Mid-Michigan woman: I wouldn’t be alive without having an abortion
By TREVOR SOCHOCKI and JAMES PAXSON
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FLINT, Michigan (WNEM) — A mid-Michigan woman said a medical procedure saved her life more than once, but now the procedure could be illegal in several states across the country after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe vs. Wade.
Stephanie Jones is the founder of the Michigan Fertility Alliance.
She had two ectopic pregnancies and had to abort them.
“On paper, there is no way I was supposed to survive what happened to me,” Jones said.
Jones says she was dying at a rapid rate.
“And if I did not have a physician that was so willing to do what she did. If she felt that there was any potential for prosecution or any potential for maybe repercussion, would I be here? I’m not, I’m not really sure,” Jones said.
The mid-Michigan mother of one at the time needed an abortion.
Her uterus ruptured from a cornual ectopic pregnancy, where the embryo implants where the fallopian tube meets the uterus.
“I have access to good health care, I have access to all their resources, and this is me telling my story on how things can go wrong,” Jones said.
At the time, her doctor did not have to navigate red tape to give her an abortion. She could just do it.
Jones recovered, and after two years of tests, she and her husband tried again. She got pregnant.
“And by day 13 my doctor saw something that she was not comfortable with in my blood levels, right, so your hormone levels. And she brought me in, and they were unable to locate the pregnancy on an ultrasound,” Jones said.
For the second time, a cornual ectopic pregnancy.
“Like when they say lightning doesn’t strike twice, right? I mean, it’s a 1 in 100 million chance,” Jones said.
She needed another abortion as soon as possible. Once again, her doctor was able to perform it.
“If she was — had any type of bureaucratic red tape she had to follow, I would not be alive,” Jones said.
Now, she worries what overturning Roe vs. Wade will do to people in dangerous pregnancy situations.
She said a current bill being proposed also excludes mental health as a reason for an abortion.
“The only way that we are able to do this and do this right is to allow the woman to have the decision and have a physician have an unencumbered decision available to them. And that’s really what it comes down to,” Jones said.
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