US woman shares heartbreak over abortion at five months

A first-time mum has revealed why she and her husband made the heartbreaking decision to have an abortion at five months pregnant.

It was at her 19-week scan, Ms Faith said, that the doctors saw ‘something … that would end up changing our lives forever’. Picture: Supplied

A first-time mum has revealed why she and her husband made the heartbreaking decision to have an abortion at 20 weeks pregnant.

New York woman Ashley Faith, 35, was filled with joy after discovering in February that she and her husband, Brandon, were expecting their first child together, after struggling to conceive for almost two years.

But at 19 weeks pregnant, the couple were given the worst possible news: Their son had a high risk of death, and if he survived, he would have an 85 per cent chance of “significant, life-altering abnormalities”.

It was at her 19-week scan that the doctors saw ‘something … that would end up changing our lives forever’. Picture: Supplied

“All we want was our baby boy. But, we knew we couldn’t be selfish. We could not live with ourselves if we brought a child into this world who was set up for a difficult, painful, unhappy life,” Ms Faith wrote in a piece for Love What Matters.

So on June 10, they made the decision to terminate the pregnancy.

“It was the worst, most traumatic, most painful experience of my life,” she said of the experience.

It had been a long road to conceiving.

“We finally found out I was pregnant in February of this year, due on October 27,” she said.

“We were elated; we couldn’t believe it. From as far back as I could remember, all I wanted was to be a mum, and now I was finally getting that chance.

“It was difficult for us to get pregnant so we waited even longer, until 18 weeks, to tell our friends and family.

“Everything was going well. I got through the first trimester and the morning sickness. We found out we were having a boy. We painted his room and picked out his name.”

Ms Faith and her husband. Picture: Instagram

But it was at her 19-week scan, Ms Faith said, that the doctors saw “something … that would end up changing our lives forever” – a rare blood clot inside a cyst on the umbilical cord.

“Our doctors had seen ulcerative colitis (UC) blood clots and cysts independently, but never together. The chance of just having a blood clot alone is 0.0025 per cent. I was basically patient zero,” she said.

“At any point the blood clot could cut off the supply from the umbilical cord to our baby, which would kill him.”

Ms Faith said because she was so far along in her pregnancy, “easier” abortion options were not available to her, so she had to be induced.

“I’ve never felt the pain the way I did on that day,” she said.

“Most women experience the worst pain of their lives to then be met with their beautiful, healthy baby being placed on their chest. I experienced the worst pain of my life and then went home empty-handed, except for a $US12,000 ($A16,600) bill and the heaviest heart I’ve ever felt.”

Despite the ordeal, she said she doesn’t regret it, saying she “would have not have considering myself a ‘good mum’, but rather a ‘selfish mum’ if I had brought my son into the world under those circumstances”.

Ms Faith is sharing her family’s experience because of the controversial abortion ban in Texas. Picture: Instagram

Abortion law divides nation

The reason she’s sharing her family’s experience is because of the controversial abortion ban in Texas – with pregnancy termination effectively becoming illegal in America’s second-largest state on September 1.

The law, S.B 8, is the most restrictive anti-abortion law in decades, and bans abortion from about six weeks of pregnancy, when a foetal heartbeat may first be detected and before many women even realise they are pregnant.

The US Justice Department has since asked the Supreme Court to block the law.

Ms Faith said she considers herself “unbelievably lucky that I live in New York, where this was even an option”.

“I cannot imagine what our lives would be like, physically, mentally and financially if we were forced to have an unhealthy child,” she said.

‘This Texas abortion ban is devastating, horrifying and dangerous. This is not a pro-life decision, it is an anti-human one. One which shows no compassion, no empathy and no care to women’s and families’ stories and circumstances.

“Today, as I continue grieving over my unborn son, I also grieve for the helpless women who won’t get the opportunity that I had.”