Ohio abortion law meant weeks of ‘anguish,’ ‘agony’ for couple whose unborn child had organs outside

By Elizabeth Cohen and Amanda Musa, CNN

Updated 11:36 PM EST, Wed February 8, 2023

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/health/ohio-abortion-long/index.html

A couple's unborn baby was diagnosed with deadly condition but Ohio's laws made abortion nearly impossible.

.....Just when Beth and Kyle Long received the worst news of their life, an Ohio law made their searing pain even worse. For four years, the Longs tried to have a baby, enduring multiple rounds of grueling fertility treatments. In September 2022, Beth finally became pregnant. But an ultrasound four months later showed that most of the baby’s organs were outside the body. The condition, called limb body wall complex, is rare.

“It’s just not survivable,” a doctor involved in Beth’s care told CNN. “They will die. There’s no way there will be a life,” said Dr. Alireza Shamshirsaz, a spokesperson for the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, who was not involved in Beth’s care.

The condition posed dangers for Beth too, and the bigger the baby was, the higher the risk of complications, including dangerous bleeding that might require a hysterectomy. They say their doctor urged them to terminate the pregnancy as soon as possible. ........

Read on here.