Woman Challenging Texas Abortion Law: ‘I’m Just So Scared of Being Pregnant Again’

Since her abortion, Edwards told Jezebel in a phone interview that she and her husband are still trying to get pregnant; she just recently started her first IVF cycle since her abortion when we spoke on Wednesday. “When I got the news that I was all clear to start IVF again, I had a moment of, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to do this’—because I’m just so scared of being pregnant again. But I want to be a mom and that outweighs that, just in the slightest,” she said. “I have to do this, even though I’m absolutely terrified. My husband’s absolutely terrified.” She said she joined the suit to prevent this from happening to other women “and potentially even myself in the future.”

Another plaintiff, Dr. Austin Dennard, an OBGYN who joined the lawsuit in May and is the doctor of one of the other plaintiffs, also testified about her experience on Thursday, saying that she needed an emergency abortion when she was 11 weeks pregnant and her fetus was diagnosed with anencephaly, a rare genetic condition incompatible with survival. “The mother in me was hoping that the physician in me was second-guessing what I saw,” Dennard said through tears, recounting the moment in July 2022 when she saw the scan of her pregnancy and realized “something was catastrophically wrong.”

Dennard, a mother of two who is currently pregnant, previously had an abortion in Texas when her fetus was diagnosed with a different fatal condition prior to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. This time, she had to travel out of state for care. Dennard testified that it was consideration for her two young children that made her especially certain she couldn’t continue with a nonviable pregnancy that put her life at risk, rendering her vulnerable to fatal infections and other life-threatening conditions: “My health and staying healthy so I can be their mother, be a wife, be a physician, and take care of my patients, was my number one priority.” She explained that she didn’t initially sign on to join the suit, brought forth in March, out of fear of violent threats and retaliation her family might face, given the climate of rising anti-abortion violence.

On Wednesday, the court heard testimony from another plaintiff, Amanda Zurawski, who testified that, like Edwards, she, too, still wants kids. But last year, after experiencing severe pregnancy complications and a prolonged delay in receiving emergency care due to Texas’ abortion bans, her right fallopian tube permanently closed, jeopardizing her fertility. In a particularly dark move, the state of Texas has cited the women’s fertility struggles as one of its arguments to have the suit dismissed, suggesting the women don’t have standing because it’s not certain they’ll become pregnant and experience complications again. Zurawski responded to this in court on Wednesday, calling this framing “infuriating” and “ironic,” and adding, “Do they not realize the reason why I might not be able to get pregnant again is because of what happened to me as a result of the laws that they support?”

Edwards called the state’s response to their suit “incredibly reductive.” “We’ve been through a lot of trauma and pain, and while some of that would have happened either way given our diagnoses, the addition of having to travel or being denied health care—it’s even more emotional torture than you already were feeling in that scenario,” she told Jezebel. “These laws are subjecting us to just a lot of things you shouldn’t have to feel when you’re just being a grieving parent.”

A judge is expected to rule on the case in the coming weeks.