A Texas mother who testified in a lawsuit over the state’s abortion laws vomits as she describes having to carry her baby to term after being diagnosed with anencephaly
- Samantha Casiano gave birth to a baby in March who died at 4 hours
- She had been told that she had to carry her to term even though she had been diagnosed with anencephaly.
A Texas mother testifying in an abortion trial today was so upset she threw up on the witness stand as she described the trauma of having to carry her baby to term after being diagnosed with a congenital brain defect and then watching her die four hours after birth.
Samantha Casiano is one of several Texas women suing over a strict abortion ban that they say does not leave enough room for fetuses with birth defects or life-threatening conditions such as anencephaly, which prevents proper brain and skull formation.
The mother of five other children, she was already almost six months pregnant when she was told in December that her baby had the brain defect.
Samantha Casiano is one of several Texas women suing over the strict ban on abortion
He got so upset while testifying that he vomited into a trash can on the witness stand.
The judge hurried to hand over a trash can to the mother of five
Due to Texas’ strict abortion laws, which prohibit abortion unless the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother, she was told she had to carry the baby to term, knowing it would not survive.
Their daughter, Halo, was born on March 29 at 11:30 a.m. She died at 3:30 p.m. that day.
Speaking at the trial today, Casiano wept: “He told me that my daughter has been diagnosed with anencephaly and that means her skull and brain are not fully developed, and that he was sorry and had no other options.”
‘The social worker came in and handed me a piece of paper that said funeral homes.
“She said she had no choice because of the Texas abortion law, so I felt abandoned.”
Casiano said that at that time she could not afford to travel outside of Texas to get an abortion.
In previous interviews, she said she wanted to let her daughter rest ‘before’.
Casiano with Amanda Zurawski, who developed sepsis and nearly died after being denied an abortion when her water broke at 18 weeks, and her attorney Molly Duane.
Samantha’s daughter, Halo, died on March 29, four hours after she was born.
Casiano raised money for Halo’s funeral earlier this year
‘It went from being warm to cold.
“It was horrible because I wanted my daughter to rest in peace as soon as possible and we had to wait until she was born,” she told AFP.
Casiano is among those who filed a lawsuit arguing that Texas’ strict abortion ban prevents women from getting the medical care they need.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the case, said the lawsuit is the first brought on behalf of women denied abortions since the US Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to the procedure just over a year ago.
“I hope the law changes so that other women don’t have to go through what I went through and other parents don’t have to watch their child die at their hands,” she said.
The civil trial in Austin is due to continue tomorrow.
Samantha while pregnant last year in a photo with one of her other children. She said that she is God fearing and that she only wanted an abortion because she knew that her daughter would not survive and she wanted her to “rest first”.
