{"id":24125,"date":"2024-02-24T04:54:23","date_gmt":"2024-02-24T10:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=24125"},"modified":"2024-02-24T04:54:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-24T10:54:29","slug":"woman-suing-texas-over-its-abortion-ban-plans-to-move-her-embryos-out-of-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=24125","title":{"rendered":"Woman suing Texas over its abortion ban plans to move her embryos out of state"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A woman who is suing<\/a> Texas after she said she nearly died when doctors delayed giving her a medically necessary abortion tells NBC News exclusively that she plans to move her frozen embryos out of the state for fear Texas could stop providing in vitro fertilization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move by Amanda Zurawski and her husband, Josh, follows news that at least three fertility clinics in Alabama have paused<\/a> in vitro fertilization treatments following a ruling<\/a> by the state Supreme Court that found embryos are people who have the same legal protections as children \u2014 and that people can be held liable for destroying them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurawski, 36, said on Thursday that she and her husband signed papers to move their embryos out of the state because she fears Texas could follow Alabama\u2019s lead and block her from starting the family she\u2019s spent years trying to build. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want them in a state where a similar ruling could very likely take place,\u201d she said of her embryos. \u201cEverything about IVF is very anxiety-inducing. It\u2019s very scary. It\u2019s very difficult and rulings like this one in Alabama are just adding another layer of fear and anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that she is concerned about the effects the ruling will have for patients in Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy heart is broken for every hopeful parent in the state of Alabama and beyond because this isn\u2019t going to stop in Alabama. This is going to have a snowball effect,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurawski is one of the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Texas that is challenging the state\u2019s near-total abortion ban and seeking to make the state allow doctors more discretion to intervene during medical complications. Zurawski said<\/a> she nearly died in August 2022 after doctors refused to give her an abortion when she suffered catastrophic complications while 18 weeks pregnant. Eventually, Zurawski\u2019s health deteriorated and doctors performed an abortion. But, she said she developed serious infections that led to sepsis and sent her to the intensive care unit for three days.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, Zurawski and her husband have turned to in vitro fertilization and hope to have a baby through a surrogate after doctors advised her not to try to carry a baby again. She said she has been through three egg retrievals and now has two frozen embryos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she said she worries Texas laws will once again impact her journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely terrifying,\u201d Zurawski said. \u201cBut it\u2019s also so infuriating because the same people who support the bans that nearly killed me are also in the same camp, who are now trying to make it harder for people like me to have a family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurawski said that soon after the Alabama Supreme Court ruling, she researched other clinics away from Texas that would be willing to take her embryos and companies willing to transport them. The process, she said, costs thousands of dollars.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think about the folks in Alabama who may be considering doing the same thing, and it\u2019s not an option for everyone,\u201d she said. \u201cIVF in and of itself is already extremely expensive. And then, to add an additional layer of potentially needing to transport them. It\u2019s just another expense. It\u2019s more logistics. It\u2019s more unknowns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zurawski declined to say where she is moving her embryos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to protect us,\u201d she said of her decision not to reveal where the embryos will be transported. \u201cIt\u2019s to protect our embryos. It\u2019s to protect anyone who could be involved in our family planning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Zurawski and several other plaintiffs, said in a statement that the Alabama Supreme Court ruling is \u201cextremely alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt undermines people\u2019s ability to make decisions about their own family planning via IVF,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThis is part of the chaos we knew would ensue if Roe v. Wade was overturned. With politicians at the helm instead of doctors, reproductive health care is in crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion has been banned or severely restricted in over a dozen states<\/a>, according to an NBC News count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman who is suing Texas after she said she nearly died when doctors delayed giving her a medically necessary abortion tells NBC News exclusively that she plans to move her frozen embryos out of the state for fear Texas could stop providing in vitro fertilization. The move by Amanda Zurawski and her husband, Josh, follows news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3497,26831,2079,3527,1298,1305],"class_list":["post-24125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-abortion-ban","tag-embryos","tag-plan","tag-sued","tag-texas","tag-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24127,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24125\/revisions\/24127"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}