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‘I WASN’T ALLOWED TO GET THE HEALTHCARE I NEEDED’: THE WOMEN SUING TENNESSEE FOR
BEING DENIED ABORTIONS

K Monica Kelly had to travel to Florida for an abortion after her fetus was
diagnosed with trisomy 13 – now she’s part of a group suing her state


by Carter Sherman
K Monica Kelly in Clarksville, Tennessee. Kelly was recently sued over being
denied a medically necessary aboriton (Tamara Reynolds/The Guardian).

Thu 1 Feb 2024 12.00 ESTLast modified on Thu 1 Feb 2024 12.02 EST
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When K Monica Kelly saw that women in Texas had filed a lawsuit challenging the
contours of their state’s abortion ban, she posted on Instagram to cheer them
on.

“I shared how terrible I thought it was, that they weren’t able to get the
proper healthcare they needed in their state,” Kelly said. “It never crossed my
mind that that was actually going to happen to me soon.”



Kelly and her husband spent a year trying to have a second baby. So when they
discovered in February 2023 that Kelly was pregnant, the couple was ecstatic.
They taught their son, who was then two years old, to describe their family as:
“Mama, dada, me, baby, all four!” After an ultrasound looked promising, and they
drove more than 10 hours from their home in northern Tennessee to announce the
news to their family in Florida.

Only days later, after they’d returned home, in late March, the pair drove back
to Florida. This time, though, the drive was “surreal and devastating”, Kelly
said. A series of catastrophic fetal diagnoses had led Kelly to decide to get an
abortion – a procedure she could not legally get in Tennessee.

“It’s awful and agonizing to just even drive that far to go do something that
you just really don’t want to do,” Kelly said. “Even up until the last second, I
wished that I could change my mind. But I just knew that that was the best
decision.”

More than a dozen states have implemented near-total abortion bans since the US
supreme court overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022. Although every state with an
abortion ban has some kind of exception that should theoretically allow for
abortions in medical emergencies, doctors and patients across the country have
said that the bans are worded in such a way as to be unworkable in reality.
Misinterpreting the exceptions could lead providers to shoulder not only hefty
fines, but also lifelong prison sentences.

View image in fullscreen
Kelly drove to Florida with her husband for an abortion after she learned about
complications with her pregnancy. Photograph: Tamara Reynolds/The Guardian

As a result, dozens of women from across the country have come forward with
stories of being denied medically necessary abortions. Now, Kelly, like the
women in Texas, is one of them: earlier this year, she joined a lawsuit in
Tennessee that was filed by multiple women who say they were turned away from
abortions they desperately needed.

After Roe fell, Tennessee rushed to implement what was believed to be one of the
strictest abortion bans in the country. Lawmakers have since carved out
extremely narrow exceptions in the law – but advocates say they are nowhere near
enough to ensure doctors can provide what is often lifesaving care.


‘I WAS TRYING TO MAKE A COMPASSIONATE DECISION FOR MY BABY’

Kelly’s fetus was diagnosed with trisomy 13, a chromosomal disorder that can
result in a range of grave issues, according to Kelly’s lawsuit. The fetus had
large growths on the neck and back, as well as elevated swelling in the tissues
and organs.

Pennsylvania case challenging ban on Medicaid abortions back in court
Read more


The fetus also had a condition, associated with trisomy 13, that had led the
brain to fail to split correctly, Kelly said: “That’s associated with really
severe complications, like facial deformities, like only having one eye and
really terrible things like that.”

Many fetuses diagnosed with trisomy 13 do not make it to birth; if they are
born, the infants need extensive medical care and still likely only live for
hours or days.

If Kelly had continued the pregnancy, the fetus could have started experiencing
pain, according to the lawsuit. Kelly faced the risk of developing medical
complications herself, too, such as preeclampsia, a risky blood pressure
condition.

But Tennessee bans almost all abortions after conception. Under the state’s ban,
Kelly’s doctor and genetic counselor told her, Kelly could not get an abortion
in Tennessee, according to her lawsuit.

“I felt confused and stressed about where to go and what to do when I wasn’t
allowed to get the healthcare I needed in Tennessee,” Kelly said. “Just, the
whole thing was drawn out even longer than it needed to be because I was trying
to figure out where to go and I was trying to make a compassionate decision for
my baby.”

View image in fullscreen
Activists gather near the Tennessee state capital building in Nashville,
Tennessee on 14 May 2022 as part of a nationwide protest for reproductive
rights. Photograph: Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images


She considered getting an abortion in Illinois, a state that has become an
abortion haven since Roe’s downfall; she made and cancelled appointments. She
didn’t feel right going somewhere she had never been for such a personal
procedure. “I was seeking any comfort I could possibly grab onto,” she said.

Finally, Kelly was able to get an appointment at a Florida hospital, with an
OB-GYN she knew and trusted. But going to Florida came with its own challenges.

Kelly realized she was running out of time: Florida bans abortions past 15 weeks
of pregnancy, and she was coming up against that limit. In addition, patients in
Florida must visit an abortion provider in person for counseling, wait 24 hours,
and return for the procedure itself.

Kelly and her husband also had to make the 10-hour-plus trek to north-west
Florida with their toddler in tow. Just remembering that drive, Kelly said,
gives her goosebumps. “It’s hard for me to put myself back in that state of mind
sometimes, because it was so traumatic for me that I think my brain is trying to
protect itself and forget,” she said. “I don’t remember what I did. I just went
forward.”

Kelly and her husband saved money by staying at a friend’s place, but the whole
trip set the couple back “at least several thousands of dollars”, Kelly
estimated. “It was a lot more stressful and confusing than it would have been
had we been able to just stay in Tennessee.”

At the hospital, Kelly cried before she slipped under anesthesia. The nurses
held her hand.

“They were really compassionate and kind,” Kelly said, her voice choking up with
tears. “That was the hardest part – just not wanting to go through with it or be
there but knowing it had to be done, and then having someone just tell me it was
gonna be OK. They made me feel comfortable.”

By the time of her abortion, on 31 March 2023, Kelly was roughly 15 weeks
pregnant, according to her lawsuit – just about the legal limit in Florida. But
abortion laws in Florida may soon shift again: the Florida state supreme court
is weighing a case that may lead to a six-week abortion ban, which would outlaw
the procedure before many people know they’re pregnant.

After her procedure, Kelly reached out to Allie Phillips, a Tennessee mom who
went public on social media with her experience of having to travel out of state
for an abortion. Phillips, who is now running for a seat in the Tennessee state
legislature, was one of the first women to sue Tennessee over the exceptions in
its abortion ban – months later, Kelly decided to join the lawsuit.

Seven women who say they were denied abortions in Tennessee, including Kelly and
Phillips, are a part of the lawsuit. One ended up traveling to Virginia for an
abortion, and was later diagnosed with sepsis due to an infection that, her
doctors said, had gotten worse because her abortion had been delayed. Another
woman learned that her pregnancy was unlikely to result in a healthy baby, but
had to continue it against her will. She delivered a stillborn son 31 weeks into
her pregnancy.

“I hope that it makes a difference. I feel like I’m proud to be a part of it,
although it’s something I never wanted to be a part of,” Kelly said. “I just
hope that I can make a difference for women’s rights.”



A hearing in the case is set for April.

View image in fullscreen
Kelly is pregnant again with her second child. She didn’t buy newborn clothes
until it was confirmed her growing fetus had no medical issues. Photograph:
Tamara Reynolds/The Guardian

In April 2023, Tennessee’s Republican governor signed into law a bill that
slightly expanded abortion providers’ legal protections. Under the original
version of the law, all abortions had technically been felonies – but doctors
who performed them could claim in court that the abortions had been performed to
save a patient’s life or prevent a serious injury. Under the new law, doctors
could use their “reasonable medical judgment” to perform abortions in severe
emergencies, a standard that abortion-rights advocates say still opens doctors
up to prosecution.

Lawyers for the women, who are being represented by the Center for Reproductive
Rights, are asking the courts to issue a temporary injunction that would allow
doctors instead to use their “good faith medical judgment” to perform abortions
when a patient has a “critical or emergent physical medical condition” that
threatens their health, future fertility or life.

The Texas lawsuit, meanwhile, is under deliberation by the state supreme court.
A similar case, filed in Idaho last year, continues.

Kelly is pregnant again. She’s due in June 2024.

The fear of something happening to this pregnancy and, in particular, the fear
of being pregnant again in Tennessee – lingers. Kelly didn’t buy any new baby
outfits, or tell her son about the pregnancy, until after testing confirmed her
fetus had no medical issues.

“We did not start trying until my previous baby’s due date had passed. I wasn’t
mentally or physically ready,” she said. “We actually ended up conceiving this
baby the weekend of our former baby’s due date. Things just felt right.”


Explore more on these topics
 * Abortion
 * Tennessee
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 * Florida
 * Women
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