When I was in foster care I sat with a. 12. Yo in labor I’ll never forget.
Copied and pasted
When I was a medical student on my OBGyn rotation, I helped deliver an 11 year-old girl’s baby. The grandmother (her mother) was only 23. The girl’s perineum was torn apart like nothing I’d ever seen. I went to the hospital gift shop and bought a teddy bear for her. I sat with her and the new grandmother for awhile. I was afraid to ask about the father. I didn’t want to know. They were Catholic and said that their priest told them that all babies were a gift from God. A baby giving birth to a baby. I thought of all the opportunities that she would never have, what her life would be like now and forever. I still think about her 29 years later.
By Dr Pamela Troxler Demnicki
I was a med student, in my ER rotation. She was 12, septic abortion. Self inflicted. I don’t think she made it out of surgery
13 year old for me. And she clutched her stuffie throughout labor. And all I could think of was the phrase Babies having babies over and over. As she cried and sobbed over and over wanting her “Mommy”. A grandmother of maybe 40 was with her. No one else. She was planning on keeping the baby
Dr Susan Sufit
In OBGyn residency we had a patient admitted for sepsis with a knitting needle perforating her uterus. This was in a community that had an abortion clinic providing legal, safe abortion. She couldn't afford contraception, she couldn't afford the abortion clinic. So she wound up in the ICU and nearly died. ACA now provides free contraception. Sixteen states cover abortions in their Medicaid plans. That number should be 50.
Dr Kathleen Sheridan
Youngest I ever delivered was 12. So tragic. Welcome back to 1950.
Dr Carol Glowacki
I too had an 11 year old girl go into labor while on my OB rotation in medical school. She was not developed enough to even attempt a vaginal delivery and so went straight to a c-section. It was so awful. I was so sad for her. She was supposed to be hanging out with her friends, going to the mall, doing her homework, having sleep overs… not becoming a mother. 🥺
Dr Free N. Hess
Similar experience with a 12 year old but the father was present ( age 13). 😕
Dr Tana DeSimone
For me it was a 14 year old whose mother pressured her not to have an epidural. The mother wanted her to remember the pain. 😥
Dr David Nesbit
I recall the poor young girl who died of sepsis in our ICU after a self attempt at abortion
Dr Jim Withers
14 years old, alone no partner, no grandmother no one to help her but the L&
nurses. She labored for 16+ plus hours and exhausted, scared and alone cried for her mom. She had a C-section and did not want to see the baby when he was pulled from her uterus. She just wanted her mommy.
Dr Myzivazadie Zpak
I saw your post about deliveries. I was involved with the delivery of a 12-year-old whose baby was fathered by her half brother through ongoing molestation. The mother of her and the brother plan to keep both of them in the house with the new baby. It was awful.
Anonymous doc
Worked at a child abuse center- 12 yo raped by her father- gave birth to a child and said “I don’t know if I should call him my brother or my son”. She was not the only pregnant 12 you that I saw BTW. Worked in Ecuador and woman in my town died trying to give herself an abortion.
Anonymous doc
Youngest girl I help deliver had just turn 13 years old
Dr Margie Gerena Lewis
From med school, I recall a young girl early teens, who had never even had a period in here she was pregnant having a baby.
Dr Anupama Reddy
The youngest I have delivered recently was 13. I delivered her mother an year earlier
Dr Ridhima Gupta
I’ll never forget the 15 year old who was gang raped by 3 guys; today I couldn’t imagine telling her the pregnancy was a gift from God and she’ll just have to deal with it.
Dr David Victor Pinto
On my neonatal rotation I was present for the delivery of the baby of a woman in our prison system. Full term, but unsurvivable fetal malformations: spina bifida w a meningomyelocele, anencephaly with just a nubbin of cerebellum visible, gastroschisis, and failure of the chest structures to close. You could see her heart beating, because it was on the outside of her body.
The infant only lived a couple minutes. I don’t know if the mother was given the option of abortion (probably not), but in my opinion it would have been kinder for all involved for her to not have to go through the pain of a spontaneous vaginal delivery, when there was absolutely no hope that the baby would survive.
Dr Alexandra Jordan
The youngest patient I delivered was a 13 yo girl. The baby’s father was 35. The girl barely understood what was happening to her. Ah, and at the same time I had a 12 yo post partum girl being treated for post partum endometritis. As a 22 yo medical student, I couldn’t understand how this was possible. Now I do. But I don’t understand why anyone would want girls to have to face that fate.
Dr Sandra Gonzalez
10 for me……………😞
Dr Avian Tisdale
13 and cognitively delayed. Molested by a family friend. Had an abusive father who did nothing, mom was deceased. Once maternal grandparents found out they obtained custody. She was full term by then. I can't imagine how different things would have been if she had choices sooner.
Dr Allison Lynn
11 year old for me..incest rape. Catholic. Baby lived in the NICU for a year due to congenital malformations and then transferred to PICU.. died in one month after that.
Dr. Sonal Patel- Neonatologist.
14 yo in the SICU when I was a resident. Septic abortion. Suspect she instrumented herself to try to induce a miscarriage. Died after 4 days in the hospital 💔
Dr Paula Hendryx
10 yo in residency
Dr Ellen Renee
My sister's (very wanted) baby was diagnosed with multiple defects at the 20 week ultrasound, amniocentesis showed a large 2q deletion. Heart and lung defects not compatible with life, spina bifida, cleft lip and palate. She had another child at home, she hadn't saved up enough time off yet for maternity leave. She couldn't take the chance that the pregnancy might put her life at risk because she was the main breadwinner in her family and her living daughter needed a mom. She didn't want her son (Aiden) to experience any pain. The decision was best for both of them. I had to take her to her doctor's office in Northwest Florida, we were told to come after hours so the other staff wouldn't know and pay $400 cash for her to have an intracardiac potassium injection to end the pregnancy. She sang him a lullaby during the injection. I held her hand and we both cried. She was told to go to the Catholic hospital the next day and lie to them, tell them the baby stopped moving. This is when abortion is LEGAL. What the fuck will happen to women like her now?
Dr Elizabeth Pietralczyk
12 year old girl who was raped by brothers friend. Mother by her side. Her father refused to come see baby or his daughter. Child didn’t know what was going on. Sad dark days as a medical student. Hard for me too even type.
Story from fellowship I cannot bring myself to tell.
Dr Leena Ahluwalia
13 year old, mild developmental delay and mute. Never taught ASL and communicated by grunts and gestures. Raped by her uncle whom she lived with and called “dad”. Pregnancy diagnosed in the ED after concern of possible sexual assault. The only time I could imagine my catholic coworker say “Thank Gos she was able to get an abortion”.
Dr Suzanna Vm
My youngest delivery was an 11 year old. Cried with every exam.
Dr Shahrzad Tabibi
I am Brazilian
I worked in Rio de Janeiro favela / slums schools with the military peace program From 2000 - 2007
Abortion is illegal in brazil
You don’t want my stories
And…
I can tell you that nobody with money ever had problems having one in a VIP private clinic at any age
Anonymous doc
Ob: took care of a pregnant 12 yo s/p trauma admission as her brother was a member of ms13 and there was a shooting at the apartment complex she feel down the stairs running away from the shots. This is America. Gun violence and pregnant 12 yo.
Dr Katie Maloy
14 yo who had been trafficked. Luckily she was able to get an abortion. The pregnancy tissue was handed over to law enforcement.
Dr Ashley Renee.
Age 12 or 13. Didn’t know how she got pregnant with the due date what it was. Didn’t understand what caused a pregnancy and then when explained, she knew for sure she hadn’t had A penis in/near her vagina around the time she must have conceived. Don’t really know exactly what happened- drugged and raped? PTSD? Lying to protect herself? . Found out pregnant in 3rd tri. Supportive family at least.
Dr Allison Nelson
11 years old, lived with her sister and brother in law. Pregnant by BIL, sister blamed the patient. Unfortunately lost to follow up despite contacting social services when she didn't show for appointments. Not sure what happened to her
Dr Natasha Minnaert
It was a 12 year old girl in medical school. I think the FOB was her father. She looked like a deer caught in headlights the whole time. It was awful.
Dr Jennifer KL
12 year old here. She sucked a pacifier during labor and delivery. I went home and cried.
Dr Betsy Finigan
On my first day on Ob/Gyn as a medical student we had a teenager who had gotten pregnant and had tried to give herself a coathanger abortion. She was in profound sepsis as she had perforated her uterus and infected her abdomen. She was in dire straights and we had to airlift her to another academic medical center that had ECMO (it was in the early days of ECMO and only a handful of centers were equipped to handle it in adults at the time). I don't know if she survived but her chances were very slim. I thought to myself at the time, thankfully access to abortions means this is a rare occurrence. I'm sure there will be many many more cases similar to that one in the future if safe access to abortions is banned.
Dr Lisa Lombard
11 year old impregnated by bio father. Mother refused abortion for the 11yr and knew her husband was raping her. Said it was Gods plan. Pt delivered her own sister. I heard she died of suicide 5 years later. Not sure how any of that was Gods plan😢
Dr Sapna Singh
23 week Abortion for a 14 year old victim of invest from her brother, fetus with multiple anomalies. I'm glad she wasn't forced to become a parent, but she was from a state where, when this happens to someone else in the future, they will not have access to abortion in their state.
Dr Audrey Lance
As a medical student I delivered a 12 year old girl- her second child. The babies father was the 12 yr old's uncle. It was at a catholic hospital and they wouldn't prescribe her birth control, because they taught 'abstinence only' methods.
Dr Marny Marni Alynn
About 6mo ago, a scared 12 year old was brought to my office by her teacher who was concerned she might be pregnant due to weight gain. Her test came back positive. After difficult conversations and tears it turned out she had been repeatedly raped by her 17 year old brother and gotten pregnant.
She was already 25 weeks pregnant and horrified. More difficult conversations, police and CPS involvement followed. Poor girl went through so much.
Because of her advanced gestational age it was very difficult to find help for her, a 12 year old who is still a child herself should not have to make these decisions.
Fortunately she was able to have a procedure in San Francisco and she did really well.
I saw her back for an appointment recently and I firmly believe that terminating her pregnancy was the right decision.
I’m so disheartened..
Dr Hannah Laimer
Recently I was able to perform a safe abortion for a 10 year old raped repeatedly by her stepfather. Arms and legs covered in cutting scars. Mom had no idea any of it was happening. I don’t want to think what would have happened to her if I hadn’t been able to perform her abortion.
Dr Megan Heinlein
I took care of a 14 year old.
She was crying, during contractions. She held a teddy bear so tightly during delivery.
We moved the teddy bear and helped her hold her newborn child.
Also First day of OBGyn clerkship as a third year med student. I met the doctor at her office. We went into her office and we sat down.
Both of us looked at the new bullet proof vest on her desk, in clear plastic wrapping.
She explained how important it was, just to be able to walk in to her office past protesters, some of whom were armed.
Dr Carin Morse Van Gelder
A staff member at the ED where I used to work was caring for an 8 year old who had given birth (who was no longer living with her parents for reasons I could only assume). I couldn’t fathom it. They had said they did C section under anesthesia and were telling her it was her sibling. I gave her all the baby things I had left and money to help and I wept for her. No small child should ever have to go through that.
Dr Alison Schroth Hayward
Abortion patients I’ve cared for in the last 6 years:
-20 something year old of Middle Eastern descent who was convinced her father would kill her if he knew she was pregnant outside of wedlock
-30 something year old in a domestic violence situation with a 1 year old from a previous relationship. She couldnt tether herself to the man who was physically abusing both her and her child
-52 year old who thought she was in menopause and didn’t want to have a child
- 20 something year old with a heart transplant who had erroneously been told that no form of contraception was safe for her and she had a mole with a concurrent live twin. She lost half her blood volume
- 12 year old rape victim, both of her parents deceased from gun violence. Her grandmother drove her for Louisiana to Missouri for care
- 30 something year old with a highly desired pregnancy who PPROMed and was septic at 19 weeks but still had cardiac activity
- 20 something year old who regularly protested outside of her clinic, she was back out protesting us days later
- 30 something year old with previable HELLP. I was also pregnant. We had the same due date
All stories unique, some sadder than others, all with valid reasons.
Dr Amy
The very FIRST baby I ever delivered was to a 12 yo “mother” in Jacksonville. Hispanic. I assume Catholic. I’m sure she was given no choice but to put her little body through the trauma of pregnancy and childbirth and then give up all her dreams for her future. She was a 6th grader.
By Dr. Maricer Escalon
13 yo. Gave birth alone. No parents involved. FOB over 18. Didn’t come to the hospital because he was afraid he’d be arrested. No epidural. No one to sign for it for her as a minor. Not emancipated in my state until after you give birth. That delivery still gives me nightmares. 😢
Dr Kelly Langer
I did an abortion on a 12 year old that was taken through several states by family and friends and used as a sex slave. FBI was involved.
Dr Belinda Beck
14 year old who had pigtails and held a stuffed bear during labor.
Dr Shikha Goel
My youngest patient so far -13 year old. Mother wouldn’t allow her any pain meds. Wanted her to “learn her lesson”. She was so scared and her mother gave her no comfort. I can’t imagine what her life was like after that birth.
Dr Heidi Olander
22 weeks pregnant, found to have metastatic rapidly progressing cancer filling her lungs.
Chemotherapy was delayed while the team blindly tried to know what was legal after 20 weeks and it was too early to ‘deliver’.
That week was too long. She died. As did the fetus, anyway. We don’t need more government regulation in the hospital room.
We need less.
Lives depend on it.
Dr Brit Hebert
Happened in residency. Uterine rupture in second trimester in woman with history of 5 cs. Fetus was pre-viable and passed prior to delivery. Couldn’t control bleeding with strong concern for accreta. Performed a chyst. Called the husband from SICU after procedure and when I explained her uterus had been removed to save her life he asked us to put it back in because he didn’t want her if she couldn’t have more children….
Anonymous doc
11 year old for me. Was in labor and didn’t even know she was pregnant. Came to the pediatric ER for abdominal pain. The perpetrator was her father. She had the baby that night and was very traumatized 💔
Dr Tracy Mc
When I was a resident, I cared for a 12 year-old girl, pregnant and a victim of a drive-by shooting who was now paraplegic (why she was hospitalized). She was 11 when she first conceived. The father was 22 years-old. Catholic family who were not pressing charges of rape because her “boyfriend” was helping the family financially. I couldn’t look at her parents and I couldn’t look at the father. I will never forget her innocent face on the pediatric ward, clutching a teddy bear above her 8 month-gravid belly. The youngest child I’ve cared for who was pregnant was 10 years old. How can anyone say it’s God’s will for a 10 year-old to have a baby or for her father to rape her? Whenever I think of these girls I cry. I also think of how young and innocent
my 7 and 11 year-old daughters are. 😞
Dr Michelle Cornman
I Was a resident, probably around 2005. Consulted for psychosis in a woman who just delivered. Her baby died in utero. That’s when I learned a c-section is a c-section and an abortion is an abortion, regardless of whether the baby is alive or dead. Too early for the team to do a c-section and an abortion was illegal because it was considered “late term”. She was forced to carry the baby for a good long time, then forced to deliver it. Go figure, she got psychotic. Who wouldn’t?! It was government mandated torture. I was against legalized abortion prior to this case. I had no idea. Another time I stayed up all night with OB trying to manage a pregnant catatonic schizophrenic who went into labor in jail after she had been starved for days (she was thought to be “faking it” so they let her sit motionless not eating or drinking). No access to ECT in my area. Dosing Ativan all night and exposing the baby with no choice; her vitals were not stable. Couldn’t go to C section because she was a few days short of the cutoff, as if two days of trying to keep a catatonic patient and her unborn kid alive was safer for either of them than going to C section. No one at the jail cared about her baby while they let her sit motionless on the ground for like a week. Baby went to CPS. If I had her when the catatonia started could have fixed the whole situation. Both of these cases haunt me.
Dr Nicole Stacey
Many people know that I had my oldest daughter when I was 15. I can relate to these stories in more ways then one. Having experienced teenage and child pregnancies in my OB/GYN rotation in medical school, I know the good and the bad.
I have never told anyone (and why I think Facebook is the right place to say it) but I remember finding out I was pregnant and trying to ram my stomach into a table as hard as I could. After I had the baby and endured the constant comments about being a whore and that my life was over, one of my friends became pregnant. She lived in a more affluent part of town and her mother opted for her to have an abortion. Although we had made the same mistake, we had different options. I am the exception and not the rule.
I can go on and on about this but here are the facts:
-you should have access to factual sex education prior to the time you can both have babies and make them
-you should have access to affordable and safe contraception if YOU choose to use it
-in Maryland, minors do not need parental permission for reproductive health but who is gonna pay for it?
-women should have access to safe abortion procedures.
-the same people fighting for “life” care nothing about the child once they are born. They support mass incarceration, are against universal health care, against welfare programs, against sex education in schools, and in favor of the death penalty.
You can personally feel however you want about it and you can practice in your beliefs, but your beliefs should not infringe on my right to make my own reproductive health choices. The need for the procedure should be protected just like any other health information between a patient and their doctor.
#arguewithyomama
#healthequityandpatientprivacy
#stopcriminalizingwomensrights
Dr Kathryn Delores Garrett Kelly
In America we have the right of free speech. It’s important for everyone to be able to share their stories & experiences freely without fear of retaliation or harm so others can hear all sides of a story in order to make educated and informed decisions about issues that effect us all. I share this post & my personal story in order to shed light on a very important topic we all have a voice & a vote in:
My story: It was the day before my first day of medical school & I didn’t feel well. I was teaching ice skating to make extra money to pay for tuition & had lessons scheduled for the afternoon. When I got to the skating rink I felt faint & remember asking a fellow coach for help. I then remember waking up in an emergency room with my mother & husband at my side. A young doctor came in and told me they needed to take me for an emergent ultrasound, because I was pregnant. I had been on birth control & taken it religiously. The ultrasound was extremely painful & showed a fetus of between 12-16 weeks gestation with a strong heartbeat. I couldn’t believe it since I had been having periods & had been taking my pills. Unfortunately, the next thing they found on my exam was a lot of blood & the head of the fetus was not in my uterus. Moments later a very kind, patient, caring & pregnant surgeon came to bedside to inform us of the findings & prepare me for surgery. I was in physical shock & would die if they were not able to stop the bleeding. There is no way to medically transplant a fetus to a different location in situations like mine & the fetus had no chance of survival due to it being implanted in the wrong place in my body. I had an ectopic pregnancy. The only choice was for both of us to die or for the surgeon to save my life. I lived & spent months recovering from internal bleeding & will spend my life handling the emotional part of that experience.
I admit to feeling guilt and torn about this decision I constantly. I think of that baby frequently. I now have 3 children & we speak of that baby as if it was to be a part of our family. I have interacted with the surgeon who saved my life & know it was a difficult experience for her as well.
As a physician I have never thought we may come to a point where we are unable to save a woman’s life in the event of an ectopic. I have though about how amazing it would be if we were one day able to transplant fetuses so nobody else would have to suffer in this way. I have hoped and prayed for progress & am personally terrified at the idea we are spending more time talking about stopping life saving procedures & was to end suffering than we are on ways to advance in science & medicine.
You have a right to your opinion & thoughts. You should make your opinion & vote after gathering as much knowledge & data as possible. Deciding on life or death is complicated & emotionally tolling; I should know, I am a physician & deal with life or death decisions every day.
Dr Stephanie Kaye
My first rotation of 3rd year med school was OB, in a very rural, very conservative part of Louisiana. We had a patient who was around 15, herself the product of incest of her grandfather with her mother. Her baby’s father was also her grandfather.
I recently had a first appointment (psychiatry) with a 16 yo, who has had the odds stacked against her (all the trauma, addicted parents, her own substance struggles) but has really committed to making changes, and graduating high school. Routine UPT was positive. She was able to get in to a clinic in a neighboring state. I saw her yesterday and she was so appreciative of her care at the clinic. But so terrified of what may happen when it’s not available anymore.
Dr Jen Creedon
I failed her
I was a young intern
A work up in the ER negative except for a positive pregnancy test
Congrats I said
I didn’t notice her vacant eyes - her catatonic state
Her mom was lost
My ob attending shooed me away
My utter ineptness
My catholic attending quietly did the procedure
Later I learned her uncle had raped her
Thank you Dr. D for saving her life
May I never forget her face
Dr Laura Voss
I watched a 14 year old girl labor and give birth on my 3rd year obgyn rotation in medical school. Her mother was beside her- she was 28 years old. The 14 year old gave birth to a baby girl.
Dr Molly Elain
So, let me preface by saying I loathe abortions. I have participated in (reasonable, rational) pro-life groups in med school and college, including Feminists for Life. I couldn’t have one, I couldn’t participate in one, I decided against OBGYN because I didn’t even want to discuss them. I wish they didn’t have to exist.
But.
We exist in a society where women are penalized in their careers for pregnancy and childbirth. Where the medical care for pregnancy and childbirth is not fully paid for, even with good insurance .Where child rearing is disproportionately on mothers. Where housing discrimination for mothers exists. Where employers still illegally ask about childcare commitments. Where childcare can cost more than take home pay, especially for multiple children.. Where birth control can be hard or expensive to access. Where child support frequently goes unpaid. Where rapes and molestations occur. Where rapists and molesters can force custody arrangements and subject women to years of contact with their abusers. Where kids are shielded from appropriate education about sex and birth control due to pressure from abstinence only advocates (despite scores of data showing it doesn’t work). Where birth control often comes with side effects and is never fool proof. Where maternal mortality is still an issue.
I hate abortion. I hate that it is so common. I wish it were rare or nonexistent. a D&E (for fetal demise) was the only procedure I’ve ever had to leave because I was going to pass out. I wish no one would choose this option. But as much as I wish this, I have grown to recognize that the alternatives of traumatic and dangerous pregnancies or risky illegal abortions may be worse.I am extremely pro-life but have realized that I must be pro-choice. At least until there are better options.
If you want fewer abortions, support universal health care, easy and free access to birth control, early sex education, social support systems for parents including financial/structural/anti discrimination/ societal support, passage of the ERA, elimination of the mommy tack penalties, better enforcement of child support, universal childcare, etc.
Dr Sharon Kileny
Medical info re: birth control.
Did you know that Plan B is less effective in patients over 155 lbs?
Ella is effective up to a BMI of 30, less effective up to 35. Unknown over BMI 35.
Copper IUDs are the most effective post coital contraceptive. But placement can be delayed due to availability of appointments.
Daily oral contraceptive pills are also less effective in larger patients and may not provide as good endometrial or pregnancy protection.
Progesterone IUDs should be strongly considered in patients of size who want to prevent pregnancy or need endometrial protection, especially if they live or study in abortion restricted states.
You could do everything “right” TWICE and still become pregnant. Especially, if you are a larger person.
Tell your friends.
#abortionishealthcare
#abortionishealthcare
Hardest to tell stories are most important to be told
The invisible trauma
Above stories are a tip of the iceberg with challenges in healthcare for women.
I collected above cases from mentioned Doctors to shed light on the invisible trauma .
It can be hard to sympathize when we do not see struggle of others and words make those struggles visible. Our stories are the only Bridge that allow us to visit each other’s in islands of our exsistence.
Please support healthcare for women and do not deprive them of their rights on their own body.
By Dr Niveditalakhera”
