August 14th 2023.
Ashley was a soon-to-be seventh grader in Mississippi who had no choice but to become a mother at a young age after she was raped by a stranger. As reported by Time Magazine, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, restricting women's rights to abortion. In response, Mississippi Attorney General certified a trigger ban which prohibited most abortions, except in cases of rape or incest reported to law enforcement.
For weeks, Ashley kept her horrible experience a secret from her mother, Regina. Her 13th birthday was coming up and she started experiencing some pain. Regina asked her daughter if she was pregnant, but Ashley refused to answer. Instead, they went to the emergency room where the tests came back that Ashley was eleven weeks pregnant. The hospital then contacted the police and Ashley was forced to tell her mother what happened.
When Dr. Erica Balthrop, an OBGYN, discussed the options to terminate the pregnancy, it became clear that sending clients to abortion clinics in Memphis or Jackson, Mississippi, was no longer an option. The only other option was to send Ashley to a clinic in Chicago—nine hours away. Such a trip required money for expenses, including travel, lodging, and food, as well as time off work for Ashley's mother. Regina sadly admitted she did not have the funds for all this.
This story is a harsh reminder of the current reality for Black women in Mississippi. After the Supreme Court ruling, various states have instituted abortion bans, and in Louisiana, a woman was denied an abortion despite the fetus missing a skull, as reported by Black Enterprise. In March 2023, South Carolina legislators were even considering a bill that would give women the death penalty if they had an abortion.
Ashley was unaware of the exceptions for abortions in cases of rape or incest before she gave birth to her baby, Peanut. Unfortunately, the restrictions on women's reproductive health are more severe than ever, and stories like Ashley's are becoming increasingly common.
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