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abortion
South Carolina Abortion Ban Forced Woman to Carry Fetus With No Heartbeat for Weeks
"My baby didn't have a heartbeat, and it still prevented me from getting care" under South Carolina's so-called "fetal hearbeat" law.
May 07, 2025
Weeks after sharing an emotional video on TikTok about her experience being told by doctors that they couldn't provide her with standard miscarriage care under South Carolina's abortion ban, Elisabeth Weber spoke out Tuesday about how she was forced to continue carrying her fetus for weeks after learning it had no heartbeat and had stopped developing.
As Weber toldPeople magazine, "My baby didn't have a heartbeat, and it still prevented me from getting care" under South Carolina's law—ironically called the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act, so named because it bars residents from getting abortion care after fetal cardiac activity can be detected at about six weeks of pregnancy.
The 31-year-old mother of three found out in late March at nine weeks pregnant that her fetus—already given a name by Weber and her husband, who felt certain they were having a boy—had stopped growing at six weeks and one day.
Weber was sent home from her local ER to allow the miscarriage to be completed naturally, but she returned to the hospital after she continued to have symptoms of hyperemesis gravidarum (HG)—extreme, persistent nausea and vomiting—which she'd had with all of her pregnancies.
"They confirmed that for sure, the baby is dead," Weber said in her TikTok video, which was posted March 31. "No heartbeat, nothing like that. And they were talking about me getting a D&C [dilation and curettage], so that way my body won't have all these pregnancy symptoms... My body still thinks that I'm pregnant, it is not passing the baby the way it is supposed to."
@elisabeth__hope EDIT: I recorded this minutes after finding this information out, so not everything was worded correctly. I was raised in a cult and was forced to stand in front of abortion clinics as a CHILD. I am not conservative and I did NOT vote for trump.
♬ original sound - Elisabeth Hope
But a doctor at her second visit to the ER told her she would have to wait another week—two weeks from when her miscarriage was first detected—and have repeat ultrasounds to continue confirming the pregnancy was not viable before Weber could have a D&C, a standard procedure that is commonly used to remove fetal tissue that has not been naturally expelled after a miscarriage.
She told People that while mourning her loss and caring for her three children, she was "so sick" due to her HG.
"I have three kids, and waiting around to go into a mini-labor is just hard," Weber said.
"I can't believe that I'm being forced to carry around my dead baby," she told People. "They know it's gone, they know it's dead, they know it's stopped developing, and now I'm being forced to carry it... There's really no feeling like when your womb becomes a tomb."
Writer and advocate Jessica Valenti, who covers Republicans' attacks on reproductive rights at her newsletter, Abortion, Every Day, interviewed Weber shortly after she posted her TikTok video.
Valenti noted that while doctors told Weber they could provide her with standard miscarriage care only if she developed sepsis or began hemorrhaging before they were able to perform another ultrasound, HG's "symptoms can mimic those of infection and sepsis."
"How will she know if she's really sick from the retained tissue, she asks, if she's already feeling awful every day?" wrote Valenti in early April, when Weber was still waiting for treatment and carrying her nonviable pregnancy. "Weber also has asthma. She's afraid she won't be able to tell the difference between her usual shortness of breath and the signs of something much worse."
Weber told Valenti that at least one doctor she spoke with expressed regret about South Carolina's abortion ban, one of 19 state bans in the country.
"I could see it was breaking her heart just to say it," Weber said of the doctor, who told her, "I wish it was different. I wish we could help you."
Valenti wrote that "when Weber told her it was okay, the doctor responded, 'It's not okay.'"
Weber told People she was even denied a D&C after going to a different hospital where she found out that her "white blood cell count was super high."
"Everything was showing that I was in an active infection," she said, but she was still required to wait for care.
"Republicans would have us believe that their laws protect women's health, but what would they call what's happening [to] this South Carolina mom right now?" wrote Valenti in April.
In a video update Weber posted on TikTok last week after finally getting care, she shared that she and her husband had decided not to have any more children after their ordeal.
"We just can't chance going through something like that again," said Weber.
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The Fight for Abortion Care Is a Fight for Equality
Women’s History Month exists because, for centuries, women’s contributions were erased, dismissed, or outright stolen. Today, we see that same erasure in real-time when lawmakers craft policies that disregard the needs and realities of half the population.
Mar 29, 2025
Every March, we celebrate Women’s History Month—a time to honor the trailblazers who fought for our rights and recognize how far we have come. But it is also a time to take stock of the battles we’re still fighting, and one of the most urgent is the fight for abortion care.
Abortion access isn’t just about healthcare; it’s about power, equality, and dignity. It’s about recognizing that pregnant people should have the same autonomy, agency, and opportunities as anyone else. Yet, time and time again, legislation is used as a weapon to strip us of our rights, rendering us invisible in the eyes of those who hold power.
When abortion rights are restricted, the effects ripple far beyond the individual. The economic consequences are devastating. Studies have shown that being denied an abortion drastically increases the likelihood of a person living in poverty. The landmark Turnaway Study found that people who were unable to access an abortion were four times more likely to experience financial insecurity, struggle with housing instability, and be trapped in cycles of domestic violence.
In a system where half the population can be denied life-saving medical care, how can we claim to value equality?
This is not just a coincidence—it’s by design. Anti-abortion legislation is not about “life”; it’s about control. It’s about keeping people, especially women and those who can become pregnant, economically vulnerable and dependent. It’s about ensuring that the structures of power remain unchallenged, forcing people to carry pregnancies they cannot afford while denying them the resources to escape poverty.
The hypocrisy is staggering. Many of the same politicians who push for abortion bans are the ones gutting social safety nets—cutting funding for childcare, slashing paid family leave, refusing to raise the minimum wage, and the list goes on. They claim to care about “life” while making it impossible for parents to provide for their children. This is not pro-life; it is anti-equality.
The United States already has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed nations, and the numbers are even more alarming for Black and Indigenous people, who die at three to four times the rate of their white counterparts during childbirth. When states restrict abortion access, they force more people into dangerous pregnancies, increasing these mortality rates even further.
The recent surge of abortion bans and restrictions has created a healthcare crisis. Patients experiencing pregnancy complications—such as miscarriages or ectopic pregnancies—are being turned away from hospitals or left to suffer until their lives are at imminent risk. Doctors fear prosecution for providing necessary care, and pregnant people are treated as legal liabilities rather than human beings.
In a system where half the population can be denied life-saving medical care, how can we claim to value equality?
Women’s History Month exists because, for centuries, women’s contributions were erased, dismissed, or outright stolen. Today, we see that same erasure in real-time when lawmakers craft policies that disregard the needs and realities of half the population.
Look at how abortion laws are written—by men who will never face the consequences of an unwanted pregnancy, let alone a dangerous one. Look at how reproductive healthcare is treated as an afterthought, even though it is central to economic stability, personal freedom, and public health.
Every time a law is passed that strips away abortion access, it is another message that we do not matter. That our health, our futures, our choices are secondary. That we are expected to sacrifice our bodies and our well-being to maintain a system that was never built for us in the first place.
This isn’t just an attack on reproductive rights; it’s an attack on gender equality itself.
Abortion access is not a fringe issue—it is fundamental to equality. If we want a world where women and pregnant people are not just tolerated but truly valued, we must fight for policies that recognize our full humanity.
That means protecting abortion access at every level—through legislation, through the courts, through elections, and through supporting each other. It means funding organizations that help people get the care they need, regardless of where they live—organizations like WRRAP. It means holding politicians accountable and refusing to let them silence us.
Women’s History Month is a reminder that progress is not given—it is won. The right to vote, the right to work, the right to own property, the right to make decisions about our own bodies—none of these rights were freely handed to us. They were fought for, tooth and nail, by those who refused to be invisible.
Now, it is our turn. The battle for abortion justice is the battle for equality itself, and we cannot afford to lose.
This op-ed was distributed by American Forum.
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Alarm as Texas Files State's First Criminal Abortion Charges Against Midwife
"Republicans are strategically targeting people they think the public won't rally behind," said rights advocate Jessica Valenti. "Let's make sure to prove them wrong."
Mar 18, 2025
A midwife in the Houston area on Monday became the first person to be criminally charged under Texas' abortion ban, with Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton accusing Maria Margarita Rojas of providing illegal abortion care and practicing medicine without a license.
If convicted, Rojas faces up to 20 years in prison under the state's near-total ban on abortion.
Writer and abortion rights advocate Jessica Valenti said Rojas is likely being "targeted" by Paxton, noting that the midwife provides "healthcare to a primarily Spanish-speaking, low-income community."
"Paxton, a political operator who picks cases strategically, likely chose Rojas because he believes Americans won't find her sympathetic—whether due to racism, classism, or the stories his office plans to spin," wrote Valenti. "In other words: Republicans are strategically targeting people they think the public won't rally behind. Let's make sure to prove them wrong."
Rojas owns and operates Clínicas Latinoamericanas, which includes four health clinics in the Houston suburbs of Spring, Waller, and Cypress. She has reportedly been a certified midwife in Texas since 2018 and was an obstetrician in Peru before immigrating to the United States.
According to The Washington Post, Rojas was first arrested on March 6 on charges of practicing medicine without a license, and was held on $10,000 bond. The new charges were added Monday, and Rojas and another employee of the clinic, Jose Ley, were being held in a jail in Waller County, with their bond set at a combined $1.4 million.
The New York Times noted that Waller County, where the charges were brought, is more conservative than Harris County, the largest county in Texas and the one where a majority of Rojas' clinics are located.
Court documents show that Paxton's office has accused Rojas of having "attempted an abortion on" a woman identified as E.G. in March.
"Paxton and Texas Republicans will be working overtime to paint Rojas as a villain, regardless of the truth. They know that abortion bans are incredibly unpopular, as is arresting healthcare providers."
Rojas was "known by law enforcement to have performed an abortion" on another occasion earlier this year, according to the attorney general, who has filed for a temporary restraining order against Clínicas Latinoamericanas "to prevent further illegal activity."
When she was first arrested, Rojas was "pulled over by the police at gunpoint and handcuffed" while she was on her way to the clinic and was taken to Austin and held overnight before being released, her friend and fellow midwife Holly Shearman told the Post.
Shearman said she did not believe Rojas is guilty of the charges against her.
Valenti emphasized that most details of Rojas' case at this point are being shared by Paxton's office, and warned that the vehemently anti-abortion attorney general will likely attempt to portray the midwife in a negative light to garner support—considering that a majority of Americans don't support criminal charges for health professionals who provide abortion care.
A survey last March by the KFF found that 8 in 10 Democrats, two-thirds of Independents, and about 50% of Republicans did not believe doctors who provide abortion care should face fines or prison time.
"You cannot trust any information coming from Paxton's office or Texas law enforcement," said Valenti. "Paxton and Texas Republicans will be working overtime to paint Rojas as a villain, regardless of the truth. They know that abortion bans are incredibly unpopular, as is arresting healthcare providers. They're not just fighting a legal battle here, but a PR one."
Valenti noted that when Paxton filed a civil lawsuit against Dr. Maggie Carpenter, a physician in New York who he accused of prescribing and sending pills for a medication abortion to a patient in Texas, he claimed the Texas resident "suffered 'serious complications' despite providing no evidence." Carpenter was fined more than $100,000 last month.
"There's every reason to believe Paxton's team will pull similar tactics here, coming out with all sorts of claims about this midwife and her practice," wrote Valenti.
Marc Hearron, interim associate director of ligation at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the Post that "Texas officials have been trying every which way to terrify healthcare practitioners from providing care and to trap Texans."
Hearron toldThe Cut that "doctors all across the state are saying that they are afraid that their judgment is going to be second-guessed, and all of these actions show that Paxton is chomping at the bit to go after anybody who provides an abortion."
"It's just a litany of situations where it shows the state of Texas does not care about women's lives," said Hearron. "What it cares about is stopping women from getting the care that they need, no matter what."
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