Texas woman describes ordeal with state abortion law after miscarriage

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• Geoff Bennett:

  When my next guest, Marlena Stell, suffered a miscarriage late last year, she says she begged her doctor for help but was instead forced to live for at least two weeks with fetal remains inside her because of strict anti-abortion laws. She says she was devastated to learn that because the procedure she needed is also used during abortions which a Texas law restricted, her doctor refused to perform it. Her story is an excruciating reality that could become more common after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

  Marlena Stell joins us now. And I appreciate your willingness to share your story.

• Marlena Stell:

  Thanks for your time, I appreciate the chance to speak.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And you and your husband have a two year old as I understand it, you were thrilled to learn of your pregnancy. And at seven weeks, you got an ultrasound showed that everything with your baby was normal. And then tell us what happened?

• Marlena Stell:

  I found out I had my first ultrasound early September and everything looked great. I was about seven and a half weeks. A couple of weeks later, I asked for another ultrasound because I am a high risk mom, I'm a bit older, I'm 42 now, and I came in a couple weeks later and the baby was not viable, was not a viable pregnancy.

  I was devastated because this is obviously a baby that my husband I've been trying for, we want a sibling for my daughter. And as soon as I found out the news, I asked for a D&C because I had a miscarriage in the past before I had my daughter. I wasn't able to expel. And so I had a D&C back then. And it went well. And I was able to have my daughter after that. So I figured it would be the same this time, having a D&C I thought wouldn't be a problem because it was very obvious from the ultrasound, that the pregnancy was no longer, there was no longer a fetus or baby in there.

  So the doctor had told me, no. And before she could even give me any intervention at all, I had to go to get another ultrasound at another place. And so that's what I did, is I called around and got an ultrasound somewhere else and came back to the doctor, was still told no, eventually was given the pill as an option. And I personally felt unsafe doing that because I knew my past history of not being able to expel. I didn't want to be at home alone. I felt safer being in a hospital that was the best option for me personally with my past experiences.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And this doctor who told you, no, did she say explicitly that it was because of the Texas abortion law?

• Marlena Stell:

  She had said when I first asked for a D&C that she could not do anything for me because of the heartbeat bill until I went and got proof for extra ultrasound somewhere else, and then came back to her with that second ultrasound results.

• Geoff Bennett:

  The process of having to go from doctor to doctor and getting multiple ultrasounds, what was that like for you?

• Marlena Stell:

  I was trying to call around multiple places to see who could get me in the fastest because once I knew that I miscarried, I knew that I didn't want to be walking around. I wanted to get this taken care of medically so I was able to heal and move on and try again. I had to call multiple places myself. After several calls I finally got in three days later. And then that took a couple of days to get the results back to my doctor before she could get back to me. So it was multiple days of just trying to go get another ultrasound, wait for them to send it to my doctor, wait for her to see them and then get back to me.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And you have said that over that time that doctors, and anti-abortion protesters you encountered as you were going to some of these clinics that they made you feel like you did something wrong. Tell me more about that?

• Marlena Stell:

  So I eventually, because I was denied a D&C I ended up going to an abortion clinic downtown. I was absolutely desperate this point, we did know if we should fly to another state or try somewhere else. So I called a clinic, got in and as I was dropped off. My husband wasn't allowed to come in with me. I had to be escorted in by a host at the clinic. And as I was going in, there was people protesting outside, telling me, I was a baby killer. They had signs asking — tell me I didn't have to do this. And so for someone like me, who wanted that baby, that's devastating to hear when they don't know what you're going through, or why you're there.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Marlena, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, you had to deal with that. How are you now? How are you and your husband? How's your family? How are y'all holding up?

• Marlena Stell:

  We're doing OK. We've had to make a decision of whether to try again. We've had hard conversations of whether to stay in Texas or move out to be able to try again. While we live here, we just made the decision that we don't feel safe for my safety of trying again here just because of our experience. And we're just worried that something may happen if I don't get care in time, we have to consider me being here for my two year old daughter that I do have.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Why are you sharing your story? I mean, I think you could be forgiven if this was something that you kept to yourself and didn't share with the American public. Why do you feel compelled to let people know what you experienced?

• Marlena Stell:

  I think when it first happened, I was just so shocked. I couldn't believe that I was having such a difficult time getting care that in the past, I had no problem. So I'm going to share that story because I — honestly, I wanted to know if there was other women going through that. And if so I wanted them to know that they weren't alone. And I wanted to bring attention to this so that people know that, people like me who want children are getting affected. It's not just a certain group of women, it's all women who are pregnant and that I just wanted more awareness for it honestly.

• Geoff Bennett:

  How has this experience changed you?

• Marlena Stell:

  I'm a bit more skeptical now. And obviously emotional, still trying to heal from all of that. And I just — I'm in shock. Honestly, I don't know what else to say other than I don't understand how this is happening. And it makes me sad to see many stories of other women who are going through being denied care, too. I just feel that it's not right.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Marlena Stell, I appreciate your willingness to join us and my best to you and your family.

• Marlena Stell:

  Thank you so much. I appreciate it.