A woman in Louisiana said she was denied an abortion for a fetus with the top of its skill missing.
Nancy Davis, who is 13 weeks pregnant with her second child, told WAFB News that she and her boyfriend went in for an ultrasound at 10 weeks and found out that their baby’s skull was not fully developed.
“It was an abnormal ultrasound, and they noticed the top of the baby’s head was missing and the skull was missing, the top of the skull was missing,” Davis said.
The fetus was diagnosed with a rare and fatal congenital condition called acrania where the fetus’ skull failed to develop in the womb. Babies with this condition only survive minutes or hours after being born.
Yet, Davis was denied an abortion because her life is not in danger and the baby’s condition does not fall under Louisiana Department of Health’s list of conditions that meets the requirement for an abortion.
Now she must decide whether to carry the baby to term knowing it will not survive or cross state lines for an abortion, maybe in Florida or North Carolina, she said.
“It’s hard knowing that … you know I’m carrying it to bury it,” Davis said.
At 13 weeks, she knows there is not much time left because several states ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
She told the outlet that lawmakers need to broaden the list of conditions that qualify for an abortion in the Louisiana.
“I just want them to consider special circumstances as it relates to abortion…medical problems, like this is one that needs to be in that,” she said.
