When Samantha Casiano of East Texas found out she was pregnant with her fifth child, she was ecstatic. But at a 20-week ultrasound, she received shocking news. Her baby was diagnosed with anencephaly, a rare and fatal condition that prevents the skull and brain from fully forming. . . .
“I was told that it meant that my daughter was incompatible with life. And I wouldn’t be adding another little human to our family. It was really hard to hear that. It felt like it was a dream -- a really, really bad dream, Casiano, 30, recounted. . . .
“Just imagine yourself waking up every morning, knowing that your daughter was going to die. You can feel her kick and move, but she’s going to die. So you have to plan her funeral while she’s inside of you,” said Casiano. “And that’s probably the hardest thing any mother has to go through…It was traumatizing and hard.. Just thinking about it now is just me makes my stomach hurt. And I was forced to go through it. It was torture.”
Torture. C'mon, Legislature. Think about it.
Texas is not alone in its lack of humanity. According to the authoritative Guttmacher Institute, only D.C. and 9 states do not restrict abortion based on gestational duration. The remaining 41 states either ban abortions with very limited exceptions (14 states) or impose a gestational ban of varying lengths:
- 6 weeks (3 states)
- 12 weeks (2 states)
- 15 weeks (1 state)
- 18-23 weeks (5 states)
- 24-26 weeks (16 states)
And as the Institute says about these gestational bans: "Anyone denied abortion access in their state must either overcome the logistical and financial hurdles of traveling out of state, navigate a self-managed abortion or carry an unwanted pregnancy to term."
The Casiano case is an example: "Casiano said she was unable to travel outside of the state for an abortion due to financial and logistical constraints. So, she was forced to go to term with her baby."
Torture. C'mon, Texas Voters. Think about it.
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