NE Speaker On Horrific Forced Birth: The Law Operated As Intended

Cowpunk

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Tue Mar-08-11 01:42 PM
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NE Speaker On Horrific Forced Birth: The Law Operated As Intended

Mike Flood, speaker of Nebraska's unicameral legislature, came on Omaha right-wing radio station KFAB to defend Nebraska's new abortion law after a story in the Omaha World-Herald highlighted tragic consequences of the new law for one Grand Island family:

Deaver had four months to go in her pregnancy when she lost most of the amniotic fluid that cushions the fetus and helps its development, she said in an interview Sunday.
Doctors told the Deavers the loss of fluid stopped the baby’s lung development and would lead to deformities of the head and limbs. Their baby was given less than a 10 percent chance of surviving delivery; less than a 2 percent chance of ever managing basic functions, like eating.
“The odds were awful,” Danielle Deaver said. “It just wasn’t there.”
But devastating as that blow had been, what followed turned out to be at least as excruciating.
The Deavers thought over the possibilities and made a decision. They didn’t want to continue putting their unborn baby through what they feared was agony, so they asked the doctors to induce labor early.
“We were seeking to have the inevitable happen,” Danielle Deaver said. “We in no way, shape or fashion were seeking an abortion.”
But they were soon told the Nebraska abortion law stood in their way.

(...)

Specialists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the couple’s primary care doctor in Hastings, Neb., agreed that they could risk their medical licenses and prison time if they did the procedure, so the Deavers were sent home to wait.

Danielle Deaver was told to watch for signs of infection, a potential complication of losing amniotic fluid. And she agonized every time she felt the baby move, knowing that the child no longer had any protection from the uterine muscles.
“I told Robb I don’t know what to pray for,” she recalled. “Do I pray for a miracle or do I pray that I get sick enough that we can end this?”
Deaver finally went into labor on her own on Dec. 7. The baby, named Elizabeth, was born the next day at 3 p.m., weighing 1 pound, 10 ounces.
The Deavers took turns holding her while she gasped for air. But her undeveloped lungs could not inflate and no ventilator could have made a difference.

Elizabeth was pronounced dead at 3:15 p.m. The Deavers cremated her and had a family service.

Recently they decided to speak out about their experience in the hope of making a difference for other families in similar situations. They have not decided whether to mount a legal challenge to the Nebraska law.
“We should have been able to make this decision,” Danielle Deaver said. “This was not about abortion or politics or anything. This was about two parents being able to make an excruciating decision."

You can listen to the interview http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/30300/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/30300/611/richmedia/Sen_Mike_Flood_03-08-11.mp3?CCOMRRMID=20930542&CPROG=RICHMEDIA&MARKET=OMAHA-NE&NG_FORMAT=&NG_ID=&OR_NEWSFORMAT=&OWNER=611&SERVER_NAME=www.kfab.com&SITE_ID=611&STATION_ID=KFAB-AM&TRACK=">here.

I'm sorry I don't have time to provide a transcript at this time. The bottom line is that Flood sees no reason to amend or make exceptions to the law based on reports of the Deaver family's ordeal.