Tennessee law prohibits women from having abortions in nearly all circumstances. But once the babies are here, the state provides little help. We followed one family as they struggled to make it.

In the midst of the turmoil in July 2022, they learned Mayron was pregnant again. But this time, doctors warned she and her fetus might not survive.

The embryo had been implanted in scar tissue from her recent cesarean section. There was a high chance that the embryo could rupture, blowing open her uterus and killing her, or that she could bleed to death during delivery. The baby could come months early and face serious medical risks, or even die.

Tennessee already had some of the worst outcomes in the nation when measuring maternal health, infant mortality and child poverty. Lawmakers who paved the way for a new generation of post-Roe births did little to bolster the state’s meager safety net to support these babies and their families.

    • gnomesaiyan@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 months ago

      It is fucked up, but so are the people having these kids, figuratively and literally. I have a distant family member in a similar boat and the entire family believes she should stop fucking every shitty boyfriend she finds at the end of a high. She has already lost 3 kids to CPS.

      • bane_killgrind@kbin.social
        0·
        9 months ago

        Seems more simple to have easily accessible emergency contraceptives, and maybe some better welfare so vulnerable women are less reliant on shitty men.

        • colforge@lemmy.world
          0·
          9 months ago

          Nahhh it’s so much easier to blame the individual than to think for a moment about our culpability as members of the society that breaks people down and puts them in these situations! /s

      • NatakuNox@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        Ya cuz only those “deserving” sterilization will be the ones who are “sterilized” totally wrong fee used by the state to genicide the “others”