
I started experiencing preeclampsia with liver failure at 33 weeks. My 2-pound, 10-ounce baby spent six weeks in intensive care. Fortunately, the astronomical medical costs were covered by my private insurance under provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Otherwise, we would have been financially ruined.
After Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Iowa’s six-week abortion ban last summer, I got my tubes tied. I can't risk getting pregnant again. Not in this environment in this state. I'd leave behind two children. I know the lifelong devastation that causes.
I am speaking out because I worry about the future my daughter faces. What if she becomes pregnant and is denied life-saving medical care because of a state law? I have seen firsthand the life-threatening dangers women must navigate when religion and politics come before women's health. I fear we are on that path, heading backward into the world of maternal and infant death I escaped.
Abby Collins lives with her family in Muscatine.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: My pregnancy nearly killed me. Iowa abortion laws threaten more lives
