A Texas cancer survivor who suffered three miscarriages was banned in her home state from terminating a desired pregnancy after she found the fetus was too disabled to survive.
Kailee DeSpain, 28, and her husband were forced to make a 10-hour trip to New Mexico in February after a 16-week scan revealed their son Finley was suffering from an insurmountable condition called triploidy.
Carrying the pregnancy to term would have put DeSpain at risk of potentially fatal complications, but Texas’s so-called heartbeat abortion law prohibits almost all abortions except those vaguely defined as “medical emergencies.”
DeSpain was told her criteria didn’t meet and instead made a long trip to a neighboring state, where she was branded a murderer by pro-life protesters when she arrived at the abortion clinic.
Her doctors had advised her to seek termination after her 16-week ultrasound revealed her son Finley would not survive due to multiple serious health issues.
The couple were devastated by the news but decided to terminate the pregnancy to prevent potentially life-threatening complications.
Now, DeSpain continues to tell her story and fight for women’s rights, claiming she will “not see a single day of peace until I can govern my own body and all that goes on in it in the state I once did.” loved”.
Texas’ Kailee DeSpain battled cervical cancer and had three failed pregnancies before becoming pregnant with her “miracle baby,” Finley
DeSpain had three failed pregnancies and battled cervical cancer before learning she was carrying her “miracle” baby, Finley.
Due to previous heart pain and complications, she and her husband remained cautious after learning she was pregnant for the fourth time.
Despite initial concerns about her HCG hormone levels, the pregnancy seemed to be going well.
“Everything was good, normal, healthy,” DeSpain shared on Facebook. “I found out he was a boy. please god Let me bring my boy home alive.”
“I had so many ultrasounds because we were at such high risk. That was the first thing I was looking forward to. At last I had hope; I had carried Finley further than anyone else. My little warrior.’
DeSpain (pictured with her husband) was heartbroken when she and her husband learned at sixteen weeks pregnant that Finley was suffering from triploidy and would not survive. He also lacked a kidney, had a heart with no valves, and a poorly developed brain
Sixteen weeks into her pregnancy, she and her husband learned that Finley had a rare condition called triploidy. He also lacked a kidney, had a heart with no valves, and a poorly developed brain.
She also claims to have high blood pressure and writes, “I was weaned off the blood thinners that were protecting my body from an autoimmune reaction.
“I was more likely to not make it now and my husband looked at me with fear in his eyes and said he was NOT going to lose me too.”
Her doctors said Finley would not survive and she would likely face dangerous complications if the pregnancy continued.
The National Library of Medicine notes that carrying a child with triploidy in the second trimester can cause preeclampsia. The condition often presents with symptoms of high blood pressure and elevated HCG levels.
DeSpain’s nursing team recommended that she request an abortion, but found that Texas law prohibited them from performing the procedure.
“They explained to me that I had no options in Texas but that this was very serious,” she wrote.
Due to the Texas heartbeat law, which bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, DeSpain and her husband had to travel 10 hours to New Mexico for the procedure. Finley’s remains (pictured) were then shipped back to Texas
She and her husband drove 10 hours to a New Mexico clinic where DeSpain received an abortion, but not before she was met with hateful comments.
“I went to the clinic alone. I’ve passed people with signs saying I’m a killer,” DeSpain said.
“Don’t kill your baby!” they yelled at me. “We have resources!”
“My baby has triploidy. He dies. He’ll choke,’ I shouted back. I was angry. I knew I was making the hardest decision of all and that these people would never bother to think about what it was like.’
She noted how the anti-abortion protesters “didn’t even ask” before assuming she didn’t want the child she and her husband had been trying so hard to conceive.
“They assumed I didn’t WANT the child I had been praying for for almost 8 years,” DeSpain wrote. “I knew that people like that didn’t want to understand. People like that will never have a heart for people like me.’
After the procedure, Finley’s ashes were shipped back to Texas.
DeSpain first shared her story in May after a draft SCOTUS opinion revealed the High Court’s intention to hear the landmark case of Roe v. Wade from 1973. She is pictured with her husband after they lost a baby in 2016
DeSpain first shared her story in May after leaking a draft SCOTUS opinion revealing the High Court’s intention to hear the landmark case of Roe v. Wade’s 1973 law, which held that abortion falls within the constitutional right to privacy.
Her post specifically called out those who criticized her for seeking an abortion and those who advocated criminalizing abortion.
“No one should have to tell a story like mine to justify abortion,” she wrote.
“I shouldn’t have to give you my soul so you can decide if I’m one of the few women you think should have ‘allowed’ an abortion. You decide if I fit into the few categories that you consider acceptable reasons for having an abortion. So you can decide if I’m a murderer or not.
“I made my choice because it was what was best for my baby, my body and my family. My choice is not yours, and you cannot gleefully take away my rights.
She continued, “Her mind went out of order when it started taking away my ability to make safe decisions for myself.
“Her opinion was no longer okay when she supported those in power who stripped my doctors of their ability to care for me in Texas.
“No one owes you their story,” DeSpain explained. “But I gave you mine in the hope that it will open your eyes to what people have been doing in supporting politicians who believe abortion is a state’s right to take it away.
“Abortion should never have been politicized, but it was. All I can ask is that you vote with women like me in mind.’
DeSpain’s post regained popularity after SCOTUS officially opened the Roe v. Wade and automatically banned abortion in 18 states due to specially designed “trigger laws” and historic bans that were automatically reinstated after the ruling
Her post regained popularity after SCOTUS officially opened the case of Roe v. Wade and automatically banned abortion in 18 states due to specially designed “trigger laws” and historic bans that were automatically reinstated after the ruling.
Texas, where DeSpain lives, has a trigger law due to take effect in less than two months that will make abortion illegal in the state.
The so-called ban on triggering abortions at any stage of pregnancy only provides exceptions in order to save the life of the mother or to prevent a “significant impairment of essential bodily functions”.
The legislation also makes it a criminal offense to perform an abortion.
DeSpain revisited the issue on July 3, saying, “I will not know a single day of peace until I can govern my own body and everything that goes on in it in the state I once loved. “
Women who have abortions are not prosecuted, but anyone who helps a woman get the procedure could, and doctors who perform abortions could face fines of up to $100,000 or life imprisonment.
“People have asked me why I keep sharing — why I don’t want peace to heal for me after losing our son,” DeSpain said in a July 3 post.
“My answer is this: I will not experience a single day of peace until I can govern my own body and all that is in it in the state I once loved.”
“The Texas legislature made me and so many other people feel unsafe in this state. I won’t let anyone forget it.
“NO, I won’t stop talking about it. NO, I will not stop sharing the truth just because it is painful for you to hear the truth that these legislators are getting out of hand.