2023-07-21 02:54:41
Samantha Casiano was denied the possibility of an abortion in Texas despite her fetus being diagnosed with anencephaly, a malformation of the skull and brain implying that it would not survive.
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A few months after the loss of her child, who died four hours after childbirth, Samantha is one of thirteen patients who are suing the State of Texas, demanding clarification of the “medical exceptions” to the laws now prohibiting abortion.
In such a situation, a medical termination of pregnancy is often offered to families, the malformation irreparably condemning the child.
But since the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022 and gave states the freedom to legislate on this issue themselves, around 15 of them have passed ultra-restrictive laws or made abortion illegal on their soil.
Texas is one of them. In this conservative state in the southern United States, abortion is now prohibited and doctors practicing it illegally incur heavy fines and up to 99 years in prison. According to the 13 plaintiffs, the exceptions for medical reasons are defined too vaguely, which frightens doctors and dissuades them from performing an abortion, even in this context.
Samantha Casiano says she is a victim of these rules. His companion, Luis Villasana, 25, explains that they could have left illegally for another state, but did not have the financial means to do so, and would then have risked a prison sentence.
“It’s against the law,” he explains, adding, “we try to do things right.”
The couple, who are raising four children, were delighted to expand their family before a medical examination organized at 20 weeks of pregnancy, in December 2022, came to shower their hopes.
“My baby died in my arms (…), I supported her for all these four hours”, testifies Luis Villasana.
During the last weeks of pregnancy, his partner had been placed on antidepressants by her doctor, and had to endure the awkward praise and painful questions on her baby bump, even though she knew full well that their child would not survive.
“I hope that the law will change so that other women do not have to live what I had to endure, and that other fathers do not have to see their child die between their hands”, pleads now Samantha Casiano.
The mother unfolded her painful story this week before a judge in Austin, and faced questions from the defense, which argues that the medical exceptions could be used arbitrarily and serve as a pretext.
Haunted by the memory of having seen her baby die in the arms of her companion, Samantha collapsed in court. Vomiting, she had to be escorted out of the courtroom before bursting into tears.
Amanda Zurawski, the first to tell her story, told the court that she was also refused an abortion when her fetus was condemned.
“When I needed an emergency abortion when I was pregnant with my daughter Willow, I had to go home and wait,” she told a news conference.
Ms. Zurawski was only able to get this procedure three days later, after suffering from sepsis. “I almost died because of the inhuman laws of Texas that prohibit abortion,” she denounced.
Another plaintiff, Lauren Miller, pointed out that Samantha’s daughter had “suffocated”. “We shouldn’t be torturing babies and calling it pro-life,” as abortion opponents in the United States call themselves, she blasted.
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